I was just wondering, do Stirling coolers have any relation to Stirling engines?
1 Comment
Dr. Ray Radebaugh
July 20, 2009
Yes, Stirling coolers are very much related to Stirling engines. The same mechanism can be made to do both. With an engine, the end with the displacer is heated to some high temperature, such as 600 deg. C, and the engine puts out power. With the cooler, power is put in and it pumps heat from a low temperature source at the end of the displacer to a higher temperature reservoir at the other end of the displacer.
There are a few differences in details of construction because they operate at different temperatures. The automobile manufacturers did a lot of research on Stirling engines in the 70s, but gave up on them mostly because they didn’t know how to get rid of the heat economically. In an internal combustion engine much of the heat rejection goes out with the exhaust, but with a Stirling engine most of the heat must be rejected to the radiator, which requires a much larger radiator.
1 Comment
Dr. Ray Radebaugh
July 20, 2009Yes, Stirling coolers are very much related to Stirling engines. The same mechanism can be made to do both. With an engine, the end with the displacer is heated to some high temperature, such as 600 deg. C, and the engine puts out power. With the cooler, power is put in and it pumps heat from a low temperature source at the end of the displacer to a higher temperature reservoir at the other end of the displacer.
There are a few differences in details of construction because they operate at different temperatures. The automobile manufacturers did a lot of research on Stirling engines in the 70s, but gave up on them mostly because they didn’t know how to get rid of the heat economically. In an internal combustion engine much of the heat rejection goes out with the exhaust, but with a Stirling engine most of the heat must be rejected to the radiator, which requires a much larger radiator.