In my machine shop class, the final project was set in front of us and we were told: "Build this (Stirling) engine." I went nuts, building couplings, ball checks, things not required to simply hook the finished product up to the compressed air and let it run. Oh, the things I imagined building with it.
But then I love that stuff. I have copies of the 'Boy Mechanic' series. ("The ideal book for every wide awake boy.") As a kid I checked out the various books like that from the library and did all kinds of things with them. If only there weren't already better ways to do the things depicted in those books. I love the idea of building an all metal or all wood car, but I've been to school for composites and I understand which is the better way to go. I wanted to make either the Flymobile http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/popular-mechanics/The-Boy-Mechanic-1000-Things-for-Boys-to-Do/How-To-Make-A-Flymobile.html or maybe the boys motor car. (Starting on the 8th page here of the entire Vol. 3, ONLY 800 THINGS FOR A BOY TO DO!) http://www.scribd.com/doc/58600984/The-Boy-Mechanic-Vol-3-800-Things-for-Boys-to-Do
Of course this would be powered by whatever Stirling engine I needed to build, plus my 10 gallon portable air tank. Once I'm done with it, where would I keep it?
Modern medical science has found a use for leeches, a creature that will gladly suck dry an infected cyst, etc. In the right situation you can use almost anything. That Stirling engine sure does throw off a lot of heat into those homes, I understand that's the key to making it useful, capturing and venting that heat into the house. So do I also understand you don't want to run your Sterling on a hot day? You can build something to work some of the time, you can build something to work much of the time, I'd prefer to build something that works about all of the time.
Not sure how much money Detroit spent trying to create a "Modern" Stirling to be at least less polluting, more efficient. The short answer to the question of what happened is to say they failed. But oh, there was such great promise.
A lot of things work on paper; I even have a certificate that says I'm some sort of machinist. But ultimately it has to work in a practical manner. They tried so hard to mix water into aviation fuel during WWII, not only to save fuel but to carry the heat away from the engine in a manner better than the unburned fuel does. A basic inefficiency of the internal combustion engine is that it needs to vaporize unburned fuel for the cooling action. Using water instead looked so good on paper, they just needed to make one of their ingenious approaches work. Now you have alcohol fuel, which readily mixes with water. Alcohol doesn't carry away as much heat as gasoline does, but water carries more. Will they really be able to use water in alcohol? Can they keep it from rusting out the engine? Will it (Insert problem here)?
I like novel approaches. I do not like enormous hopes attached to bandaid solutions. There's a reason the use of the Stirling engine diminished, that reason is that it's not as good. Space X right here in Southern California is building space delivery vehicles with off the shelf technology, they just read what's been done in the past and recycle that technology for a fraction of the cost. They may get a lot of satellites into space for considerably less than the cost of NASA, but they won't be coming up with the next big thing.
Don't know whatever came of my Stirling engine, though I'm sure it's around the house here somewhere. Darn, but I have to be realistic about my chances of building the next big thing. Ah well, I was the kid that build the treehouses in the neighborhood, today I fix or build something that leaves people asking "How did you do that?" Even when it's not so impressive, it's more than they can do. The way I DIDN'T do it is by letting myself become addicted to an ideal that just HAS to work, it just HAS TO.
I may never build or fix the next big thing, I may never build the electric offroader that wins the Baja 1000. (I have great fun trying to come up with a way.) But lord protect me from ever building the next Dean Drive!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive
http://deanspacedrive.org/?p=376
And it can be all yours.
http://terrificshare.com/search/%7B9A08D6BB-EF2E-48C1-A610-ACB56B578839%7D.htm
Thanks for posting this. It sure is interesting to think about not paying what we do for our power here. And possibly a more efficient way of keeping the home running!
