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I was planning on making a small homemade alpha type Stirling
engine. I have heard that the greater the swept volume to dead
volume the better. Dead volume being regenerator, tube to/from
heater and cooler. Swept volume being the combined pistons swept
volume. Is this true?

My big question is: Can the heater/cooler piston swept volume be
equal or the bigger the cooler volume the more efficient the
engine? Or does the optimum ratio very from engine to engine?

Any information is very much appreciated.
Thank You
JR Nolte

Absolutely, John, dead volume is what I like to call: the Carnot killer, but you can't have a real engine without it.

AS for the volume ratio, typically, the compressor would be slightly larger than the expander and optimally varies depending on the temperature ratio of your intended application.
Don

Hy, I'm very interseted in this subject too. Can you explain a little why do you think that the compression volume should be larger than de expansion volume? That seems a little odd to me, since the gas is cooler inside the compression piston, and therefore it has a smaller specific volume.
I hope I have made myself clear (I'm not used to writing in english).

Thanks, Sebastian Daiber.
Chile.