3 ms·
I was a bit disappointed by the title. I was hoping for something akin to a sterling engine, which is powered solely by a heat differential. As long as the heat
by biot 14y ago
I was a bit disappointed by the title. I was hoping for something akin to a sterling engine, which is powered solely by a heat differential. As long as the heat differential is present and barring any mechanical issues, the sterling engine will operate continuously without intervention.
- nwh 14y agoThey're incredibly efficient. There's one on my wireless router that happily spins away all day.
- ColinWright 14y agoTechnically, really technically, and very pedantically, I expect what you have is a hot air engine, because it's unlikely that it includes a proper regenerator, which is technically what differentiates a Stirling Engine. However, Yes, Stirling Engines can be wonderfully efficient, and they are a delight to watch in action. Lovely machines.
- ColinWright 14y agoIf you bury a heatsink, and then have an air-flow heatsink, it's plausible that you could power a Stirling Engine with this kind of power output. You wouldn't do it for $5 though. Efficient Stirling Engines with a reasonable amount of torque actually require significant engineering, and that comes at a cost. However, they wouldn't require significant maintenance, they would provide power all the time that could be stored (again, at a cost), and might be able to trickle power an entire village.