Stirling Engine Reference

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Extremely Interesting
Model Stirling Engines
 Figure 1.
Key to Stirling Engine. The air flows through and around the porous displacer. The displacer looks like a piston but is not.
Stirling Engines
by Brent H. Van Arsdell
Reprinted from MacMillan Encyclopedia of Energy
Used by Permission
The principle that makes Stirling engines possible is
quite simple. When air is heated it expands, and
when it is cooled it contracts. Stirling engines work
by cyclically heating and cooling air (or perhaps
another gas such as helium) inside a leak tight
container and using the pressure changes to drive a
piston. The heating and cooling process works like
this: One part of the engine is kept hot while
another part is kept cold. A mechanism then moves
the air back and forth between the hot side and the
cold side. When the air is moved to the hot side, it
expands and pushes up on the piston, and when the
air is moved back to the cold side, it contracts and
2 pulls down on the piston.
While Stirling engines are conceptually quite
simple, understanding how any particular engine
design works is often quite difficult because there
are hundreds of different mechanical configurations
that can achieve the Stirling cycle. Figure 1 shows a
schematic of a transparent educational
demonstration engine that runs on the top of a cup
of hot coffee. This engine uses a piece of foam
similar to what would be used as a filter for a
window air conditioning unit to "displace" the air
between the hot side and the cold side. This foam
displacer is carefully mounted so it does not touch
the walls of the cylinder. Figure 2 shows how this
particular engine achieves the Stirling cycle. In this
engine, the air flows through and around the
displacer from the hot side then back to the cold
side, producing a power pulse during both the hot
and cold portion of the cycle. Stirling engines can
be mechanically quite simple since they have no
valves, and no sparkplugs. This can result in
extremely high reliability as there are fewer parts to
fail.
It is worthwhile to compare Stirling engines to other
more familiar engines and note their similarities as
well as their differences. Stirling engines are a type
of heat engine. They turn heat into mechanical
work and in this sense they perform the same
function as other well known heat engines such as
gasoline, diesel, and steam engines. Like steam
engines, Stirling engines are external combustion
engines, since the heat is supplied to the engine
from a source outside the cylinder instead of being
supplied by a fuel burning inside the cylinder.
Because the heat in a Stirling engine comes from
outside of the engine, Stirling engines can be
designed that will run on any heat source from fossil
fuel heat, to geo-thermal heat, to sunshine. Unlike
steam engines, Stirling engines do not use a boiler
that might explode if not carefully monitored.
When operating on sunshine, or geo-thermal heat,
Stirling engines obviously produce no pollution at
all, but they can be exceedingly low emissions
engines even when burning gasoline, diesel, or
home heating oil. Unlike gasoline or diesel engines
that have many thousands of start stop cycles of
combustion each minute, burners in Stirling engines
burn fuel continuously. It's much easier to make a
continuous combustion engine burn very cleanly
than one that has to start and stop. An excellent
demonstration of this principle is to strike a match,
let it burn for a few seconds, then blow it out. Most
of the smoke is produced during the starting and
stopping phases of combustion.
A Brief History
In the early days of the industrial revolution, steam
engine explosions were a real problem. Metal
fatigue was not well understood, and the steam
engines of the day would often explode, killing and
injuring people nearby. In 1816 the Reverend
Robert Stirling, a minister of the Church of
Scotland, invented what he called "A New Type of
Hot Air Engine with Economiser" as a safe and
economical alternative to steam. His engines
couldn't explode, used less fuel, and put out more
power than the steam engines of the day.
The engines designed by Robert Stirling and those
who followed him were very innovative engines,
but there was a problem with the material that was
used to build them. In a Stirling engine, the hot
side of the engine heats up to the average
temperature of the flame used to heat it and remains
at that temperature. There is no time for the
cylinder head to cool off briefly between power
pulses. When Robert Stirling built his first engines,
cast iron was the only readily available material,
and when the hot side of a cast iron Stirling engine
was heated to almost red hot, it would oxidize
fairly quickly. The result was that quite often a hole
would burn through the hot side causing the engine
to quit. In spite of the difficulties with materials,
tens of thousands of Stirling engines were used to
power water pumps, run small machines, and turn
fans, from the time of their invention up until about
1915.
As electricity became more widely available in the
3 early 1900s, and as gasoline became readily
available as a fuel for automobiles, electric motors
 Insert figure 2 here

