Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

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ajw
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:02 pm
First Name: Andreas
Last Name: Wiatowski

Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by ajw »

Hello All,

I'm fairly new to the Stirling Engine scene, but I'm very
intrigued. I heat my home with radiant water heat which is produced
by my outdoor wood fired furnace. The water temperature ranges
between 160f - 180f. Would this be sufficient to fuel a Stirling
Engine for a power generation application. I am researching Solar
and Wind also, but I have over 70 acres of wood lot with lots of
fallen trees ;.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Aj
teemu.hayrinen
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:08 pm
First Name: teemu
Last Name: hayrinen

Response to Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by teemu.hayrinen »

Hello Andreas.

I'm not a pro (yet), but in my opinion it would make much more sense to heat Stirling directly with fire and circulate the cooling water of the engine to heat your house. When the temperature difference gets small, the engines gets big and unefficient, when the temperature difference gets bigger, the engine gets smaller and runs with higher efficiency.

Teemu Hayrinen
skenward
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 10:34 am
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Kenward

Response to Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by skenward »

Sorry, don't really have a solution, but wish to commiserate. I also have a 10,000sqft outdoor wood furnace, I run it at about 190 deg. F.
Frankly, I wouldn't care if the Stirling Gen-set was big. Basically, from what I understand, the smaller the temperature differential, the larger the engine (and pistons and gas chamgers) have to be to generate any type of decent power. I wish to generate between 400 - 700W of power and if the engine had to be the same size as a 4 - 7 kW power with a high temp differential, that would be fine, as my fuel source is scrap wood from my flooring and moulding mill. There must be others out there besides you and I with this idea and request for a product which would run off of 180 deg. hot water. Would be nice to get say a 500 to 1000lb unit ready to hook up to our circulating loop eh? All of us outdoor furnace users need to get together demonstrate a demand for these things.
Steve
fvanicek
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 3:48 am
First Name: Frank
Last Name: Vanicek

Response to Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by fvanicek »

Yeah, looking exactly for the same. I'm in tropics, plenty of hot water from solar collectors. Big ones. Big engine would not be a problem as long as only cheap low-tech materials are used to build it. If the engine gave out just 10 hp or so being big as school bus, so be it!
david.knox
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:45 am
First Name: david
Last Name: knox

Response to Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by david.knox »

Has anybody been able to find an answer to generating suitable power - I have just contacted
whispergen about connecting it to a geo-thermal heat pump at 60 deg celcius.
hsmedes
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:11 am
First Name: Henk
Last Name: Smedes

Response to Hot water powered Stirling for power generation

Post by hsmedes »

I have no answer but am also looking for a hot water powered Stirling, I have 60 to 70deg Celsius hot water supply from a geothermal well (150m3/hr) available and want to produce electrical power. I have no idea if this is possible at all. Maybe there are already commercial products available?

Any help suggestions much appriciated
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