Self-sufficiency and Off Grid - DIY Resources Only!

carson_kosloski wrote: What if I told you that there is an engine out there that can potentially be much quieter and more efficient than a gasoline or diesel engine? A Stirling engine runs on an external heat source that can be anything from solar energy to a candle. They are currently only used for very specific and seemingly obscure purposes, like running a military submarine or powering scientific research stations in Antarctica, but hopefully, with enough research and experimentation, the Stirling engine can soon power some of our every day items.

To understand how a Stirling engine turns heat energy into mechanical work, we will create a Stirling cycle out of a tin can and some other household items. For this tin can Stirling engine, a candle will heat up air inside of a tin can, causing a displacement cylinder to rise and fall. The displaced air inside the can will cause two wooden rods to rotate a crankshaft, and the crankshaft will rotate a wheel.

For this experiment, you will need:

tin can (ours was a standard soup can--about 10.5cm x 7cm, but you can make other sizes work)
thread
balloon
2 thumb tacks
wire coat hanger (thin enough to bend)
wood and a wood cutter (we just used pieces of scrap wood and cut them to the dimensions we needed)
paper clip
screws
drill
glue
candle