Figure 2.
Four phases of the Stirling engine power cycle. 4
and gasoline engines began to replace Stirling
engines.
Regeneration
Robert Stirling's most important invention was
probably a feature of his engines that he called an
"economiser." Stirling realized that heat engines
usually get their power from the force of an
expanding gas which pushes up on a piston. The
steam engines that he observed dumped all of their
waste heat into the environment through their
exhaust and the heat was lost forever. Stirling
engines changed all that. Robert Stirling invented
what he called an "economiser" that saved some heat
from one cycle and used it again to pre-heat the air
for the next cycle.
It worked like this: After the hot air had expanded
and pushed the piston as far as the connecting rod
would allow, the air still had quite a bit of heat
energy left in it. Stirling's engines stored some of
this waste heat by making the air flow through
economiser tubes that absorbed some of the heat
from the air. This pre-cooled air was then moved to
the cold part of the engine where it cooled very
quickly and as it cooled it contracted, pulling down
on the piston. Next the air was mechanically moved
back through the pre-heating economiser tubes to the
hot side of the engine where it was heated even
further, expanding and pushing up on the piston.
This type of heat storage is used in many industrial
processes and today is called "regeneration."
Stirling engines do not have to have regenerators to
work, but well designed engines will run faster and
put out more power if they have a regenerator.
Continued Interest
In spite of the fact that the world offers many
competing sources of power there are some very
good reasons why interest in Stirling engines has
remained strong among scientists, engineers, and
public policy makers. Stirling engines can be made
5 method of changing power levels and probably is
to run on any heat source. Every imaginable heat
source from fossil fuel heat to solar energy heat can
and has been used to power a Stirling engine.
Stirling engines also have the maximum theoretical
possible efficiency since their power cycle (their
theoretical pressure volume diagram) matches the
Carnot cycle. The Carnot cycle, first described by
the French physicist Sadi Carnot, determines the
maximum theoretical efficiency of any heat engine
operating between a hot and a cold reservoir. The
Carnot efficiency formula is: (T(hot)-
T(cold))/T(hot). T(hot) is the temperature on the
hot side of the engine. T(cold) is the temperature on
the cold side of the engine. These temperatures
must be measured in absolute degrees (Kelvin or
Rankine).
Stirling Applications
Stirling engines make sense in applications that take
advantage of their best features while avoiding their
drawbacks. Unfortunately, there have been some
extremely dedicated research efforts that apparently
overlooked the critical importance of matching the
right technology to the right application.
In the 1970s and 1980s a huge amount of research
was done on Stirling engines for automobiles by
companies such as General Motors, Ford, and
Philips Electronics. The difficulty was that Stirling
engines have several intrinsic characteristics that
make building a good automobile Stirling engine
quite difficult. Stirling engines like to run at a
constant power setting, which is perfect for pumping
water, but is a real challenge for the stop and go
driving of an automobile.
Automobile engines need to be able to change
power levels very quickly as a driver accelerates
from a stop to highway speed. It is easy to design a
Stirling engine power control mechanism that will
change power levels efficiently, by simply turning
up or down the burner. But this is a relatively slow
not a good way to add the power necessary to
accelerate across an intersection. It's also easy to
design a simple Stirling engine control device that
can change power levels quickly but allows the
engine to continue to consume fuel at the full power
rate even while producing low amounts of power.
However it seems to be quite difficult to design a
power control mechanism that can change power
levels both quickly and efficiently. A few research
Stirling engines have done this, but they all used
very complex mechanical methods for achieving
their goal.
Stirling engines do not develop power immediately
after the heat source is turned on. It can take a
minute or longer for the hot side of the engine to get
up to operating temperature and make full power
available. Automobile drivers are used to having full
power available almost instantly after they start their
engines.
In spite of these difficulties, there are some
automobile Stirling applications that make sense.
Hybrid electric cars which include both batteries and
a Stirling engine generator would probably be an
