Sterling Heat pump

[Steve6f8eh]

The biggest byproduct from an internal combustion car is heat.....from what I understand as much as 80% of the gas burned goes to the production of heat. A sterling heat pump takes heat and turns it in to mechanical motion; has anyone heard of a 'Sterling like device' installed on a car to produce more electricity for the manufacuting of HHO, as well as helping the car run cooler?

I am a new guy, so please be kind!

[GasSavers_BEEF]

from what I have heard, you want your car to run warm or at thermostat temps.

I personally have gone through great pains to get my engine up to temp as fast as I safely can. grill block, WAI (warm air intake).

also, there is an HHO section here as well.

[theholycow]

It's a common idea. After discussing it, most people decide that the expense, weight, and space used are far too much for it to ever work. I'm sure they'd love for you to prove them wrong!

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by Steve6f8eh

The biggest byproduct from an internal combustion car is heat.....from what I understand as much as 80% of the gas burned goes to the production of heat. A sterling heat pump takes heat and turns it in to mechanical motion; has anyone heard of a 'Sterling like device' installed on a car to produce more electricity for the manufacuting of HHO, as well as helping the car run cooler?

I am a new guy, so please be kind!

No need to be kind, it's a brilliant idea.

Sterling engines are very efficient and don't take that large a temperature differential to operate. The problem is weight and cost. The most effective SE's are cast iron, and pretty darn heavy. And they are expensive. Using them as a drive train doesn't work well because they really only run at one speed, increasing the temp differential doesn't make them go faster, but they are great for generators/alternators.

If one of us comes up with an inexpensive (probably salvage) source for the motors then it would definitely be worth pursuing.

BTW, while we do want the internal temps to come up to optimum quickly and raising inlet air temps sometimes help, most of the energy generated is lost to heat. Reclaiming some of the lost heat (without reducing the heat in the cylinder and intake) is one of the holy grails of FE, and one of the main reasons that a small 3 banger has a greater potential FE than a big block V8.

I stay up at night trying to figure out how to use a solar powered sterling to compress air into a storage tank, then use the compressed air to power a generator for residential electricity as needed. I'm not an electrical engineer, I don't know how to make a battery better, but I can understand compressed air.

Find a source for Sterlings / heat pumps nice'n cheap and I'll buy you a beer. Maybe even a good one, like Pabst.

[thornburg]

Originally Posted by oneinchsidehop

Find a source for Sterlings / heat pumps nice'n cheap and I'll buy you a beer. Maybe even a good one, like Pabst.

I don't know for sure, but I have long assumed that electric heat pumps for heating & cooling houses use a sterling engine at their core. Perhaps old junked small home heat pumps would be a good source.

Even if you like that answer, you can keep your Pabst.