A great way to learn about Stirling engines is to get a Stirling engine kit, which is basically a kit for building a small version of a Stirling engine. What first got me fascinated in Stirling engines was watching YouTube videos of small model Stirling engines. At the time it seemed “magical” that an engine could run with just a (hot and cold) temperature difference. It was something that I’ve never seen before, and it was this observation that really solidified the concept of “heat engine” for me. It signaled the beginning of my own journey into the world of Stirling engines, and learning everything I can about them. As a result, many posts on this blog are about Stirling engines.
The figure below shows a picture of a model Stirling engine. It uses an alcohol burner as the heat source. The finned cylinder at the top is the cold “source”, which cools the working gas in the engine (which is air, in this case).
This engine runs at high rpm, due to the large temperature difference between the hot and cold source.
Here’s a video of this type of engine:
The figure below shows another picture of a model Stirling engine. It’s a low temperature difference (LTD) engine, capable of running on the temperature difference between the palm of your hand and the surrounding air. This engine runs at low rpm, due to the small temperature difference between hot and cold source.
Here’s a video of this type of engine:
You can get a Stirling engine kit in numerous online stores. They can be a bit expensive though, ranging from under $100 to several hundred dollars. It depends on how fancy you want to go.
I did a Google search and I found some links, which take you to websites where you can purchase Stirling engine kits. These links are given below:
http://www.ministeam.com/acatalog/Bohm_Stirling_Engines_and_Kits.html
http://gyroscope.com/StirlingEngines/
You can also buy a Stirling engine kit through Amazon.com. The links below take you to the different Amazon pages that list various Stirling engine kits.
