Animated Engines, Single Cylinder Stirling.pdf

Animated Engines, Single Cylinder Stirling

http://www.keveney.com/Stirling.html

Single Cylinder Stirling Engine

This type of Stirling engine, known as the beta configuration 3 , features just one cylinder with a hot end

and a cool end. The working gas is transferred from one end of the cylinder to the other by a device

called a displacer (here illustrated in blue). The displacer resembles a large piston, except that it has a

smaller diameter than the cylinder, thus its motion does not change the volume of gas in the cylinder - it

merely transfers the gas around within the cylinder.

The same four phases of the Stirling cycle are at work here:

1 sur 3

25/11/2006 14:04

Animated Engines, Single Cylinder Stirling

http://www.keveney.com/Stirling.html

Expansion. At this point, most of the gas in the

system has just been driven to the hot end of the

cylinder. The gas heats and expands driving the

piston outward.

Transfer. At this point, the gas has expanded. Most

of the gas is still located in the hot end of the

cylinder. Flywheel momentum carries the

crankshaft the next quarter turn. The bulk of the

gas is transferred around the displacer to the cool

end of the cylinder.

Contraction. Now the majority of the expanded gas

has been shifted to the cool end. It contracts,

drawing the piston inward.

2 sur 3

25/11/2006 14:04

Animated Engines, Single Cylinder Stirling

http://www.keveney.com/Stirling.html

Transfer. The contracted gas is still located near the

cool end of the cylinder. Flywheel momentum

carries the crank another quarter turn, moving the

displacer and transferring the bulk of the gas back to

the hot end of the cylinder.

Home Engines Bibliography

3 sur 3

25/11/2006 14:04