daybrown

Came across a photo of a car that had a sterling engine installed, which replaced the water with hydrogen. I'd like to see the charts, there may be some gases with lubricant properties.

It was mentioned that the only problem was that it took a minute for the boiler to heat up. But with a battery backed up hybrid design, that wouldnt be a biggie. By the time you got from the garage to the freeway, the boiler would be pushing the pistons.

Since the pistons were never exposed to cumbustion or the acids in it, the rings last gonzo longer. Without taking in new air, there's no dust abrasion either.

Then too, the engine could use any fuel, which burning at atmospheric pressure, could be lots cleaner. But also, if the cost of petroleum products go thru the roof, you could run it on wood, charcoal, even hay.

The article mentioned a custom crankshaft in a stnadard piston engine. but given the characteristics of a Sterling, whether it'd be gonzo better to design a pair of push/pull pistons that are 90 deg out of phase that have a larger bore to minimize piston ring drag.

Then too, I read about an antique steam tractor engine that exploded a few years back kiling 5 people. That kind of thing was pretty common in the 19th century. The explanation had to do with inadequate maintenance of a water tube boiler having scale/corrosion problems. Hence the advantage of a sterling charged with a gas. altho- the Hindenburg makes me think hydrogen mite not be so swift....

I have an antique Farmall, model M, with a seized motor, that didnt look very efficient anyway. Sterling would be nice, no biggie if it took a few minutes before it'd plow or whatever. it had an IH inline 4 of 131 cu inches.

If I added my 3kw AC generator, I could use my electric chainsaw in the woods, and burn wood to cut more firewood & timber, as well as haul it out of the woods. With some batteries on board, the sterling could run at max efficiency, and I'd have the battery power to use for other things later.

Sceadwian

You supplied not one single bit of information or data that would allow any useful comment to be made on your general post. If you can't provide any real numbers or information associated with the post it should be moved to the chit-chat forum. Specifically any information in relation to alternative energy should ideally have two or three cross linked resources or it's just idle chat.

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mneary

Sterling engines look attractive because they can work at low temperature differentials and are thermally efficient.

The problem to be solved is that they output minuscule power for a given displacement. That's a big issue for mobile power sources.

Hero999

just how efficient are they?

If stirling engines were that dreat then they would be used in power stations but they're not.

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daybrown

aCCORDING to Carnot, efficiency is the ratio of the temperature of the expanding gasses both before and after heating. Diesel is more efficient than gasoline cause it burns at a higher temp.

The efficiency of the Sterline would depend on the external combustion temperature. If fed charcoal or coal, you can get temps even higher than diesel, but then you also have the efficiency of the heat exchanger. which is also affected by the efficiency of the condenser. Whatever it was in the past, there is new themodynamic software that can be used to dramatically increase the efficiency of the 'boiler' and 'condensor'.

If we start with Carnot, ambient air temps at 70deg F, is about 293 kelvin, with solid fuel burning at 2500K, the ratio is about 8.5 to one or 88%. Course, thats cumbersome to deal with but permits the air flow rates to be optimized. Its complicated with the heat exchangers, and I can see using teflon cyl walls to reduce friction, so a feasible max mite be 60%

On one level, its a complicated design; but trying to burn fuel in a combustion chamber where the pressure constantly changes, and needs to go on a high RPMs has resulted complicated pollution control systems. And, combined with a motor/generator/battery system, you'll always have the power to get off the interstate without the danger of being stranded or paying towing charges.

daybrown

Turbines at power stations are better, but only havta run at a constant output.