Stirling cycle hot air engine

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Eoin
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:00 am
Location: NSW Australia

Stirling cycle hot air engine

Post by Eoin »

A photo from over 20years ago of a Stirling cycle hot air pumping engine that I'd returned to working order some years before the photo was taken.

Bore was about 7 inches and the stroke at least twice as long, as I remember.

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Harold_V
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Re: Stirling cycle hot air engine

Post by Harold_V »

Interesting!

Do you have knowledge of how it was used?

Harold
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
Eoin
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:00 am
Location: NSW Australia

Re: Stirling cycle hot air engine

Post by Eoin »

Harold,
I found an old post of mine on another forum and it sort of answers your question;
Stirling engines are great but they are very heavy and bulky for the amount of power that they produce.
I restored a pumping engine at Karingal Village (Bathurst NSW) in the first half of the 1970s.
This probably dated from the 1890s and was over 5 feet high and drove a reciprocating water pump of about 1.5" bore.
We fired it on Box or Stringy Bark [two very hot Australian hardwoods] usually and it required almost no maintenance apart from a squirt around with the oil can before starting.

It did the job for which it was designed but we only used it for demonstrations so it didn't do any serious work.

We knew an old chap who had worked this partcular engine and another one on a local property in his youth. He told us that they were hungry for wood when they were being worked hard and that he was constantly on the move so that they didn't stop. The engines were on seperate creeks and he had to ride [on horseback] between them.

Not a situation that is likely today.
Their great beauty is that they can be started and then left, as the fire burns down they get slower and slower and then stop, cool down and that's it; then they're ready for the next light up.
and a part of a follow up post;
. . . The engine that I restored could be stopped by the friction of a work-gloved hand on the flywheel when going at full power. Probably could have stopped it with the bare hand but I have sensitive skin :lol:

Here's a link that has a lot of info, maybe worth sorting through:
http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Sti ... index.html

Perhaps your best bet would be to look for an old engine;
I know where there is one near Bathurst but unfortunately it is buried.
It had sat for years an' years beside the well from which it had pumped and then the owner of the property decided that the well was a danger.
The easiest way to get rid of the 'useless' engine was to tip it down the well. It now lies under a plowed field.
Hope this answers a few questions; I'm going to write out all that I can remember.
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Harold_V
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Re: Stirling cycle hot air engine

Post by Harold_V »

Eoin wrote:Hope this answers a few questions;
Yes, it did, and I thank you for the effort. I was mostly curious about the amount of power one might develop. The gloved hand pretty well described my hunch.

Very cool engine, but obviously not very efficient.

Again, thank you!

Harold
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
Eoin
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:00 am
Location: NSW Australia

Re: Stirling cycle hot air engine

Post by Eoin »

Harold,
You're right about these engines not being very efficient, at least in terms of size versus horsepower; but in terms of the day and age in which they were used, their low maintenance requirements and the abundance of virtually free fuel in the Australian bush then this engine was efficient as it did the job for which it was designed. The degree of skill needed by the operator was also a big factor as any of the farm/bush workers of the day would have been able to operate it.
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