Engineering - Stirling Engine

Not hobby related at all - engineering or science related.

A spur of the moment purchase...

A version of a Stirling Engine - there are a couple of different configurations.

I've been fascinated by these for... years.  In general the temperature difference between the top metal plate and the bottom metal plate (and the expansion and contraction of air caused by those) causes mechanical movement. For this to run you place it on a cup/mug with hot water in it which heats up the bottom plate (not shown).

That it harnesses heat to perform work (and electricity if you were to add a coil and magnet) to me is fascinating and the simplicity is incredibly elegant.

Never been into steam engines, or petrol/internal combustion, though I know how they work.  But Stirlings... you can generate power from the sun in a very direct way (as opposed to photovoltaic cells). Somewhat primitive yet it gets the job done.

BTW the concept behind this is used in some spacecraft for long term missions where they use a plutonium pellet as the heat source. That's one of the other configurations/layouts but still using the hot/cold to generate power. Clearly the concept has merit even if it's not the most efficient equipment. And if it's good enough for NASA it's good enough for me.

Until next time.