Hot Air Lamina Flow Engine Stirling Moteur Motor

[Crusoe92]

what is the steel wool's purposes?



[hybrid124]

tabs plz

[dextor314]

Hook that thing to a dynometer and see how many watts it produces, then find the total chemical energy contained in the wax by measuring the energy given off from burning the whole candle and using the amount of time it takes to burn the whole candle determine the power given off from the flame, then find the efficiency of the engine, factor in the cost of the candle and see if you could generate cheaper electricity for your house with a couple thousand of these. Just thinking too much again.

[cyberdustz]

Instead of glass, is it possible to use copper tube? Or must the hot side be thermally isolated from the cold side and the rest?

[fuzzymonkey777]

@cyberdustz I haven't tried metal yet so I'm not certain. I have put a small piece of copper tubing right over top of the place where you apply heat. That helped reduce melting from a propane torch. You may need some cooling fins to stop the flow of heat from the hot to the cold side.

[chrisuntch]

What is in the glass?

[fuzzymonkey777]

@chrisuntch Inside of that glass is steel wool, some times called a brillow pad. It's just shredded strands of steel.

[Sam21412]

how airtight is the piston in the test tube. I'm trying to built a lamina flow engine using fine steel wool and an aluminium piston made from chicken foil. I manage to make the piston smooth enough but the problem is that it leaves a little bit of space between(1 mm or less) the test tube and the piston. I tried running the engine and it doesn't work I didn't install the flywheel just wanted to see if it is capable of pushing the piston. And it didn't :(

[fuzzymonkey777]

@Sam21412 It is very airtight. If you were to push the piston into the cylinder and hold it there, even after 30 seconds it would still push itself out from the pressure that is still built up inside of it. That is the most critical part of the engine. I used an Actuator from Airpot. Search for Airpot on Google. They gave me a free sample of an actuator and that's what I used there. They may still give out free samples.

[london1817]

That is awesome!

[fuzzymonkey777]

@london1817 Thank you. 8-)

[neem2345]

what is the weight of the flywheel you used....

[fuzzymonkey777]

That flywheel was like 4.5 inches in diameter and it was around a quarter inch thick. I would say it weighs about 800 grams give or take. Almost a half pound.

[neem2345]

thank you very much sir...

[neem2345]

can i know the material of the restrictor you used....

[fuzzymonkey777]

I believe it is regular steel. It might be stainless. I got the main piece from Airpot look them up they were giving away free samples of what they call and Actuator. That actuator includes the graphite piston inside the glass tube and it has a steel or stainless steel threaded end which is ideal for mounting to a vertical support.

[jonskowitz]

Interesting variation on the Stirling cycle. I imagine that these aren't very efficient due to large amounts of unswept volume in the hot-side?

[fuzzymonkey777]

I'm not sure how efficient they are. But their simlicity is impressive. My other engine video shows a newer version of this engine being powered by the sun using a fresnel lens.

[jonskowitz]

Very impressive indeed. Simplicity is what drew me to the Stirling cycle in the first place. I have plans on propane-fired marine outboards so efficiency is important to me.

All the same, the absolute minimalism of the Lamina flow version has me wanting to build a few models for testing purposes and see how they compare to alpha- and beta- engines of the same volume.

[adambus77]

Man, I constructed one Stirling engine (have movie) but I didn't know about this type. This is just amazing! 5*

[Kazukiro]

Hey! This video is awesome :) And uhh, woa! I did not know they made digital tachometers like that; i wonder how it can record the angular frequency from a distance like that. Also uh, I have a question ^^. On all laminar flow engines i've seen, they have something on the outside of the test tube covering the choke (or whatever you call the piece that shortens the diameter inside the test tube.) The covering on the outside isn't needed, right? It's probably just for support?

[fuzzymonkey777]

Yes all you need is the hole between the hot and cold side which is 5.5 mm in diameter. And the graphite piston needs to be tight yet move freely. There is a metallic washer holding some rubber washers against the vertical support beam and these rubber washers are holding the test tube snugly against the vertical support beam.

[Kazukiro]

Ah, thanks so much!

[cybergothiche2]

@fuzzymonkey777

Where you have the metal washer holding the rubber washers which is holding down the test tube, how does it hold the tube, does your tube have a lip, and also, how did you get such a gas tight seal with subber washers? did you drill through the washers, or were they smaller than the distance between the screws?

[fuzzymonkey777]

@cybergothiche2 Sounds like you hope to build one of these. 8-) Those rubber washers have a hole in them that is exactly the size of the test tube I used. The test tube slips in with just a little resistance and then when I tighten down the metal washer it squeezes the rubber washers even more so they form a tight seal around the test tube. There is no lip on the test tube. The rubber washers are from home depot and the box of test tubes I bought just happened to fit perfect. Good Luck.