extremely effective power system. The batteries
would give the car the instant acceleration that
drivers are used to, while a silent and clean running
Stirling engine would give drivers the freedom to
make long trips away from battery charging stations.
On long trips, the hybrid car could burn either
gasoline or diesel, depending on which fuel was
cheaper.
To generate electricity for homes and businesses,
research Stirling generators fueled by either solar
energy or natural gas have been tested. They run on
Solar power when the sun is shining and
automatically convert to clean burning natural gas at
night or when the weather is cloudy.
There are no explosions inside Stirling engines, so
they can be designed to be extremely quiet. The
Swedish defense contractor Kockums has produced
Stirling engine powered submarines for the Swedish
navy that are said to be the quietest submarines in
the world.
6 That figure seems quite low until one realizes that
Aircraft engines operate in an environment that gets
increasingly colder as the aircraft climbs to altitude,
so Stirling aircraft engines, unlike any other type of
aircraft engine may derive some performance
benefit from climbing to altitude. The communities
near airports would benefit from the extremely quiet
operation that is possible. Stirling engines make
sense where these conditions are met:
1. There is a premium on quiet.
2. There is a very good cooling source available.
3. Relatively slow revolutions are desired.
4. Multiple fuel capacity is desired.
5. The engine can run at a constant power output.
6. The engine does not need to change power
levels quickly.
7. A warm-up period of several minutes is
acceptable.
Low Temperature Difference Engines
In 1983, Ivo Kolin, a professor at the University of
Zagreb in Croatia, demonstrated the first Stirling
engine that would run on a heat source cooler than
boiling water. After he published his work, James
Senft, a mathematics professor at the University of
Wisconsin, River Falls built improved engines that
would run on increasingly small temperature
differences, culminating in an elegant and delicate
Stirling engine that would run on a temperature
difference smaller than 1 F.
These delicate engines provide value as educational
tools, but they immediately inspire curiosity into the
possibility of generating power from one of the
many sources of low temperature waste heat (less
than 100 C.) that are available. A quick look at the
Carnot formula shows that an engine operating with
a hot side at 100 C. and a Cold Side at 23 C. will
have a maximum Carnot efficiency of [((373 K-296
K )/373 K) *100] about 21 percent. If an engine
could be built that achieved 25 percent of the
possible 21 percent Carnot efficiency it would have
about 5percent overall Carnot efficiency.
calculating Carnot efficiency for an engine that uses
a free heat source might not make much sense. For
this type of engine it would probably be more
worthwhile to first consider what types of engines
can be built, then use dollars per watt as the
appropriate figure of merit.
Stirling engines that run on low temperature
differences tend to be rather large for the amount of
power they put out. However this may not be a
significant drawback since these engines can be
largely manufactured from lightweight and cheap
materials such as plastics. These engines could be
used for applications such as irrigation and remote
water pumping.
Cryocoolers
It isn't immediately obvious, but Stirling engines are
a reversible device. If one end is heated while the
other end is cooled, they will produce mechanical
work. But if mechanical work is input into the
engine by connecting an electric motor to the power
output shaft, one end will get hot and the other end
will get cold. In a correctly designed Stirling cooler,
the cold end will get extremely cold. Stirling coolers
have been built for research use that will cool to
below 10 K. Cigarette pack sized Stirling coolers
have been produced in large numbers for cooling
infrared chips down to 80 K. These micro Stirling
coolers have been used in high end night vision
devices, antiaircraft missile tracking systems, and
even some satellite infrared cameras.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Senft, James R. (1993). An Introduction to Stirling
Engines. River Falls, Wisconsin: Moriya Press.
Senft, James R. (1996). An Introduction to Low
Temperature Differential Stirling Engines. River
Falls, Wisconsin: Moriya Press.
Walker, Graham. (1980). Stirling Engines. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
7 light for minutes at a time, then produce instant tire-
Walker, Graham.; Fauvel, Owen R.; Reader,
Graham.; Bingham, Edward R. (1994). The Stirling
Alternative. Yverdon, Switzerland: Gordon and
Breach Science Publishers.
