IZation Labs

Not quite steam engines, and certainly not ICE’s, Stirling engines seem to be in a class all of their own. A stirling engine uses temperature differences to, in most cases, generate mechanical motion. The working fluid is a gas, and is in a completely closed cycle, ie, no new gas should ever be introduced or lost during normal operation. The easiest to understand example of a Stirling engine is the traditional ‘coffee cup’ engine.

The engine in this video ‘feeds’ off of the heat coming from a coffee cup full of hot water. The gas moves back and forth between the internal chambers, and moves (in this case) a vertical rod that turns the wheel. When the top of the engine cools the warm air, the cycle repeats. The faster this cycle takes place, the more mechanical work that will be done! Here’s another well built Stirling engine.

This one runs off of the heat of two torches. When the heat is removed, it takes time for the engines to slow down, because the residual heat has to ‘burn off’ .

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