Jump to content

sterling engine


sailor mcgee

Featured Posts

11 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

I would say it's a fly away joke but that's probbly a girly hair thing. :huh:

One of my fondest memories of A-level physics was a girl who had very fine long hair down to below her waist, and had never seen a Van de Graaff generator.

 

I volunteered our group for the imminent demonstration. :giggles:

 

She did forgive me, but not for a few weeks.  :D

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

One of my fondest memories of A-level physics was a girl who had very fine long hair down to below her waist, and had never seen a Van de Graaff generator.

 

I volunteered our group for the imminent demonstration. :giggles:

 

She did forgive me, but not for a few weeks.  :D

 

You are norty. :giggles:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 08/12/2018 at 17:57, sailor mcgee said:

hey,

 

i need your help, i am designing an experimental sterling engine for electricity generation in winter, my idea is to use the backboiler of a fire to passivly pump heat round a central heating system and include in that system a coil of pipe or a hollow chamber on top of a sterling engine, this creates a heat difference between the bottom of the canal (which can be freezing) and the warmth of the hot water on the boat meaning the engine will turn and some electricity may be generated to help the battery when the diesil is not working as the canal is too cold.

for this
I need to know how cold the water is in different situations eg the canal water in a marina may be a degree warmer than on top the penine mountains; can you throw a thermometer overboard on your boat and record water tempriture every morning between 6 and 8am once a week over winter?  or for liveabords as often as you can?

 

My advice, based on practical knowledge of installing and operating Stirling emgines would be not to use a Stirling engine. When you try to scale them up from "toys" driving ecofans they are inefficient and unreliable.

 

Before retirement I worked for a company in the UK which purchased 8 Stirling engines and associated plant from from a Danish company called SDK (Stirling Denmark) to fit into two  ajor UK supermarkets. The engines were heated by burning syngas produced by burning locally sourced wood chip. Each engine was rated at 35ke (electrical) and 140kWh (thermal). Four engines were to produce all the electrical, heating and refrigeration (through fridges and freezers usimg heat as a source of cooling i.e. absorbtion and adsorbtion chillers) needs for a large supermarket.

 

The plan was for my company to provide the "energy centre" free of charge, and operate and maintain the equipment to supply all electrical and heating needs at a fixed price (except for wage and woodchip increases) for a 15 year contract. The "redundancy" (electrical and heating when the Stirling plant was running at sub optimal output or not at all was to fall back to their mains gas and electricty supplies, which the company I worked for would subsidise by paying the difference between what we would charge for the Stirling generated energy and what the actual mains gas and electricity bills were. ?  Had the Stirling engines proved successful, every supermarket in the chain would have had an "energy centre".

 

Long story short, the unreliability of the Stirling engines,  resulting in numerous warranty claims coupled with their need for frequent scheduled rebuilds (every 8000 hours to replace piston seals) bankrupted SDK, cutting off our source of Stirling engines, gasifiers and specialised maintenance. To get out of having to pay the supermarkets energy bills for the next 14 years, the divison of the company I worked had no option but to place itself into voluntary liquidation.

 

The attached URL shows the presentation SDK gave to potential customers.

 

http://docplayer.net/26885216-Stirling-dk-introduction-march-2012.html

Edited by cuthound
Clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
On 08/12/2018 at 18:59, mark99 said:

 I have two engines...

 

On 08/12/2018 at 18:59, mark99 said:

 

Ttoo mmuch ccoffee

 

Here is a mini one to expand your collection Mark:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Sale-Discovery-Toys-Low-Temperature-Stirling-Engine-Model-Educational-Toy-Gift-For-Kid-Children-Adult/32820839604.html

 

About £18 quid including free 20-40 day airmail delivery from China?

(and you may be offered a $3 discount for your first order!)

 

This promotional YouTube video includes it (skip to 4:45) and suggests it will run when placed on top of a suitable hot beverage.

Probably tat, but might be cheap enough for a punt?

 

Usual disclaimers.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, gbclive said:

 

 

Here is a mini one to expand your collection Mark:

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Sale-Discovery-Toys-Low-Temperature-Stirling-Engine-Model-Educational-Toy-Gift-For-Kid-Children-Adult/32820839604.html

 

About £18 quid including free 20-40 day airmail delivery from China?

(and you may be offered a $3 discount for your first order!)

 

This promotional YouTube video includes it (skip to 4:45) and suggests it will run when placed on top of a suitable hot beverage.

Probably tat, but might be cheap enough for a punt?

 

 

Would a "really hot cup of tea" do the job?

 

It did after all fuel the Inifinite Improbability Drive

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

Would a "really hot cup of tea" do the job?

 

It did after all fuel the Inifinite Improbability Drive

Yes, but that was known to be improbable infinitely. Its an interesting toy that is impractical within the bounds of current science. Now, if you could fuel it with plasma from fusion then..........................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Jess-- said:

Would a "really hot cup of tea" do the job?

 

It did after all fuel the Inifinite Improbability Drive

Thank you Jess - you have exposed yet another serious flaw in my education?

I now fully understand this very useful scientific principe.

 

“The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were well understood. It is said, by the Guide, that such generators were often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess's undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy”.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Now, if you could fuel it with plasma from fusion then..........................

Looked on eBay, but nil stock☹️

However this version would be a worthy addition to Marks collection.

Definitely enough bling combined with some very nice engineering.

 

 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.