West, Colin. (1986). Principles and Applications of
Stirling Engines. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
If Stirling Engines Are So
Great, Why Don't We Have
Them Already?
by Darryl Phillips
Old Stirling designs from the late 1800s were made
of cast iron and were very heavy, as much as a
hundred pounds per horse. So the engine got a
reputation for being too heavy to consider. Of
course IC engines from the same period were heavy
too, but we tend to forget that. By the time high
temperature alloys were available, IC technology
had outrun the competitors.
"…These imperfections have been in a great
measure removed by time and especially by the
genius of the distinguished Bessemer. If Bessemer
iron or steel had been known thirty five or forty
years ago there is a scarce doubt that the air
engine would have been a great success … It
remains for some skilled and ambitious mechanist
in a future age to repeat it under more favourable
circumstances and with complete success…"
(written in the year 1876 by Dr. Robert Stirling
[1790-1878])
Much work has been done on Stirlings for auto
engines. NASA has displayed a blue Dodge pickup
at trade shows for several years, with a ten million
dollar Stirling under the hood. You may have seen it
running up and down the flightline during the
afternoon airshow, transporting performers in front
of the crowd.
Ford, GM, and the European car makers have all run
Stirlings. But the public wants a new engine to feel
like the old one, and Stirlings are different. It is
difficult to achieve good idle fuel economy at a red
squealing power when the light turns green.
Stirlings are not good car engines.
But the mission profile of the aircraft engine is
totally different from the car engine. The
characteristics that make the Stirling wrong for a car
make it right for an aircraft.
The premier publication for Stirling engine
development is STIRLING MACHINE WORLD.
SMW is a quarterly, distributed worldwide to design
engineers, the academic community, and individual
Stirling buffs. The following two sections are
adapted from a series of Aircraft Stirlings by Darryl
Phillips published in 1993 and 1994.
Part #1..…Ten Tips for Stirling Engine Design
1…Always keep in mind that an engine is just a
machine that converts energy from one form to
another. Energy stored in fuel or from some other
source is changed to kinetic energy. The task is to
maximize throughput and minimize losses.
2…Minimize temperature losses. The first
temperature loss isn't even measurable in an
immediate way. It is the difference between the
temperature a given fuel could have burned at, and
the temperature it actually burns. Having purchased
a particular fuel, the user should be able to utilize the
maximum potential contained in that fuel. The
second loss we encounter is the difference between
combustion temperature and heater temp. And so on
through out the engine. At each step, strive to
eliminate temperature differences. Ideally, the entire
temperature spread from combustion to ambient
should be seen in the hot to cold temperature swing
of the gas itself. Temperature losses are inevitable of
course, but they should be minimized to the extent
possible.
3…Consider the logarithmic nature of temperature,
as opposed to the linear nature of heat energy. A
given temperature loss on the cold side hurts much
more than the same number of degrees on the hot
side. Thinking of temperature in linear degrees
distorts the problem, it's helpful to work in decibels
of temperature (DBT) rather than degrees. (See Part
Two, "The Adventures of Heat and Hot")
4…Minimize aerodynamic losses. This is the
biggest problem in many contemporary Stirling
designs. Think like an aerodynamicist. Pay close
attention to gas velocity. Watch sharp bends, abrupt
changes in cross section, anything the higher speed
molecules will dislike. Think like an electrical
engineer. Move the gas in parallel rather than series.
Keep the bore big and the stroke small, probably
around 10% of bore. Think torque rather than speed.
Study the low delta-T designs, they utilize tiny
temperature differences to the best advantage, and
they point the way to efficient Stirlings in higher
delta regions too.
8
5…Minimize dead volume. Strive to move 100% of
the gas from heated to cooled space. An ideal
Stirling would see average gas temp equal to heater
temp at one end of the cycle, and average gas temp
equal to cooler temp at the other end. While this is
never fully possible in the real world, try, try, try.
6…Use the correct compression ratio. Better yet,
forget compression, and use the correct expansion
ratio. These are the same number, but expansion
better reflects the conversion of heat to kinetic
energy. The ideal expansion ratio is the square root
of the ratio of average absolute gas temperatures
