Stirling Energy Systems' 25 kW solar dish harnesses the power of the sun to make zero emissions energy. Stirling Energy Systems (SES) is a U.S. Phoenix, Arizona based company and recently (April 17, 2008) they announced that the company NTR plc of the United Kingdom had invested $100 million in them to take a controlling stake. On February 12, 2008 Stirling Energy Systems achieved a record 31.25% net efficiency in the conversion of solar energy...

25th October 1790 – 6th June 1878 was a Scottish clergyman, and inventor of the Stirling engine. Born at Cloag Farm near Methven, Perthshire, Stirling was the third of eight children. From 1805 to 1808, he attended Edinburgh University, studying Latin, Greek, Logic, Mathematics and Law. In November 1809 he studied Divinity at Glasgow University and completed five sessions. In 1814, he continued his studies of Divinity at Edinburgh University...

A Gamma type Stirling engine uses a displacer like a Beta Stirling but the power piston is mounted in a separate cylinder alongside the displacer piston cylinder. They are connected to the same flywheel. The gas in the two cylinders can flow freely between them and remains a single body. During the expansion process some of the expansion must take place in the compression space leading to a reduction of specific power.The gamma engine is mechanically...

A Beta type Stirling engine has a single power piston and a displacer within the same cylinder and on the same shaft. The displacer piston is a loose fit and and is used only to move the working gas from the hot heat exchanger to the cold heat exchanger. When the working gas is pushed to the hot end of the cylinder it expands and pushes the power piston. When it is pushed to the cold end of the cylinder it contracts and the momentum of the machine,...

An Alpha type Stirling engine contains two power pistons in separate cylinders. One cylinder is hot and one cold. The hot piston is situated after the higher temperature heat exchanger and the cold piston is situated after the low temperature heat exchanger. (In the diagram below, in the pipe connecting the two cylinders, internal heat exchangers are not shown in the compression and expansion spaces). A regenerator would be placed in the pipe connecting...

A Stirling engine is a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. Or more specifically, a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine with a permanently gaseous working fluid, where closed-cycle is defined as a thermodynamic system in which the working fluid is permanently contained within the system,...

The Stirling engine is a heat engine that is vastly different from the internal-combustion engine in your car. Invented by Robert Stirling in 1816, the Stirling engine has the potential to be much more efficient than a gasoline or diesel engine. But today, Stirling engines are used only in some very specialized applications, like in submarines or auxiliary power generators for yachts, where quiet operation is important. Although there hasn't been...