/sci/ - Science & Math

Why aren't commercially available Stirling engines a thing yet?
https://vimeo.com/349210053

>>7259265
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

Why not use a series of stirling engines in a sort of daisy chain?  If you're unaware of what they are:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine -- which I realize is similar to using thermocouples, but I think different enough to warrant consideration.

What I think might make them somewhat useful in such a capacity is that you have on the one hand a mechanical engine that operates based off of thermal differences and if, instead of using it as a power source, hook one up to a motor and apply mechanical energy to the engine, it makes one side hot and the other side cold.

To start with, you'd have one with its cold side on the outside and hot side on the inside. This will power another one, but the powered one will have the hot side on the outside and cold side on the inside. The powered one will have a sort of radiator deal to pair it's hot side with another stirling engine's hot side (which will also have it's "cold" side on the inside--and even though space is cold as hell, radiant cooling is also slow as hell (plus this is a setup to get rid of heat so it doesn't really matter how much is bled off), you still should be able to maintain a large enough temperature differential to keep that last one working. At about this point I think you'll run into the law of diminishing returns (each stirling engine'll only have an efficiency of about 30%).

>Air is drawn in
>Fuel is injected/drawn somehow
>Both enter a combustion chamber inside the engine, where they burn (hence, "internal combustion")
>The heat generated causes gases to expand, doing work which is extracted and put to good use
If that's not what you're looking for, you're gonna have to be more specific. I'd be happy to help out if I knew what it is you wanted.

Pic tangentally related; it's a type of external combustion engine.

>>2922307
>Pedal-powered refrigerator
You want to actually do this?
Make it use an all-gas Stirling Cycle, post the results on /sci/ and I'll love you forever.