taken at the hottest and coolest points in the cycle.
Note that any gas not fully heated or cooled reduces
this average. This is the fundamental reason it's so
important to heat/cool as near 100% of the gas as
possible.
7…Pressurization. It is tempting to double the
power of an engine by doubling the internal
pressure. But twice the power means twice the heat
energy in and out. If exchanger area remains
constant, temperature losses will increase, and twice
the power won't be obtained. Plus, the higher
pressure fluid will suffer greatly increased flow
losses and power output will decline further. As
pressure rises, containing it requires more material.
That material might have been better utilized
providing increased heat transfer area. Like all the
other design compromises, pressure is a tool to be
used. Just remember that excessive pressure is just
as harmful as excessive dead volume or excessive
flow loss.
8…Regenerators. No doubt the regenerator is the
bait that hooked most of us on the Stirling in the
first place. The idea of using the same thermal
energy more than once is fascinating and very
worthwhile. But don't let the regenerator get in the
way of the engine. There are reports of Stirlings
that ran OK, then ran better when the regenerator
was removed. If the above rules are flaunted,
nothing in the regenerator will save the design. To
the extent the regenerator increases dead volume, or
adds flow loss, it is the enemy of the engine.
Simplicate the regenerator.
9…Much of the thermal promise of the regenerator
can be achieved with the recuperator. Same idea,
applied to the incoming combustion air and the
exhaust and coolant streams. If energy is only
allowed to leave the machine via the crankshaft, the
desired efficiency will be attained. And it's easier to
deal with dead volume and tortuous flow paths in
the combustion gasses than inside the Stirling itself.
10…Build the engine. No amount of computer
modeling takes the place of a real engine. The
industrial revolution owes its success to the fact that
the computer hadn't been invented yet. Else we
would still be modeling and simulating the cotton
gin, the telegraph, the steam engine, the railroad.
Build the engine, the marketplace awaits.
Part 2…..The Adventures of Heat and Hot
One of the ten tips listed last time involved the
logarithmic nature of temperature. So let's begin
there. We'll show why degrees are not the best way
to measure how hot something is. Then we will
introduce a way to graphically illustrate how much
usefulness a given source of thermal energy
contains, and how most of the energy escapes
unused. Plus some thoughts on the creative
process.
Creativity is closely coupled with intuition, that is,
with our unconscious grasp of a subject.
Thermodynamics isn't very intuitive for a couple of
reasons. First, we humans exist in a very narrow
temperature range, the spread between what "feels
very hot" and what "feels very cold" is tiny
compared to the range from cryogenics to
combustion. Second, while we can feel quality, we
have no sensory ability to feel quantity. Thus our
language, our definitions, and our thought processes
become confused. We use "heat" and "hot" as
though they were forms of the same word, when
they actually refer to very different phenomena.
Improving our intuition of thermal energy, and thus
our creativity, is the goal of this discussion.
Thermal energy is of interest because it can do Figure 6 adds decibels of temperature. Each arrow
something useful, such as making a Stirling engine is 6 dB long. Now it's obvious that 6 dB is a 2:1
run. This energy has two dimensions, quantity and absolute temperature ratio in electronics. This
quality. Heat and Hot. They exist together but each temperature relationship is equally true at room
has distinct properties. Neither heat nor hot can ambient, or the cryogenic regions, or at the surface
accomplish anything alone. It takes both, just as of the sun. It's a factor that can be computed
voltage and current are both necessary to deliver mentally in a flash, something most of us can't do
electrical power. Quantity, heat, is a linear concept. with degrees Celsius. The 0 dB pint has been
A hundred calories will accomplish twice as much arbitrarily set at 0 degrees
as 50. Quality, hot, is not linear at all. This may be C, thus dBT is defined as
the biggest block to grasping thermodynamics at an 20 log T1/T2, with T1 the
intuitive level. temperature of interest,
Hot has traditionally been measured in degrees. We
call it temperature. But why do we use linear units and T2 equal to 0 degrees
to describe a phenomenon that is nonlinear for our C, both expressed in
purposes? Let's break out of that tradition, and see absolute degrees.
where it leads. Now we've created a
Degrees in thermodynamics are analogous to volts better bridge between
