Generate Your Own Power...

[Rockhopper]

With one of these Robinson Heat Engines.

Put it in the lounge and heat the house, it would be one helluva conversation piece too!



Tim.

[Agartha]

Tim, I think you need to explain for those (like me) who are completely ignorant regarding engines and that. And comments are all in German, so I have no clue what they say.

What is this thing? What does the engine does? Generates electricity too or I am way off?

[Rockhopper]

It's a heat engine Ags. A bit like a Stirling.

You could run a generator on it and heat you house too.

Tim.

[Monk (in hiding)]

The Robinson hot air engine was common in England. Patented in 1889, large quantites of them were produced as recently as the 1920s. Used in England and Europe until the WW-II era, they were displaced by electric motors and small but powerful internal combusion engines.

The Robinson's displacer moves vertically and the power piston moves horizontally. This 90° arrangement makes for a very compact size. In fact, the power piston connecting rod weaves its way through the displacer linkage.


http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/pic_Prj4.htm

[Monk (in hiding)]

[Rockhopper]

It's proper name is an External Combustion Engine Ags. Petrol/diesel engines are Internal Combustion engines. Where the fuel is burnt inside the engine.

Stirling was a Scottish Pastor who was concerned about the way the Watt Steam engines were blowing up and killing people, well the boilers were anyway. So he designed an engine that would run by burning fuel on the outside and producing power from that. Much safer!

Tim.

[Monk (in hiding)]

So what powers the piston up and down, smoke, pressure from what?

[Rockhopper]

When a gas is heated it expands and the gas inside these engines expands and contracts with the external heat.

The heat source heats and expands the air in one cylinder and as the piston travels back the air cools and contracts which re-cycles the air again through the heating side. The cycle repeats itself as long as heat is applied.

Here's an animation of how the Stirling Cycle works:



Tim.

[Monk (in hiding)]

So it's just a bunch of hot air. lsol

I wonder what the efficiency is, 30%?

[Rockhopper]

Probably about the same as a petrol engine VM, they run at about 37% currently.

Stirlings and the similar engines to them, have an advantage that they will run on any fuel.

Some satellites use small stirlings to run various processes on board. Use the sun to heat the hot side and space to cool the cold side. The greater the difference between the hot side and the cold side, the more power it produces. Space would be a near perfect place for them.

Tim.

[Monk (in hiding)]

Ok, what's the cost including the genny, $10,000?

[Rockhopper]

Good question and I know very little about commercial systems.

Coupla linx:

http://www.stirling-tech.com/stirling/uses.htm India

http://www.microgen-engine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=6&layout=blog&Itemid=27 USA

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/best-quality-stirling-engine-generator-for_60027890043.html China

I know that India makes them. Pakistan makes very small ones to power fans.

Try duckduckgo.com to search for more.

Tim.

[Sponsored content]