Stirling engine in a custom loop

[Cakebring3r]

So this is all theoretical anyway and i might go ask some one who studies physics once uni is back in. But what do you guys think about putting a Stirling engine into a computer as a potential means of stopping heat dispersion into the air and heating up your room, instead powering an LED or something as well as having a cool clockwork looking thing in your case.

I don't really see why it wouldn't be possible as a gimmick i very much doubt it would really help out that much but you should be able to put a heat sink across a radiator and get the thing working. Apparently the difference of a degree is all is needed to get one working. More than likely it would just get in the way of air flow but its a funny thought that i want to share with you guys.

For those who dont know how they work here's a link that will give you some background info.
http://diystirlingengine.com/ltd-stirling-engine/

[NinjaJc01]

A peltier cell would be more realistic.

[Cakebring3r]

A peltier cell would be more realistic.

I was thinking the same thing till i saw this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling

 

"A single-stage TEC will typically produce a maximum temperature difference of 70 °C between its hot and cold sides.^[5] The more heat moved using a TEC, the less efficient it becomes, because the TEC needs to dissipate both the heat being moved, as well as the heat it generates itself from its own power consumption. The amount of heat that can be absorbed is proportional to the current and time.

where P is the Peltier Coefficient, I is the current, and t is the time. The Peltier Coefficient is dependent on temperature and the materials the TEC is made of.

Thermoelectric junctions are about 4 times less efficient in refrigeration applications than conventional means (they offer around 10–15% efficiency of the ideal Carnot cycle refrigerator, compared with 40–60% achieved by conventional compression cycle systems (reverse Rankine systems using compression/expansion).^[6]) Due to this lower efficiency, thermoelectric cooling is generally only used in environments where the solid state nature (no moving parts, low maintenance, compact size, and orientation insensitivity) outweighs pure efficiency."

It is still pretty cool though

[NinjaJc01]

That is when it is used to cool things, when used as a generator (according to my electronics teacher anyway) it is better.

[Cakebring3r]

I wouldn't be expecting to run anything important using heat only anyway there's a reason why we still burn fossil fuel. I would be more concerned about my room getting hot which is a very real probability seeing how most graphics cards have an ideal operation temperature of 70 degrees. Since the heat reduction is off the card it wont cool it making it work faster like a fan would but it should defiantly keep the radiator heat down. In theory

[Stefan1024]

Fist of all you need to get rid of the (elecrical) energy so it is not trsansformed into heat again, like in an LED. You could charge a battery for example.

The article about peltier elements you showed is only valid when they are used to cool things, but we use them as generators. I did this, look in my signatur.

A sterlung motor would be very awesome but also quite loud I guess.

[Cakebring3r]

That's a fair point. I imagine putting the energy back into your power supply would be a pretty dangerous mod so charging a battery is about the only way to minimize heat other than simply grounding the energy. The heat coming off of the LED's would be pretty small but as would the reduction in heat from the heat sink. This has definitely got me thinking more than i should be about this, i just don't want to live in a sauna anymore because i'm poor. :'c