in electronics. Yet the linear volt is a cumbersome thermodynamics and the
way to describe gain in an amplifier or loss in a human mind. The
cable. Ratios are involved here, not absolute units, statement that a given
and for this purpose the decibel is better suited. engine would run with a
Without the decibel, it's fair to say that electronics 10 degree differential is
could never have made the huge strides we've seen meaningless unless a
in recent history. It's time to grant the same benefits reference temperature is
to thermodynamics. cited, but an engine that
will run on 0.1 dB will do
In Figure 4, all the arrows are the same length, that it anywhere within the
is, each represents an absolute temperature ration of limitations of it's material
2:1. But they don't look the same length, do they? and environment.
Expressing temperature in degrees is the source of
severe distortion that makes some arrows appear A chart for quick
much longer than others. This same effect exists conversion from
mentally, distorting our intuition. temperature to dBT is
shown in Figure 7.
Figure 5 shows similar arrows, now with the Plotted to make Celsius a
degrees distorted. Again, each arrow illustrates a straight line, it provides
2:1 ratio of absolute temperature. This is a first 9 an interesting and
step, but it doesn't do much for human intuition. perhaps surprising
illustration of the nonlinearity of our common
temperature scales.
The importance of dBT is hard to overstate. Each
dB is exactly as useful and important and valuable
as any other. Now it becomes easier to see how
much capability exists in the spread between T(hot)
and T(ambient), and to see where it may be going
astray. Question: Is it a better design compromise
to accept a 200 degree loss in a heater, or a 40
degree loss in a cooler? There is just no way to
answer that without referring to the specific
temperatures and doing the math. But in the dBT
world, a loss in one place of a 0.4 dB can be
directly compared to a loss somewhere else of, say,
1.3 dB. Intuitive.
Carnot faced the same questions of temperature
ratio long ago. Using the decibel just gives us
another viewpoint of that ratio, hopefully providing
a tool more suited to human intuition. But
temperature is only a single dimension of the
problem, we must look further.
Heat and hot. Heat (calories) is linear, and by using
dBT we can express "hot" in a linear manner.
Again, it's necessary to remember that they are as
distinct as current is from voltage. And just as we
can multiply electrical voltage and current to find
power, we can multiply heat and hot to find an
"area" of energy. This simply wasn't practical with
temperature measured in degrees. Each square in
Figure 8 is exactly as valuable as every other
square. Now we can see the relationship
graphically between x axis quantity (heat) and y
axis quality (temperature). To produce an area both
the x and y axes are needed, neither heat nor hot can
do it alone. They can, however, be traded one for
the other. That is, a given number of area units will
do the same job whether that area is composed of
many calories at a small temperature spread, or
fewer calories with a greater delta T. The "area"
can be square, or tall, or short and squat and if it
has the same number of squares, it can do the same
amount of work.
For an example, suppose we are designing a
Stirling engine to operate at an ambient of 33
degrees C (91 F, or 1 dBT). This is shown as point
A in Figure 8. The fuel we have chosen has a
capability, under ideal conditions, of burning at
2450 C (20 dBT), point B. We plan on burning at a
fuel flow rate equivalent to point C. Note that the x
axis can be scaled to any units of heat and time that
may be convenient, such as 10,000 calories per
second, or whatever. Thus, A-B-C-D defines an
area of 19 dBT by 15 quantity units, or 285
squares. And remember that each of these 285
squares contain precisely the same amount of
capability or usefulness.
Now let's examine where this energy is going. See
Figure 9 (on the next page).
Loss #1 in this hypothetical design represents fuel
that passes out the exhaust without burning.
Perhaps due to a bad atomizer design, poor mixture
control, or other mechanical flaw. This is fuel
purchased and consumed without yielding any
benefit. In this example, it represents 10% of total
fuel, or 28.5 squares.
The second loss involves the difference between
the temperature this fuel could have produced
under ideal conditions, and the temperature of
combustion actually realized. Perhaps fuel/air
mixture is to blame here too. 37.8 squares is 13.2%
lost.
Conduction and other thermal losses involving
energy that does not flow through the Stirling cycle
10 are covered in loss #3. These might include loss
due to simple metallic heat conduction, radiant

