Hot/cold cylinder ratio of a Stirling engine

[aeiou_11375]

Hi All,

I have discovered Stirling Technology about a year ago. I have been
intrigued with this engine the momement I read about it.

For the past year, I have been designing a Stirling engine that can
be coupled with a gasoline (petrol) engine and use the waste heat
from the internal combustion engine to power it. I am aware that
concept has been around for a while. I figure i might be able to
come up with a new method if I start to experiment with a
functioning prototype.

I am ready to design and build the engine, but have two questions.
Perhaps someone in the forum will know the answers.

Question 1
For a Stirling engine using the alpha configured (two independent
cylinders)

see site http://www.keveney.com/Vstirling.html,

should the cold cylinder be of less volume than the hot cylinder
since cold air fills less volume than hot air?

Question 2
When the Stirling engine (alpha configuration again) is used to
provide refrigeration and heat by applying rotary power to the
shaft, does the hot cylinder (the cylinder that would be heated when
the Stirling was used to provide rotation) get hot or does it get
cold assuming the same rotating direction when the engine was used
to convert thermal difference to rotating power?

Thanks in advance,

Walter

[stan.hornbaker]

The cylinder sizes are the same or nearly so. Both cylinders are connected by the regenerator and thus the pressure in the engine is essentially the same in both cylinders, fluctuating between the hightest and lowest pressures.

When a Stirling engine is run in reverse the cylinders are also thermally reversed. They are used in this manner in liquifying gasses.