Hi Veeky Forums, so, im gonna study organic food production and in arround 3-4 years im buying some land to go live in, the idea is to be as self-sufficient as possible.
So i recently found out about sterling engines, and i wanted to know how much power can i put out of it, if i get somethin with a small river or something, i'd have covered the cold side, and i could connect it to my chimney, or get some solar reflectors to heat it up.
do you guys know how i could figure out how much power can i output from it?
Brody Mitchell
see
Juan Fisher
It's a couple of isochores and isotherms. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out the efficiency once you know the temperature of the water and the hot side. Look up the equation or derive it yourself. I'm too lazy and disinterested to do it for you. Once you figure out the work you can get out of it, you can estimate the power. All of this is theoretical though, so keep that in mind and don't be shocked when you actually get way less than you estimate.
Henry Green
There are too many variables to tell you with confidence how much energy output you will get with a DIY Stirling engine. One weak link in your setup will sap power from the entire system. The same goes with all DIY power setups, but more so with a Stirling engine since they are rarer than most DIY power systems.
Suffice it to say, yes you can make a large Stirling engine system that can power your house, via solar. I'm talking upwards of 10kw. However, stuff like that would be rather expensive and require skills/knowledge you will need to hone over a few years to get it right.
A simple 1kw solar Stirling engine system would be much easier to make in short term with reduce budget. You will need to study the different types of Stirling engines too to see which one fits your needs the best (Alpha/Beta). You may even want to couple it with something else to utilize waste heat (water heater for instance).
Essentially, you can get as much power out of it as you have skills, knowledge, and resources to make it. Got any old 12-feet diameter satellite dishes handy?
Dylan Rogers
where could i find what calculations should i do, if its heavy maths its no prob couse i can get my sister to do it then :D
yeah i mean, ill have some free time and some expendable money to work with, i can always start small and then get the most out of it. also, im gonna have a chimney that will be on alot of the time, so i could also get heat from there (including solar if i can or when the time comes)
also, id still be connected to the grid, the point is just to make myself the most self-sufficient as i can, but im not gonna go live in a cave kek
Jack Harris
Don't worry about much math at all beyond addition for volts, amps, and watts.
Make a small one just to understand how they work. Make it run a small DC toy motor/servo to light some LEDs and recharge some AA batteries. Scale it up from there with a car alternator.
Isaiah Reed
>Scale it up
William Cox
yeah of course, but im just thinking foward to see if that'd be a viable way of gettin power or not, as i said im still 3-4 years from just moving there, so yeah just daydreamin here, but if its really possible i could get somewhere with a river to cool the engine and see what to heat it with. Ill also have some industrial cannabis(to eat the flowers) and those grow like 5-6 meters in like a fuckin year or so, so i could use that as fuel, especcialy on the winter when im gonna get my ass as warm as i can with a homefire, but again, thats why i'd like to know how viable an option is it, to think in advance to my situation, tho as i said theres still alot of time but since im interested now, i might as well try to learn about it.
Isaiah Fisher
Indeed
Normally, viable ways of making power are determined by where you live and the resources you have. Live near a river, use hydro. Live near the ocean, use wind/wave. Live in an arid equatorial desert, use wind/solar. So on and so forth.
Luke Ross
hydro? wouldnt that eat up alot of terrirory? remember im getting a farm, imma need space for plants n shit, its not gonna be that large a terrain, and i want to get the most of it.
Joseph Bailey
The term is micro hydro. For you to use it properly you need good head (how far the water falls down) or good flow. (water volume) Even a tiny brook can produce enough power for a tiny home if it's got 100 feet of head. Just put a hose at the top and as it falls down the hose it'll be spraying like a fire hose at the bottom. Point at a turbine and instant power. For setups that have good flow you'd use something more traditional like a paddle/water wheel.
Michael Jackson
i dont know what im buying but something with a big enough river passin trough it with cascades n shit its gonna be pretty expensive, but just a decent flow can keep a stirling engine cool.
Btw idk if this thread's gonna die soon or not, but if someone could give me a clue on how to look how reliable could it be, id be thankful (no pressure tho :P) also btw, im just daydreamin here but it'd be pretty cool to get my own electricity (Also considering my country could go to shit, then ill be happy i got as self-sufficient as i could(argentina))
Thomas Cruz
Ever seen a water mill? That should be able to power your house and it doesn't take up much room at all.
Jeremiah Torres
would it? i mean, that still requires you have a good flow, with an sterling engine i wouldnt need to be so picky about what im gonna buy.
How powerful should a river be to really power a house from it? *i know it depends on alot of things but just a realistic aproxximate*
Id prefer to stay longer on the grid until i make my own power than expend alot just to get self-powered right away, also it'd make for a fun interesting project.
Wyatt Cox
Kinda bored so imma try bumping this up, anybody got anything interestin about it?
Wyatt Anderson
It would depend on several factors but I saw a guy on TV doing what you want to do and he had a small drop water wheel setup (like 5 feet) that he said powered his entire house.
Anthony Price
>5 feet well thats more like it, gonna have to research trough possibilities then, tho, i could have some sterling before the drop, even if later i find it to not produce that much, it'd be some cool stuff to have.
tho i imagine that the 1.5m drop would be on a wide river for it to power a house? depending on that i could be on the same problem.
anyway, as i said, im not against the idea of still using the grid, and even if im not gettin enough power for everythin, its a plus.
damn, im gonna become a fucking hermit, just looking after plants and fucking arround the internet for a living, tho i was thinkin on gettin someone with me to share the workload (organic food growin its work intensive) im also gonna do hydroponics since i already have the equipment for it
Cooper Baker
>tho i imagine that the 1.5m drop would be on a wide river for it to power a house? depending on that i could be on the same problem. No not even. He had a large pipe running from the river to the wheel house if I remember correctly. The pipe ended up in a wider trough that then spilled a few feet onto the wheel, which was maybe 8 feet wide. So it shouldn't matter how wide the river is.
Carter Wood
you'd be better off with solar cells.
Benjamin Sanders
Research "Water Vortex Power Plant" or "Gravitation Water Vortex Power Plant" or "Gravitational Vortex Power Plant", "GWVPP".
Basically, you only need a few short feet usually 2-3 at most of head. The vortex it creates is where the power comes from. They are great for areas with little to no head at all anywhere and you don't want to use an undershot water wheel for whatever reason.
For most DIY stuff an undershot water wheel is as much as anyone needs.
Cameron Stewart
>Research "Water Vortex Power Plant" I am amazed that any legitimate technology ended up with such a ridiculous "free energy" name.
