[chbot] Test Tubes for Stirling Engine

[Paul Davey]

On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 8:19 PM, Chris Hellyar <chris at trash.co.nz> wrote:
> Are beakers not very slightly tapered?  Would they be blown into / onto
> a mould and so need to be tapered to aid in releasing em?
>
> ( Knowing nothing about the process used to make a beaker! :-) )
>
> On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 09:27 +1300, Charles Manning wrote:
>> I have two stirling engines (from kit) which I should bring to a meeting as
>> there are some interested folk.
>>
>> I have bought stuff from lab warehouse in the past and they provided good
>> service. I considered using a beaker as a cylinder to give a big see-through
>> chamber.

If you build it in the Gamma Configuration it wont matter, in the
Gamma Configuration you have a large cylinder with a displacer about
half the volume in it that moves up and down, this one is heated.
Then from the cool end you have a small cylinder with a piston or
diaphragm in it, these are connected to a shaft and flywheel with a
crankshaft where the two cranks are 90 degrees apart I think, since
the displacer never seals against the edge of the beaker it doesn't
need a perfectly straight side, it only moves the air between the hot
and cold parts of the cylinder moved by the other piston. The other
piston can be completely separate connected by a tube, these designs
work best for multicylinder engines I think.