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I'm thinking in terms of using it to improve the efficiency, rather than being the power source. Interesting. Though I can form no concept of how that might work. Can you explain? Regarding another interesting device. The orifice in the laminar flow Stirling, if it works in some way similar to the ...

Tom Booth wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:29 am this is an interesting thread: Tin Can with Power!!!

Someone says this is a "free piston Mason engine" but I think they mean Manson.

Free piston generally means without a crankshaft, so it counts.

As far as I can determine, the second law of thermodynamics is a dogmatic assertion that many have been very reluctant to challenge in any way for 200 years. Hardly anyone even bothers to try. Ultimately it derived from a false assumption, that heat is a fluid. I've never heard anyone say it's actu...

Make sure any rubber or plastic components are rated for containing stuff like butane. Some fuels will eat away at those that aren't.

I was intrigued with those vortex tubes years ago, even going so far as to build one myself. It did work. Not great, but I did get noticably cold air out one side and hot (warmish rather) out the other. Not a great way to create a temperature difference to run a Stirling engine though, as it takes ...

It would certainly be quite interesting to see if an off the shelf "high temperature" Stirling, charged with alcohol could run efficiently on a "low grade" heat source. After watching those water rocket videos, I'm looking forward to the little LTD Stirlings I ordered arriving, ...

As I understand it, getting a phase change gets you more pressure, but it takes longer to change it back down to liquid without a proper condenser. I May be off about that though. According to the chart, good old moonshine has a suitable boiling point for stirling or lamina type engines. From what ...

I don't think I'd try using alcohol in any heat engine powered by an open flame or high heat, but now I'm wondering what the effect might be of putting some alcohol into a sealed "heat of your hand" type LTD engine, or an LTD running on ice. Would the alcohol phase change between ice and ...

Anyway, actually seeing what laminar flow is and what it looks like from such water nozzle videos, gives some insight how a laminar flow Stirling works and why it can work without a flywheel. The air/heat/kinetic energy flow is so narrow and focused there is a greater transfer of energy to the pist...

I'm skeptical that arrangement could work as intended. What is to prevent the air heating up more or less "instantly", as well as the tube being already filled with hot air from previous cycles? To operate as described, wouldn't the engine have to run at a very slow RPM to give time for s...

Alcohol has a pretty low evaporation point compared to water for example. Might be suitable if you needed higher torque and lower speed.

To reiterate Tesla's argument: "Heat, though following certain general laws of mechanics, like a fluid, is not such; it is energy which may be converted into other forms of energy as it passes from a high to a low level.... If the process of heat transformation were absolutely perfect, no heat...

How, and/or why does air "go into the tube"? The first piston, pump/compressor must force air into a hot tube. The air will be heated immediately as the air goes in while the valve is still open. Aside from what is powering this pump/compressor, enabling it to do this, why would there not...

I would want a cam for the displacer because the displacer is the mechanism used for delivering heat to power the engine and the heat input needs to be timed like the spark in an IC engine. The displacer is designed to be very light so it can be easily moved carrying little momentum or inertia. The...

Well, upon running for some time, these engines appear to achieve a balance as far as heat input and heat utilization and/or output. Personally I just find it strange the piston returns at all without a flywheel. Talking about recoil. A bullet does not stop some distance down the barrel of a gun an...