I'll start off with the turn-key options.

[clytle374]

Here is the only place in the world, that I could find, that has any large sterlings for sale.
http://www.prestonservices.co.uk/hotair.htm.  
And a email from them with the prices for the engines on the above page.

Thank you for your email.
We have the following hot air engines for sale, all  prices in GB pounds sterling (approx exchange rate USD1.65 = GBP1.00)

1.  Rider Eriscsson 8"  GBP9,500
2.  Rider improved  8"    GBP11,500
3.   Rider Ericsson `10"  GBP14,000
4.  Rider improved  8"  GBP14,000
5.  Rider improved  10"   GBP16,000


We regularly ship to USA which is both relatively simple and inexpensive.
Look forward to hearing from you again.


Best regards,

We'll you know what they say about "if you have to ask"  

Now on to other options.  

[rcavictim]

Clearly those ancient survivors being sold are fine museum pieces, examples of technology that gave way to the more modern adaptations of the gasoline and diesel engines which took their place.  Only now, about 100 years plus later is civilization once again looking at all options, which includes some very old and fundamental ideas about how we are gonna get ourselves back in business as our oil boom winds down.

You and I here and now are in search of modern hardware for our Sterling engine applications and you are quite right. There is currently precious little out there available for purchase and that which is is dearly expensive.

[Dail R H]

   1. First of all,there is a lot I don't know about machine work / building
   With that out of the way,how hard would it be  to build new from old designs, using new materials n technologies?

[rcavictim]

   1. First of all,there is a lot I don't know about machine work / building
   With that out of the way,how hard would it be  to build new from old designs, using new materials n technologies?

That seems to be the 'approximately $30 thousand dollar question'.  Any new designs out there now are protected by patents.  This means you can still copy a design for personal use but you could not manufacture any for sale.

[rcavictim]

This paper is a bit dated but is a good primer on where the CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) industry has been coming along and what Sterling engines are involved.  There is actually a single piston resonant Sterling solar dish generator now being manufactured and supported in part by co Microsoft founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Foundation. I'll post the link when I find it again.

http://www.solarpaces.org/CSP_Technology/docs/solar_dish.pdf

[rcavictim]

http://www.stirlingengines.org.uk/manufact/post.html

[rcavictim]

http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~khirata/indexe.htm

[clytle374]

Cool, thanks for the info.  I'm thinking that sooner or later, I'll have to build one.  I'm reworking the design of my model in thoughts of it actually proving out the design of a larger one.  Not just being a watch it spin model.

Also, you may get away with infringing on a patent for personal use, there is no exemption.  It just isn't worth their time to sue.

The concentrated solar dish is a good idea, but requires a small light weight engine.  I'm personally thing along the big, heavy, and slow wood fired line myself.  Probably doing something like the newer generation of outdoor wood stoves and gasifying the wood, would allow for a much more concentrated and consistent flame.

@rcavictim, could you note what links are patented?  I'm kinda going the programmer route and trying to avoid patented material.  Much easier to have a untainted design when you are done.   

[rcavictim]

clytle374

Patents are there to protect someone's (individual or corporation) commercial rights to an invention or process.  They are not there to prevent any individual from tinkering in his or her basement or garage building a prototype for their own amusement of anything under the sun which might look suspiciously like the patented invention.  Who's to say the gizmo you might concoct didn't come completely out of your own head and you had never heard of or seen the patented work?  As long as you don't try to take your 'invention' to market you won't have any troubles with patent infringement lawsuits.

This is my understanding of the law and it is the rule I obey.

Regretfully I don't have the time or inclination to search for patent free Sterling technologies for you, but you are welcome to do such research on your own starting with the fairly exhaustive list of contacts which I have provided above.

[clytle374]

You are the victim of a well established patent myth, it is not worth the cost in lawyers to persecute you.

I wasn't asking you to search for me, just asking for you tp note if you are linking to currently patented material. 

I haven't ruled out marketing anything;)  The only thing I would think of patenting is my regenerator.

It is common practice in in software design to never look at anything copy righted.  If you do that it is very easy to prove that it was truly a parallel thought.  Of course our patent system is a disaster, but a different topic.

[rcavictim]

You are the victim of a well established patent myth, it is not worth the cost in lawyers to persecute you.
<snip>

I am the 'victim' of a lot of things.  I only admit to one in public, and that one has actually caused me much more personal enjoyment and added to my personal technical education than any form of grief.     For example, taking apart two 10 kW RCA AM broadcast transmitters from the mid 1950's and making other lab  and home audiophile gear out of the parts can be educational and a lot of fun!   

[rcavictim]

I've played with some tube audio.  I've always wanted to build a nice tube amp, aways got had problems with the expense of the transformers.  Looked into winding my own, but other things are always more important. 

Love the warm glow and sound of glass audio.

Hopefully I'm going to talk with a guy at a casting place tomorrow.

clytle374,

DIY tube audio is a passion of mine as well.  This is OT for this thread but if you want to move it I'll start a thread in the general forum.  There are ways to avoid the expensive output xfmers.

[Westcliffe01]

I have not seen SunPower mentioned.   They seem to be primarily an intellectual property company and do some R&D activity based on government funding.   Their interest appears to be to let others license their technology in commercial products.

Their systems have been used by Coleman in portable coolers and by companies in Japan for cooling vending machines for pop.  They also have a portable system that cools air to cryogenic temperatures and allows the oxygen to be separated, thereby replacing O2 bottles for patients with a system that is more portable and only needs a power source, as opposed to regular refilling.

I believe a lot of the testing in NM with reflectors harvesting energy from solar uses their 1kw range free piston stirling engines.   It is all very interesting stuff, but I don't get the impression that they have any intention of changing the world by making this stuff more commonplace.

http://www.sunpower.com/index.php

[elnav]

PG&E  has a reflected  sunlight power  generation project in California. George W Bush did the ribbon cutting cermony when it was started up.  The original Stirling engine  generator was developed  to be a home use replacement  power generator of approximately 5 k/w or so  power source.
An article was published in Po Science or Pop Mechanics  several years ago. Because of my interest in Stirling engines I attempted to stay abreast of their ongoing developments. 
Unfortunately the project was  hijacked  by PG& E  and given funding to become a typical utility power generator thus cutting out the small home owner  end user. 
I was at one point supposed to become a factory certified  installer for Whispergen  Stirling engine  systems  but they encountered  technical problems and with drew the product from the North American market until they resolved the problems. This was a true CHP product  that was off the shelf.  I also found a Swiss company  that was building  wood pellet  home heaters that incorporated  a 2kW Stirling generator but they informed me they were not ready to market into North America.     

[rcavictim]

I for one am very disappointed that there isn't more activity trying to provide homeowner sized Sterling co-gen solutions for us here in North America.   

Just imagine how much power could be captured if there was a Sterling reccovery system on the stack of every boat and power plant now being deployed to try to clean up the oil platform mess in the Gulf of Mexico!