losses, exhaust temperature rise above ambient, et
cetera. Here we're seeing 40.5 squares, or 14.2%.
We've already lost over 37%, about 62% is still
available to feed into the engine. Loss #4 is the
difference between the combustion temperature
(17.2 dBT) we managed to achieve above, and the
14.6 dBT at the inner surface of the heater. This
stems from thermal conduction loss within the
metallic heater, but also from inefficient transfer
from the burner gasses to the heater structure. Here
we see a loss of 2.6 dB, which represents 28.6
squares or another 10%.
A similar loss exists in the cold side, between
ambient temperature and the actual temp we
manage to achieve at the inner surface of the cooler,
this is loss #5. Chalk up another 30.8 squares
representing 10% of the 285 we purchased from the
fuel supplier.
Now, finally, we're into the engine itself! Loss #6 is
the difference between the heater surface and the
mean temperature of the working fluid, taken at the
hottest point in the cycle. To find this mean, we
must account for all the gas in the system including
any dead volume, not just the gas residing in the hot
chamber. This points out the strong need to
minimize dead volume since any gas not exposed to
the heater won't be heated. Loss #6 represents 48.4
squares, or 17%.
Loss #7 is the mirror image of #6, taken at the
coolest time in the cycle. Again, dead volume, or
incompletely-swept gasses won't be cooled, and will
contribute to the difference between mean gas
temperature and the cooler surface itself. Tally
another 26.4 squares, amounting to 9.3%.
Of the 285 squares of capability, we've managed to
lose 241 of them along the way.
The remaining 44 (15.4%) are available to run the
engine. They represent the thermal energy that
produces the actual rise and fall in pressure that
makes things go around. They must supply
energy to overcome all the internal aerodynamic
drag, all the friction in bearings and other
materials, and if we're lucky leave a little to come
out the shaft as rotary power. This message bears
emphasis. The last thing is the output power, it
only exists as the residual after all the losses are
satisfied.
The above is not discouragement. To the contrary,
it shows the extreme promise of the Stirling once
we identify and minimize each individual loss.
Now we have a way to visualize the relative value
of one design choice over another, taking into
account the relationship of heat and hot.
Of course the numbers above are hypothetical for
the purpose of illustration. A particular real-world
engine will have different numbers in every
department. But the losses are real, and the goal
in each design must be to minimize all losses and
thus maximize the remainder available as output
power.
No attempt has been made to include all the
possible loss mechanisms. It may be helpful to
break the above categories down further. The
intention here is only to demonstrate a way to see
how much capability the fuel contains, and where
it goes.
Finally let us look at one improvement in the
above Stirling design. Again refer to Figure 9.
Mentally make just one change. Drop the ambient
temperature by 2 dBT, to around -30 degrees C.
This moves losses #1, 3, 5, and 7 down 2 dB, and
increases the gross engine power from 44 to 66
units, a 50% improvement. (I'm ignoring a
number of lesser factors here for simplicity.) This
50% improvement in gross power, that is, power
prior to supplying the internal aerodynamic and
friction losses, might equate closer to 100%
improvement in net shaft horsepower. But where
would we find such a cold ambient to operate this
engine? Answer: the higher you go, the colder it
gets. We'll use this engine to power an aircraft.
And that takes us to the subject next time, the
amazing match between the Stirling and the
lightplane. Stay tuned.
11
 The Most Effective Education
Starts With Curiosity...
This engine is powered
by an ice cream cone or
a cup of steaming hot
coffee
Have we made you
curious?
The MM-4, like all engines produced by
American Stirling, is a teaching tool designed to
inspire students with a love for physics. This
transparent Stirling engine will run on the
temperature difference between an ice cream
cone and 23 deg. C. room air. To reverse the
engine, place the MM-4 on a cup of steaming
hot coffee. The flexible piston allows students
to see the effects of the expanding and
contracting gas (air or helium) inside the
engine.
While the MM-4 requires about 23 deg. C of
temperature difference to operate, an engine
such as the MM-6 will run about 120 rpm on
the heat from your warm hand. The Model MM-4 Engine
Here’s how it works.
cold side to the warmer side and is heated.
All American Stirling engines run on the same When the air is heated it expands, which
principles, which we will describe using the increases the pressure inside the entire engine.
MM-4 as an example. Inside the clear cylinder This increase in pressure pushes up on the
is a large yellow foam "displacer". This power piston (rubber diaphragm).
displacer looks like a piston, but has a 3.125
mm (1/8") gap around its outside edge. Air Next the energy stored in the propeller moves
never pushes on the displacer - it flows around the displacer to the warm side of the engine
it. and the air once again flows around the
displacer to the cold side of the engine. When
This engine can be started when either the the air is cooled it contracts, and the pressure
bottom plate or the top plate is heated or drops throughout the entire engine. This drop
cooled to a temperature at least 23 deg. C in pressure pulls down on the power piston and
warmer or colder than the other plate. A gentle the displacer moves back to the cold side,
spin on the propeller is necessary to start the returning the air to the warm side. Then the
engine. cycle starts all over again.
As the yellow foam displacer moves away from 12
the warmer side, most of the air flows from the
Coffee Cup Stirling Engine The MM-1 shown running on a cup of hot
coffee (mug and quarter shown for scale.)
Our Original Version
Model MM-1 $179.00
This is the classic Coffee Cup Stirling engine that is
still our most popular engine. Power this engine at
speeds up to about 250 rpm with a cup of your
favorite steaming hot coffee. We do mean
steaming - this is no place for tepid coffee!

