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    Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity
    Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity
    Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity
    Ebook84 pages59 minutes

    Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity

    By Robert Murray-Smith

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    About this ebook

    This book describes the basics of the Stirling engine, as well as some of the most promising alternative models, how to go about building them and how they can be used to generate power for home use. Home power generation is not new. You can buy home generator kits and solar panels by the ton. The main problem is they cost so much. The Stirling is astonishingly easy to make and can be built from scrap or commonly found components at a fraction of the cost of a home solar kit and yet produce the same power. There are several on going attempts on the net at the moment to do just that - have a look at Tim Sefton's Volo design project (Kickstarter funded by the way). But if you are like me - a true do it yourselfer - Then you want to give it a go completely by yourself. If that is so then this book is the one for you. The idea here is to familiarize you with the basics give you some designs to run with and hopefully encourage you to make and use you own engine as a way of 'getting off the grid.'

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobert Murray-Smith
    Release dateFeb 2, 2013
    ISBN9781301632008
    Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity
    Author

    Robert Murray-Smith

    If you want to contact me you can email me at robertmurraysmith64@gmail.com

    Read more from Robert Murray Smith

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      Book preview

      Alternative Stirling Engines For Free Energy Applications And How To Go About Building Them And Using Them To Generate Electricity - Robert Murray-Smith

      Introduction

      Engines divide into two main groups. The internal combustion engine that we all know and love and external combustion engines like the steam engine. The difference is pretty obvious. In the internal combustion engine - the fire is on the inside! Surprisingly enough, in external combustion engines you find the fire on the outside, usually, in some sort of container.

      Stirling engines are external combustion engines. They use a fire to heat air (or, in high power machines, some other gas) which is then cooled. This heating and cooling can be used to capture mechanical motion.

      To get an idea of how it works imagine you have a balloon and you blow it up part way and tie it off. Then if you warm the balloon it will get bigger. This is because the air inside is expanding. Now if you dunk the balloon in a bucket of ice water it will shrink., mostly, because the air in the balloon contracts on cooling. That is the principle of the Stirling engine. The actual engine is just a mechanical arrangement for capturing the power from this contraction and expansion. There are many possible implementations of the Stirling engine most of which fall into the category of reciprocating piston engine.

      The beauty of Sterling engines is that they can use a whole range of heat sources from solid or liquid fuels to direct sunlight and even a cup of really hot tea. This makes them very attractive, particularly in situations where conventional fuels are expensive and hard to obtain. Because some types of Stirling engine are so stunningly simple to make and yet so effective, they are often seen as really good choices for power generation in developing countries. But with the increase in fuel costs and serious interest in home power generation they also make an attractive proposition in the developed countries. Of course, there are a whole bunch of 'nay sayers' who are happy to point out that the Stirling engine isn't very efficient. This is perfectly true. However, what these people fail to appreciate is that it is cheap. The last figures I read was that electricity produced by solar energy at best costs 0.45 cents per Watt to produce (comparable grid energy is around $1 per Watt - December 2012 figures) whereas electricity produced from even a relatively inefficient Stirling engine costs 0.30 cents per Watt. (University of California, Feb 2011)

      This book describes the basics of the Stirling engine, as well as some of the most promising alternative models, how to go about building them and how they can be used to generate power for home use. Home power generation is not new. You can buy home generator kits and solar panels by the ton. The main problem is they cost so much. The Stirling is astonishingly easy to make and can be built from scrap or commonly found components at a fraction of the cost of a home solar kit and yet produce the same power. There are several on going attempts on the net at the moment to do just that - have a look at Tim Sefton's Volo design project (Kickstarter funded by the way). But if you are like me - a true do it yourselfer - Then you want to give it a go completely by yourself. If that is so then this book is the one for you. The idea here is to familiarize you with the basics give you some designs to run with and hopefully encourage you to make and use you own engine as a way of 'getting off the grid.'

      Top 10 Uses For A Stirling Engine

      Top Ten Current Uses for a Stirling Engine

      Cordless hair dryer

      Heats homes in The Netherlands with 50-75 hp engine.

      Provides basic power (5 hp) in Bangladesh by burning rice husks on the hot side of the engine (Lockwood engine).

      Provides basic power to remote African villages by burning wood (1-5 hp Van Arsdell-Howard University engine).

      Power oceanographic exploration submarine for Jacques Costeau, the Saga.

      Power the quietest military submarines in the world—a 1300 hp Stirling engine drives subs in the Swedish and Danish fleets.

      Powers a rotisserie attachment to BBQ in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

      Powers remote scientific research stations in Antarctica, providing power to run the experiments, the telescope, and send the data back.

      Provides power to homes and businesses in Las Vegas, Nevada. The heat source is a series of solar collectors.

      Power boats.

      Top Ten Uses for a Stirling Engine in History

      A car: the AMC Spirit was powered

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