When doing the research for a article on new green products, I was unaware of many of the different ways to convert the energy of the sun into electrical power. I have written about solar cell or photovoltaic cell systems, so let’s look at another type of solar energy system.
The Stirling engine was originally invented and patented as an air engine by Robert Stirling in 1816. It may have been designed as a replacement for the steam engine, because the steam engines used in factories would explode frequently, causing many injuries and fatalities. These days, because of the cost of fuel and the environmental problems with coal, many new designs are incorporating the Stirling engine in solar power systems.
The Stirling engine has many different designs, some more efficient than others. Some designs use the two cylinder Alpha design, some the Beta single cylinder design and some the Gamma design (a variation of the beta for use in multiple cylinder applications). The beta Sterling design has a single chamber with two pistons and uses a highly efficient regenerator gas as the thermal conductor.
To operate the Stirling engine only an external heat source is required, which could be anything from solar heat to the heat produced by decaying plants. In one model, the heat from a human hand powers a small version of the Stirling engine!
The basic operation of this thermal engine is really quite simple. The engine has two chambers, one hot and one cold. When an external heat source is applied the hot air expands moving a piston and flows to the cold chamber. A flywheel is attached to maintain movement.
The system is ideal when a concentrated heat source is applied, in this case sunlight. The sunlight is collected with parabolic mirrors and focused on to the surface of the hot chamber, causing the chamber to be heated and the engine to start. This temperatures can be very high. You know this from, when as a child, you took a magnifying glass and focused it on a piece of paper. When done correctly the paper would get dark and then a flame would appear.
The engine and support equipment is contained in a package small enough to be suspended from the end of a metal arm, much like the design of satellite TV systems but on a much larger scale. Some systems are producing 25K watts of power and have been installed and operational for a couple of years.
I will compare the different solar technologies in a later article. For now, I need to lay a foundational understanding of each of the green products used to produce power so a comparison can be made.
Michael
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