Hot air engines, often called Stirling engines, are among the most interesting and intriguing engines ever to be designed. They run on just about any fuel, from salad oil and hydrogen to solar and geothermal energy. They produce a rotary motion that can be used to power anything, from boats and buggies to fridges and fans. This book demonstrates how to design, build, and optimise Stirling engines. A broad selection of Roy’s engines is described, giving a valuable insight into the many different types and a great deal of information relating to the home manufacture of these engines is included in the workshop section.

Some 200 years after the original invention, internal design of a Stirling engine has come to be considered a specialist task, calling for extensive experience and for access to sophisticated computer modelling. The low parts-count of the type is negated by the complexity of the gas processes by which heat is converted to work. Design is perceived as problematic largely because those interactions are neither intuitively evident, nor capable of being made visible by laboratory experiment. There can be little doubt that the situation stands in the way of wider application of this elegant concept. Stirling Cycle Engines re-visits the design challenge, doing so in three stages. Firstly, unrealistic expectations are dispelled: chasing the Carnot efficiency is a guarantee of disappointment, since the Stirling engine has no such pretentions. Secondly, no matter how complex the gas processes, they embody a degree of intrinsic similarity from engine to engine. Suitably exploited, this means that a single computation serves for an infinite number of design conditions. Thirdly, guidelines resulting from the new approach are condensed to high-resolution design charts – nomograms. Appropriately designed, the Stirling engine promises high thermal efficiency, quiet operation and the ability to operate from a wide range of heat sources. Stirling Cycle Engines offers tools for expediting feasibility studies and for easing the task of designing for a novel application. Key features: Expectations are re-set to realistic goals. The formulation throughout highlights what the thermodynamic processes of different engines have in common rather than what distinguishes them. Design by scaling is extended, corroborated, reduced to the use of charts and fully Illustrated. Results of extensive computer modelling are condensed down to high-resolution Nomograms. Worked examples feature throughout. Prime movers (and coolers) operating on the Stirling cycle are of increasing interest to industry, the military (stealth submarines) and space agencies. Stirling Cycle Engines fills a gap in the technical literature and is a comprehensive manual for researchers and practitioners. In particular, it will support effort world-wide to exploit potential for such applications as small-scale CHP (combined heat and power), solar energy conversion and utilization of low-grade heat.

Air Engines is a comprehensively illustrated, self contained and readable account of the evolution of the air engine, of its many applications of the latest techniques of design and of future applications. Air Engines spans the entire subject from previously undisclosed technical details of Robert Stirling's original inventions of 1816 through to engines designed and under construction in 2001. The simplest treatment yet published of the regenerator allows optimum design (wire diameter and mesh number) to be read from charts in terms of proposed operating conditions (pressure and rpm). Air Engines will be considerable interest to all those involved with prime movers, power generation, Stirling and air engines. Additionally engineers dealing with the various applications of the thermal regenerator, with energy efficiency and with conservation issues will find this excellent volume of value. COMPLETE CONTENTS: Air engines The Stirling engine Later single-cylinder Stirling engines The Philips engines Modern knowledge ... and all that Reassessment Post-revival The regenerator problem Two decades of optimism Thermodynamic design Completing the picture By intuition - or by design? The heyday to come In praise of Robert Stirling.

For Stirling engines to enjoy widespread application and acceptance, not only must the fundamental operation of such engines be widely understood, but the requisite analytic tools for the stimulation, design, evaluation and optimization of Stirling engine hardware must be readily available. The purpose of this design manual is to provide an introduction to Stirling cycle heat engines, to organize and identify the available Stirling engine literature, and to identify, organize, evaluate and, in so far as possible, compare non-proprietary Stirling engine design methodologies. This report was originally prepared for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U. S. Department of Energy.

Do you know how to make a working engine from soda cans? You do now! The Quick and Easy Stirling Engine book will show you every detail you need to know. There are no difficult secrets and no expensive parts to buy. With two soda cans and a few other materials you can build a running engine in just a few hours.The engine featured in this book was designed for use in educational settings. Consulting with several educators, this engine was designed so that it could be assembled with simple hand tools by most builders in about three hours. The parts list is simple and affordable. Simple hand tools are all that is required for assembling this engine.Once assembled, the engine will spin a flywheel when the bottom is heated and ice is placed on top. This is a hot air engine design, sometimes referred to as a Stirling Engine. The engine makes motion by exercising a temperature differential. The bottom half of the engine must be warmed to about 250 degrees F, and the top of the engine must be cooled with cold water or ice. When these conditions are present, the engine will spin between 100 and 200 rpm.The primary components of this engine are soda cans, copper wire, and an old CD. The adhesive that is used for construction is readily available at hardware stores. This engine is a fun project for students, home builders, hobbyists, and anyone who wants to learn how to make their own hot air engine from soda cans.