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homeThis is a pot-pourree of pages and links, mainly to form background information for the winter quarter course on Stirling Cycle Machine Analysis. A quick search on the web will reveal hundreds of links, and the following annotated set is only to get you started.
Athens is a hotbed of Stirling cycle machine activity, both engines and coolers, and includes three R&D and manufacturing companies as well as David Gedeon, an internationally recognized consultant in the area of Stirling cycle computer analysis.
Sunpower, Inc. was formed by William Beale thirty years ago, mainly based on his invention of the free-piston Stirling engine. Sunpower has recently begun to manufacture Stirling cycle croygenic coolers for liquifying oxygen.
Stirling Technology Inc. is a spinoff of Sunpower, and was formed in order to continue the development and manufacture of the 5 kW ST-5 Air engine. This engine burns biomass fuel (such as sawdust pellets or rice husks) and can function as a cogeneration unit in rural areas.
Global Cooling is a licencee of Sunpower, mainly in order to develop free-piston Stirling cycle coolers for home refrigerator applications. These systems, apart from being significantly more efficient than regular vapor-compression refrigerators, have the addad advantage of being compact, portable units using helium as the working fluid (and not the Ozone destroying CFCs).
The Stirling Engine Society USA (sesusa) is a group of enthusiasts, professionals and academics dedicated to exchanging knowledge, ask questions, and express ideas on Stirling engines. Their web page is well worth visiting, and includes basic background, history and theory of Stirling engines, as well as a good set of Stirling engine links. Anyone having an interest in Stirling engines can subscribe to the sesusa discussion e-group, and then you can either ask questions or simply lurk in the background and follow the various ongoing discussions.
I like the links provided by sesusa on their website.
Andy Ross of Columbus, Ohio has been developing small air engines with extremely innovative Alpha designs, including the classical Ross-Yoke drive and more recently a balanced "Rocker-V" mechanism. Matt Keveney has done an animation showing clearly the principles of operation of the Ross yoke linkage mechanism. Andy Ross is in the process of publishing an article on the model Climax locomotive that he recently built using a small Rocker-V engine. I am delighted to have available a preprint of this article "A Class A Climax Locomotive". Some photographs from this article emphasizing Andy's excellent craftsmanship can be seen in the following: (Climax Locomotive, Open Cabin, Rocker-V engine bottom, Rocker-V engine top).
A sequence of serious Stirling engine links by Will Rausch. Unfortunately many of the links referenced are no longer available. You will find this frustration often during searches on the web - sometimes you find a gem, sometimes a black hole. You have to maintain a skeptical attitude in order to separate the wheat from the chaff and retain sanity.
A very interesting site - modelers external combustion engines, both hot air and steam!
An wonderful site by Bob Sier - including links, books, index of manufacturers of models, as well as a source of components, materials, drawings etc. The best historical information on the early pioneers that I know of, including Robert Stirling and a delightful working model of his original machine.
A very interesting site from Japan (in English, luckily) - Assembly drawings, pictures and description of some unique model Stirling engines - even one using glass syringes!
The American Stirling Company - low temperature diffence Stirling engine models.
"The Little Engine Pages" (now: StirlingSouth) by Roy Rice and Richard Egge - some delightful Stirling engines, including one made of glass!
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