Balint Bartuszek

Sorry, Andrew, i don't know much about that.
Only heard about those recently. :/

Bill

I agree that building the engine with linear alternator on the piston is beneficial. After all iff the energy is pulled diretly from the piston, thebearings and other parts recieve less force, thus limit friction losses. This also makes for a longer life, and probably more reliable engine.

Incidentally we experimenting with a build that is really suit this design. It has free piston operating principle, can be sealed and in the current small engines it works with membranes. (or bellows for that matter) Has no bearings, or flywheel, it is timed by pneumatics and mass. The work piston needs to be heavy, so including a permanent magnet in the piston is no problem.

For the other things you mentioned:
-Rpm is important for the efficiency of the generator, or if someone uses a of the shelf generator. Hp is usually the most important factor, since it sets the limit of maximum electricity output, no matter the rpm.
-Using magnets as return springs have been used for modells. And this looks real nice. But problematic for higher power engines, a repelling magnet makes a lot of force that is other than the axis of motion. Meaning more friction loss on the guides. Most strong magnets dont like high temperatures, so they cant be used in the hot parts of the engine. But the observation is right.

If you are interested, you can check out the demonstration model that a forum mate built. It is mostly transparent, so we can better understand the workings.
slow motion, while the engine is running
running in real time
You can find out more about the design if you watch some of the other videos he made.

@ James Colbert
I did mention it. But it is !_really not_! a simple undertaking to build a power producing stirling engine. Most definitely not with a car alternator!

@ Bill Bianchi
I would not thinker much with a working stirling if i were you. They are kinda expensive and are really peculiar to the exact volumes and ratios and even the wall thicknesses of the cylinders can have large effect on output.

On a forum that is devoted to stirling engines we try to piece together a engine that can be home built, reliable and produce some power. The guys came up with some promising ideas, but so far we have nothing. Some experienced builders from the forums built some good engines, but they are in the couple 10 watts range. Nice stuff but not practical for electricity.

andrew curr wrote:when i first started farming i ws focussed on HL because of the yield potential.(of the pods )
but when you add into the equation the leaf yield of BL and the durability of BL timber you would be a fool not to plant both and more tree crops
the Hungarians took BL to another level.

Yeah. We got a lot of black locust around here. There is just so much sandy soil around here, no real pests here, the BL is just loves it here.
And we love them too. It builds soil and grows super fast. My brother and i planted seedlings last year, and now they are about 3 meter high.
This year there will be a fine shadow under them.

People like to keep chickens under them since there is most always a nice deep leaf litter under the trees, so there is always something to find for them there.
I go every year and bring some compost from the woods for my grandmother to start her seedlings in it.


Also BL for firewood is better in my opinion. If for no other reason, then for the fact that it is much less work. BL is straight and there are no thorns to hinder work.
(Those thorns are just begging for trouble.)

Ha ha! Children and the rooster.

One of the memorable moments of my childhood is the times we were chased around by the rooster of our grany.
We were small children and the rooster was a big mean beast. Ther was times when it chased us up on the haystacks.

It can be a problem... If the children cant run fast enough.
A bit more seriously, if a rooster is too mean there is always the option of a nice rooster soup.

Nick Kitchener wrote:
That got me thinking about the mold / casting process again... I wonder if sticking small glazed tiles face down on the mold before casting would result in a cast chamber that was lined with a highly reflective, hard layer of material. The weight of the liquid casting would probably be enough to force it between the cracks like a grouting. I'm just not sure how well it would stick.

If the only problem is not sticking to the tiles, you could put some material on the tiles beforehand that does stick to them. You know just small bits, splatter and such. it can mechanically lock inside the cast material.

Steam is a possibility, but it dangerous for most people.

Even if you know what you are doing, there is a chance your children or dog or whatnot mess things up without your knowledge, and there goes the house! Or even worse.
So better not seal water in anything that may get hot.

Maybe you should take a look at TEG stuff. (it stands for thermo electric generator) It works like solar cells, but it uses heat differential instead of light. (it is also kinda expensive)

Or stirling engines. One can build one from junk, but it is a lot of time and work. And even then, it makes only a little power.

PV is still pretty much your best option nowadays.

I like it too. Lovely fire window!

The convertible bench and table is also a nice idea.

I think it is a good design. Burns real hot nice and efficient. Thats nice, the other half is heat transfer.
The question is, do the smoke cools down enough in the heat exchanger? You can check the temperature of the exhaust pipe.

If the exhaust is cool enough, you cant really do much. And i would put the fuel in the furnace as the manual says, i don't see a benefit in doing otherwise in this case.
What you CAN do is mainly making sure: -You are using dry wood, this can spare a lot of wood in almost any stove. -The heat that you get, get used well. Insulating your home, updating the heating system, so you wont heat spaces that are not used. (do some contact type heating places perhaps?)

If one wants to get wild:

You can take a suitable size sheet metal, and using a projector have a custom design (or something nice found on the internet) projected on the surface. So if you are a artsy person, you could grind, scratch, weld, or scorch or paint the metal until you have your design on it real nice. Then have it veld up nice.
If you are more like a nerdy person, you could chemically etch your design in the metal. This is the stuff that is used when printed circuits are made. The design is transferred to the metal by a photo enamel and with the aid of the projector. (this process is not compatible with stainless, since it would resist most etching chemicals)

If someone is adventurous, one could also electro - plate a conducting object with various metals, such as copper, silver or gold. One paints a mask on the metal object, then apply a plating solution while a sufficient current is applied to the objects.

I would personally get a nice pattern from the net, mark it on my metal using the projector, then i would use an angle grinder to apply the pattern permanently.