[xXxHipHopMasterxXx]

how does this engine exatly work?

[fuzzymonkey777]

Hot and Cold my friend, Hot and Cold. The side with the flame under it is hot so it pushes the piston out. There is a small hole (about a quarter inch) between the piston and the hot side. Once the hot air gets to the side of that hole with the piston it cools down just enough to suck the piston back in.

[30GB]

make the flywheel lighter for more speed

[fuzzymonkey777]

That's not a bad idea. I wonder if it might start easier too.

[tommysbrowncaddy]

NICE MUSIC.......NOT!

[Skaterpenis]

wouw

thats cool

i want to make a engine like this too, but i don´t really know how

can you help me?^^

[n4120p]

Thank you for your model and video, I'm interested a bit did, you run any numbers like eficiency numbers heat imput versus mechanical output, if you load that wheel a litle would stay runing,wolud it produce 1/4 or 1/2 watt, seems a litle hesitant to start the cycle I don't see any valving how is the principle just compresion and expansion in a closed vessel in resonance with the wheel frequency??? well if you can answer some of this questions,,, congratulations for the demo. Ernest

[vvv134]

thx a lot.i guess ill have to make the o rings on my own as i cant get any here(india :P).also,i ordered the actuator from airpot but looks like making the support column with the restrictor is gonna be a little tough.

[vvv134]

iam doing this for a project but i got some questions

how did you couple the piston cylinder set to heater tube?

what is the reduction in dia from test tube to cylinder

where did you get the o rings?

[fuzzymonkey777]

The piston cylinder set is an Actuator from Airpot. They are expensive but perfect for the job. They come with a threaded metal piece on the one end and a washer so it is easy to attach to the support beam. The test tube is 9/16" (14 mm) in diameter and the power piston cylinder is 5/8" (16 mm). Between these 2 cylinders the opening is 7/32" (5.5 mm). The 0-rings are from Home Depot and they are perfect for the pyrex test tubes I got from Ebay. Send me more questions if you like.

[PalmRunner]

Congratulations for the nicely running engine Fuzzymonkey! Nice job, but I think you should be able to get some more rpm out of it. Have you enlarged the opening in the mounting stud of the airpot set? What about frictions in the flywheel bearings? Is it running completely free?

Regards.

[fuzzymonkey777]

I have enlarged the opening to 5.5 mm (7/32") and I am using two bearings meant for RC cars. The flywheel seems to rotate freely, but perhaps it can be improved. Where did you get your bearings?

[PalmRunner]

I've got my bearings from a local hobby shop. They are very small: OD 7mm, ID 3mm if remember well. RC cars bearings are usually sealed and filled with dense grease which can be a problem for such a low power engine. Remove the shield and clean the grease with benzine. Put few drops of some very light oil like WD40 and try again.

[mowerofdoom]

Hi fuzzymonkey.

Got any design tips? I want to build one!

I can see you had a few goes at getting the piston throw right!!

Was there a lot of fiddling involved to get it to run?

[fuzzymonkey777]

There was a lot of trial and error while making this. I would suggest buying a piston/cylinder set from Airpot. I tried making my own a few times but they don't compare to the professionally made ones. Other than that just be patient.

[mowerofdoom]

Thanks for the advice. I am a little bewildered at the range of dashpot sizes so I'm going to look around at other engines before spending any money.

regards G.

[tomterahedrob]

good job.Airpot awhile back had free samples.What would the set cost?Any chance one could scale up the Pyrex cylinder and pressures?

[fuzzymonkey777]

I called Airpot and the lady on the phone said they are 60 dollars a piece. As for scaling, it's possible. But the pressure would be hard to elevate. While building these it seems the engine will not run until a certain amount of pressure is relieved from the engine. Perhaps if it was completely sealed off at the open end one could take advantage of higher pressures.

[tomterahedrob]

thanks!shit!they used to be free as part of some design kit!Im amazed what one can do with Pyrex.Ive got a big box of em I got free years ago.Remember the commercial where the aluminum pan MELTS in the Pyrex pan?THATS WHY I think Pyrex maybe could be a superior or poor mans ceramic engine material.

[latheworks]

Not bad! Not too complicated either. First proyect?

Keep posting more vids like this.

Thanks!

[fuzzymonkey777]

I have made a few of these, this one is the best I have made so far.

[PakdeHari]

nice bro

I never finishsed build stirling lamina :)

[simi112]

Very, very good!

[fuzzymonkey777]

I'm glad you like it, thanks.

[tomatoist]

so when can i get more car to run on that?