Some customers also enjoy “powering” their

engines by cooling down the bottom side of the
engine to 32 deg. F (0 deg. C) on a pile of ice
chips. This “cold powered” method of running the
MM-1 works well in rooms that are 72 deg. F. (23
deg. C) or warmer.

Model MM-1 $179.00 Shipping: $12.00

domestic, $16.00 international

Heat of Your Hand Engine

Model MM-6 $359.00
This lovely Stirling engine has jewel like ball
bearings and an incredibly slick graphite piston in
a glass cylinder. This engine will run on the
. heat .
of your warm hand in a 72 degree F (23 degree C)
room. You can even run it on a computer .
monitor, fax machine or bright sunlight shining
through a window. This engine truly shows the
beauty and
. magic of our Stirling engines.
.

Model MM-6 $359.00 Shipping: $17.00

domestic, $34.00 elsewhere

Powered by your warm hand -- the MM-6

13 Order online, www.stirlingengine.com

or call: 760-742-2727; fax 858-777-3459
 Build this engine with our kit! Coffee Cup engine kit
Model MM-5 $119.00
Sometimes building an engine is more fun than just
buying one and seeing it run. It’s exciting to see
an engine run for the first time that you built
yourself!

Plan on spending two or three enjoyable evenings

to assemble your MM-5 kit. To make your job
easier we now have an excellent set of online
instructions complete with video clips to help you
build your engine.

All you need to assemble the engine is a needle

nose pliers scissors, a drill bit, some epoxy or
silicone rubber caulking, and tiny bit of superglue.

Model MM-5 $119.00 Shipping: $12.00

domestic, $16.00 international

Intentionally Left Blank

Order online, www.stirlingengine.com

or call: 760-742-2727; fax 858-777-3459 14
 Intentionally Left Blank

Ordering Instructions...
Order online at www.stirlingengine.com or fill out
the order form on the next page and fax it to us.
International customers please remember to fill
out the mailing label at the bottom of the order
form for faster delivery. Make your checks payable
to:

American Stirling Company

2726 Shelter Island Drive #172
Spare Diaphragm for MM-1 through San Diego, Calif. 92106
MM-5
The diaphragm is the most fragile part of Phone: 760-742-2727
these model engines. It is also the only Fax: 858-777-3459
part that wears out. The key component is Email: info74@stirlingengine.com
incredibly hard to find, very thin silicone Internet: www.stirlingengine.com
rubber. Schools and Universities in the United States are
When our engineer first tried to buy this welcome to order using a purchase order. Please
material he spent three days on the phone. fax your purchase order to (858) 777-3459 then
You might want to have a spare. mail the original purchase order to the address
shown above. Remember to include the shipping
cost on your purchase order.
Spare Diaphragm $14.95
Shipping $3.00 domestic, $5.00 international Copyright American Stirling Company ©2002
 American Stirling Company Order Form
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Shipping is the listed price for the first engine, 50% of the listed price for additional engines

Engines Unit Price Qty. Shipping Sub Total

MM-10 Pack of Kits 990.00 X
X
MM-6 Heat of Your Hand Engine 359.00 X
MM-1 Original Transparent Engine 179.00 X
MM-5 Kit Engine (qty. 1) 119.00 X
Spare Diaphragm (for MM-1 & MM-5) 14.95 X
“Around the World by Stirling Engine” 17.95 X
by Brent Van Arsdell

Order online at www.stirlingengine.com

or Fax your order to: 858-777-3459 or Call: 760-742-2727
Order form mailed out with catalog

International Customers
For quicker delivery please fill
in your mailing address in this
box: