Stirling engine pellet experiment

[StirlingEngine123]

I realy like your engine! It's design and even the sound... i even don't know wath to say about it! lol lol You should continuing working on it and achieve the 500W as u wanted. Acctualy, I dont know if u make any chages already, but how many horse power does it produced or produces? Tkx

[frackcha]

@railrdr523 gas engine, 80% efficient?? you mean 20% right?

[24max]

Oh man you are so right. It doesen't produce more energy than is feeded in :O

[111fishkiller]

It would be cool, if it had the HORSE POWER to run a pellet mill or turn a generator.

I am a mechanical nutcase too, don't get me wrong here but, JUST to see it rin is bullshit.

If it takes more fuel/resources to run it, than HP+ Torque it puts out, it's just an interesting piece of shit.

[PKMartin]

Cool! Did you build the engine yourself? Using HTD stirling engines for renewable power is an interest of mine- you can use concentrated solar in hot places and biomass fuel for combined heat and power in cold places, I think it would be a great advance. The only problem is the cost of commercial engines... are you aiming for "power independence" if you complete the 500 watt model?

[24max]

Yep, that is built and "designed" by me. Energy independence would be great, I pay for 500€ / year for the electric company to keep the powerlines connected + about 1000€ for the power I use. And getting powerlines to my cottage would cost about 3000€.

[Leberteich]

Good job, but a suggestion for improvement: Don't just burn the pellets in a heap, burn them in a wood gas stove. They're easy to make, basically a can in a can, plenty of vids on here. Wood gas stoves burn much hotter, and that makes the Sterling engine more efficient.

[beuteljc]

@Leberteich

And you get the benefits of the Wood Gas, reducing the emissions from the wood fire and gain the efficiencies of the Stirling as you mentioned. By the way, this does not stop on a cloudy day! Excellent job, excellent comment!!

[deauzie]

could you intergrate it into a stove to cook on ?

is it the most efficent sterling engine design ?

Could you silence it ?

Could it produce enough power to run a radio and 2 low voltage lights ?

[barumman]

Have you done a brake test on it to get some idea as to what your output is?

It looks good, well done, thanks for sharing

[24max]

I haven't been braking it yet, but I'll estimate somewhere around 100w... Check the latest video "Red Hot Stirling Engines" where it performs much better. I'm lookin for a simple, fast and cheap way to measure the power. Might be the prony brake.

[AlternativePowerMan]

@24max Cheap and simply way to measure power would be a car alternator.

[rusnanerces]

good

[SpiritsoftheWolf]

sounded like a detroit diesel, good job

[InTheSticks1881]

I wish I could buy one of these or the plans.

[24max]

No problem! 15700€ and its yours! (+ sending). I'm planning to draw plans, but not yet...

[InTheSticks1881]

Too steep for me! Perhaps I can afford the plans...

[Gazerbeam72]

How much does the power output vary with the ambient air temperatures? Summer vs Winter?

[24max]

I don't know. I have been making changes all the time so can't compare.

[Bigjohnnywad]

GREAT job..what do you have it hooked up to to catch the energy?

[necromancer74x9]

he could hook it to a generator & build the next one with a pellet powered lathe.

[24max]

Final goal is to charge batteries with stepping motor or car alternator. Then use that energy to light my cottage...

[Bigjohnnywad]

Awesome idea..if you do that please post the videos as I would like to do that also!

[natony0please]

if your still pursuing this you should really hook it up to a permanent magnet alternator( like whats used in wind mills) they are not too expensive if you make it yourself and youll be able to get more effeciency out of your low variable rpm

[24max]

I have a savonius windturbine attached to permanent magnet stepping motor as a power source at my cottage. I'm planning to hook that motor to my stirling when the time is ready... But yes, permanent magnets is the key word...

[hsigamj]

excellent idea, thats the way to do it, I have done it successfully, get good batteries, and get an electric scooter, wow, no gas, joe m

[CITRATODESODIO]

It sounds like my grandmother's loundry

[24max]

Is it home made? Could your grandmother give some tooling tips?

[Bigjohnnywad]

He and his grandmother do not know shit about tooling and you bet on that! LOL

[Bigjohnnywad]

Pinche Naco

[sunwindwaterenergy]

try a solar concentrator for free heat source

[diymania]

It sounds like a diesel!

[stirlingswede]

Lovely engine!

It's a bit unclear in the vid but it must be 2 parallell beta engines, right?

Do you mind posting some data? like stroke, bore and piston phasing, would be really interesting!

My goal is to build a wood burner engine some day and any data from a working engine would be a great reference to start with, so I don't have to do all the mistakes myself..

My engines so far are way too small to do any real work, but they add calmness when they run quietly on the mantle piece.

[24max]

Thanks! I added some data to video info. When I get it to run better, feel free to visit Finland to see it in action...

[stirlingswede]

Ok, now I see how it works, impressive!

It's not easy to get a homemade alpha engine to run well, overcoming friction, sealing and heat distortion problems but yours seems to run pretty well!

My choice will probably be a BIG gamma engine, less sensitive to piston leakage and a simpler low pressure design.

Keep up the good work!

[IQchallenged]

Its nice to see someone building a stirling that actually generated power. 500 watts would be quite an achievement. I wonder if using cpu heat sinks inside the engine (against the heated plate side) would help transfer heat to the inside air and improve hp.

[jommy99]

Cool wonder how it would run on waste veg oil, if you get a chance check out my burners.

[24max]

Nice burners! I believe it would be easier to make stirling run efficiently with your burners than burning wood because vegetable oil probably burns much cleaner? But here in Finland it's more difficult to find oil than wood...

[JimmyVolmer]

Is that a bench grinder on there? lol

[24max]

No, squirrel cage motor, blower removed. First I thought that bench grinder would do fine, but normally they are 2 pole systems and rotating 3000rpm/50Hz, so I think that It would not be so efficient when using as a generator with small rpm? At this moment theres flywheel in the place of the electric motor.

[24max]

Yes, a wery smallish at this moment. I believe that power is at maximum < 50W, 500W in next 10 years...

[bottholio]

outstanding would it turne a smallish generator?

[diymania]

It sounds like a low rpm diesel engine :D

[24max]

Not yet 500W. I'm planning to power a small cottage with this engine and a wood stove. In next 10 years...

[tomterahedrob]

500w?did itdo it?ever heard of a Stirling in co-generation running off of a woodstove and heating yor house more efficiently in the process?

[24max]

I added a link to my homepage, theres only one picture of this engine at the moment. I'm planning to take good pictures of ewery part and show them allso when I find the engine good enough. I don't recommend to copy the engine yet because many parts are due to change. But theres no secrets if you wanna see inside, maybe someday here founds a timelapse video where I tear it down... In a good lighting...

[fuzzymonkey777]

Very nice video. I would love to see this baby in better lighting with some close ups of the cylinders and some views while it's not running.  But nice video thanks for posting it.

[24max]

Easiest way is to buy a ready made engine, or a kit or good plans. Hardest possible way is to "invent" your own design and make all the parts by yourself. For the engine in the video you will need expensive tools like lathe and tig.

[DrCahill]

If I was interested in using a stirling engine to generate electricty from a brush firewood. How would I go about building it?