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4 unusual facts about Stirling engine


Robert Stirling

The Reverend Dr Robert Stirling (25 October 1790 – 6 June 1878) was a Scottish clergyman, and inventor of the Stirling engine.

The theoretical basis of Stirling's engine, the Stirling cycle, would not be fully understood until the work of Sadi Carnot (1796–1832).

Solar engine

Stirling engine, a heat engine of the external combustion piston engine type whose heat-exchange process allows for near-ideal efficiency in conversion of heat into mechanical movement.

Stirling engine

Philips' management decided that offering a low-power portable generator would facilitate such sales and asked a group of engineers at the company's research lab in Eindhoven to evaluate alternative ways of achieving this aim.


Emergence BioEnergy

Founded by Iqbal Quadir, of GrameenPhone fame, Emergence BioEnergy plans on using a specially designed Stirling engine, in order to create small 1 kW power stations to serve individual villages rather than relying on a traditional centralized power grid.

Harry Ricardo

In 1978 the US Department of Energy hired Ricardo Consulting to research the Stirling engine as a car engine.

Stirling cycle

This includes the original Stirling engine that was invented, developed and patented in 1816 by Reverend Dr. Robert Stirling with help from his brother, an engineer.


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