hey guys,

We have a design project where we are supposed to design something cool to machine and later auction it off. My group has already come up with a plan to build a small stirling engine (if you have any other ideas of a cool object to make, let me know). I've been thinking if there could be anything we can add on to it, like a useful/fun addon... anything we can have it power?

Thanks

And any extra tips or ideas are highly valued! don't hesitate to speak your mind.

 

I've seen a Stirling engine powering a fan, running on heat from the wood stove it was designed to be set on, to move the hot air around. A co-worker of mine built one to run on the heat from a coffee cup, but it doesn't do anything. Could pump water for a small fountain, or run a small electric generator (a small DC motor works fine as a generator) to do something else.

-Dana

 

Maybe perhaps make it power a small desktop fan, powered by the heat from your computer? I find especially that desktop models like mine can make quite a lot of heat.....that would be useful i'd think.