danwat1234 wrote:Carnot / Stirling heat engines are cool because they far exceed the efficiency of today's piston cycle engine; OTTO (regular cars), Atkinson (full hybrids) and HCCI (Diesel). I could see a Stirling engine being in a plug-in hybrid as a range extender for great MPG. The thing that Stirling lacks in is immediate power changes so it can't be a direct part of the drivetrain. Not to mention, probably not a lot of power output for a given physical size.

Ok, so it's super efficient, but impractical to the point of being completely useless.

I guess that's why we still use petroleum for so many things (mind you, I'd love to see us use it less).

Not completely useless.... Stirlings are used in submarines, apparently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland_class_submarine

TroyO wrote:Not completely useless.... Stirlings are used in submarines, apparently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland_class_submarine

Another practical use of a Stirling engine is this, if you heat one side and cool the other they make motion, but if you spin the engine, one side gets hot, and the other side can get really cold like Liquid Nitrogen cold on a really efficient one, it is called a Stirling cooler. One problem with these coolers is that sometimes when you try to turn them off they can begin outputting motion until the hot and cold sides get closer in temperature.

Here is a real world example of a Stirling cooler in practice use, it costs about $12000, but you would probably be the only kid on the block that had one.

http://www.canberra.com/products/detectors/cryostats-coolers-cryocycle.asp

Now I wonder, of I hook the Stirling they are selling here to a motor can I use it to keep beer cold?

Secunza wrote:Nope, I only found the alcohol (Additional Items Needed)

Sorry for the delay but my wife wake up and she ask me what the hell was I looking for and when I told her "a Ni-MH battery that ThunderThighs told me I must have around" her answer was not polite... AT ALL.

Is that because she used all the batteries for her "toys"?

Hmmmmm ... maybe you can attach this Stirling engine for her toys. Not only will it supply electricity, but the gentle vibrations can only help!