DIY Stirling Engine

[Gampa Geek]

Hi I'm new to the forum.

Does anyone have any experience of making / using these striling engines for motive power or generating electricity?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Alpha_Stirling.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

A log burner can create motive power and possibly generate electricity. I want to make one of these down my private allotment.

Enter the Stirling engine.

I know I could use a steam engine, but look how simple this Stirling engine is. So few moving parts, basically dry no high pressure steam. I could cool the cold side with a water jacket and a radiator, maybe.

They make these on a commercial basis in Germany, but The ones I've seen (on web) are big and expensive for commercial properties. They run them off wood chips over there. In the Consett area there are literally tonnes of scrap wood to be had from industrial estates and poorly managed wasteland.

Cheers

[Joe Blake]

Hi, and welcome to the board.

If you do a Google search for "Stirling Engine youtube" a few interesting items pop up. I'm particularly impressed with this one

Stirling Engine - YouTube

which shows the steps in building one

and this one

Homemade Stirling Engine - YouTube

which shows a Stirling in action.

Have fun.:D

Joe

[Gampa Geek]

Hi Joe,

many thanks for the reply. The second video showed one working really well. I'll have a got at making a model first much more sensible than diving straight in.

My first idea was to try and use two scrap single-cylinder motor cycle engines. attached to a flywheel. I could try that idea as a table top model with cans and tubes first.

Cheers

Gampa Geek (aka Craig)

[Gampa Geek]

ALPHA STIRLING CYCLE ENGINE DIY OFF THE SHELF STEAM ENGINE SOLAR MOTOR - YouTube


I found this which was very useful in pointing me to a simple design using a V twin cylinder compressor pump.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Shamal-V-Twin-Compressor-Pump-VB3-/00/s/ODM2WDEyMjA=/$T2eC16N,!zUE9s389zFjBQ6wYojSJ!~~60_12.JPG


That one is ~£55 on Ebay, but I bet these come up as scrap or used items somewhere it's just a case of searching around. :idea:

Cheers

Craig

[Joe Blake]

That's an even cooler video still. When the presenter talked about waiting for sunshine, it prompted me to recall that not so long ago I started up this thread

http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showthread.php?t=17086

These little beasts put out a fair amount of heat from almost any scrap wood whatever that might be just ideal for a stirling setup. Perhaps a water bath with a thermosyphon action could transfer the heat to the engine.

Might have a go myself.;)

Joe

[Rob Beckers]

Those are neat Joe!
Do you have a link to the design/plans of that second one? I'd like to build one of those.

-RoB-

[Joe Blake]

Hi Rob

I just Googled "homemade stirling engine youtube" and that particular video came top of my list. When I clicked on the "more" button I found a fair bit of back ground info and there was a link at the bottom to a tutorial. When I clicked on it, it went to a Russian website. Although my anti-virus software didn't react, I got out fairly quickly. (There were adverts for gambling sites etc - a bit shady methinks)

However I eventually found this link

http://diystirlingengine.com/

It seems to be fairly informative. But I'm sure there are groups with bulletin boards that could help.

Joe

[Joe Blake]

Just found this link.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__16502__Stirling_Engine_SE_1.html

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/catalog/SE-01.jpg

I know it's not a built-it-meself model, but it's still very nice.

Joe