If a tsunami hits the Washington coast in the next 6 days, you can know where I'll be: Davy Jones' locker. That's right, vacation time has rolled around again and so I will cut myself off from the connected world and spend some time getting sand between my toes, wind in my stubble and my senses filled with all things beachy.
Looks like I already missed the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, but I'm sure it will still be nice to see tonight.
One last link. I wonder if these guys have a few mirrors to spare, and an azimuth tracking motor, and maybe event a stirling engine just lying about the shop they could give me? What's it going to take to get my sweaty little hands on one of these bad boys?
6 comments :
I think Stirling was the original name on the multi-stage refrigeration system that your great Uncle Jim patented. He showed me a prototype in the machine shop when we were visiting there...on the same vacation that you fell and cut your lip in Iowa.
Do you have any idea how the Stirling power conversion engine converts heat to electricity?
What goes around comes around. Stirling Castle is the reigning seat of the Erskine clan! Bonnes vacances.
I'm back to answer my own question.
A Stirling Cycle Engine converts heat to kinetic energy, or kinetic energy to heat (or cooling) by moving gas between chambers that are compressed or decompressed by a reciprocating piston. Although the concept was introduced in 1813, they were not popular because it was easier to get work out of petroleum-based (polluting) engines.
I found two articles that explain them: one shows diagrams and equations to explain the theory, and the other describes the design evolution, shows production prototypes and discusses "green engineering." Both articles seem fairly old.
Uncle Jim's invention was a multi-stage version of the Stirling Cycle engine. I think the pistons were mechanically connected, and the gas moved from the first stage piston into the second stage, and so on. It was a way to amplify the cooling effect, and it is currently being used in combination with the SQUID technology in medical applications.
Cool information (pardon the pun). I hadn't realized that Uncle Jim's invention was based on Stirling Cycle refridgeration. I was interested in buying a stirling cogenerator from Whispertech, but I think they quoted me $15,000, which seemed too much. The cost of the engine seems to be the only drawback to these things. Hopefully as more are made, those costs will drop.
Here's a neat paper on uncle Jim I haven't seen before:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/77/19884/00919524.pdf?arnumber=919524
There's no reason why a Stirling Cycle engine should cost a lot. Uncle Jim built one out of tubing and rod that he bought at the hardware store, and connected it to a used sewing machine motor.
That URL you posted connected me to a logon page, not an article. Please double-check the link and post it again. I'd really like to see the article.
When you post a URL, it would be nice if you would enclose it in an "<a href>URL goes here</a>" tag.
Hey, wait a minute! Why are you posting messages here? Are you back from vacation so soon?
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