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Stirling Engine
A Stirling engine is a heat engine that operates differently from an internal combustion
engine. It is more efficient than using gasoline or diesel engine but it isn’t very successful in the
market. Stirling engine operates by using the Stirling cycle. In the Stirling engine, only two
pistons are used and there aren’t any exhaust valve therefore the gasses never leave the engine.
No explosion takes place in the engine because of this the Stirling engine is very quiet. Stirling
engine only use external heat energy source which could gasoline, solar energy and even heat
from decaying plants. There are two major types of Stirling engines the alpha configuration, beta
configuration.
The alpha Stirling contains two separate cylinder, one is hot and the other is
cold. In the beginning of the Stirling cycle, the gas is heated which causes the
pressure to increase in a cylinder and gas expands. This forces the piston in the hot
cylinder to move down. Second, the cold piston moves upward. This forces heated
gas to move into the cooled cylinder. The gas is cooled down and pressure in gas is
decrease. Third, the gas is compressed by the piston in the cooled cylinder. Lastly,
the piston in the cooled cylinder is moves up while the other piston moves down.
This forces the gas to back into the heated cylinder. The cycle is repeated.
In the beta Stirling there is only one cylinder with two pistons, power piston and
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
