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Stirling engine research opportunities


Because Stirling engines are external heat engines, meaning they don't require source of heat inside the engine (unlike IC engines) they have the potential to serve as a common research project with promise for application in a variety of industries


Stirling engines as external heat engines can be used by nuclear, oil and gas and concentrated solar power generators to transform heat into work. Regardless of how you think energy should be generated in short, mid and long term Stirling engines are one area where different Industries can find common ground to collaborate.


Besides in large infrastructure projects like electrical energy generation (more specifically as heat to mechanical energy transducers) stirling engines are useful to automotive, HVAC ,pumping  and cleaning industries. The industries that are focused on doing functional rather than structural work. 


The groups focused on Stirling engine research can isolate themselves completely from the source of energy ,the kind of mechanical output that is required and the application of mechanical output .All they’ve got to do is focus on converting applied heat to mechanical work as efficiently as possible.


Research topics for Stirling engine group


For what different wattages can Stirling engines were practically designed?kilowatt tens of kilowatts? 100s of kilowatts megawatt? gigawatt? what are the limitations?


How much miniaturization of Stirling engines is possible ?electric Motors becomes very small in size(maybe there even exits a mems motor) is it possible to miniature stirling engines?


What would it take to embed a heat exchanger within the engine? How much of energy would the exchanger take to work?


How effective would be chaining of several Stirling engines? scenario: one heat source running multiple Stirling engines each doing a different work


Would it be possible to power the main Stirling engine with a complementary Stirling engine that manages the heat exchanger?


How effective would Stirling engine be in waste heat recycling? What kind of work could be done by such recyclers mechanical? electrical?


What would be the weight to power ratio stirling engines? would they be lighter then IC engines? would they will lighter than electric Motors?


How low can temperature difference be for Stirling engines to perform useful work? At what temperature ranges do material choices begin to matter?


What changes ,if any, would need to be made to the core engine design based on its application?


Economic feasibility of the engine? what would it take for market to accept it? can any plug and play applications be thought of? what kind of Machines will be required for practical manufacturing?


Because Stirling engine is versatile can it's manufacturing become specialized? Stirling engine only manufacturers while end users integrate them into their design?


How to regulate the amount of power generated by Stirling engine?


How would breaking work in Stirling engine powered automobile?


What is the combustion efficiency of oil or coal? how much of theoretical calorific value is actually available as heat?


Would Stirling engines need to complete with internal combustion engines or stream turbines?


Are stream engines/ turbines more or less complicated the Stirling engines?


Why should resources be spent on researching an old technology when turbines can perform just as well?


[Shortcomings of turbines: design longevity,fracture, water hammer drop impacts]


Could Stirling engines be used to create new ways of doing work at locations where it would be difficult to do so if they were not available?


What systems beside Stirling engines can convert stored heat into useful mechanical/ electrical work? how efficient are they?


Can we scale up stored heat systems?


How effectively can heat be stored?


What geographies is would be suitable for constructing heat storage systems?



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