Stirling Engine with Hydraulic Transmission

Basically, it should not surprise anyone that a heat engine can drive the movement of a hydraulic fluid. A Stirling engine can operate quietly from any heat source to generate mechanical power (work). It can be coupled directly to a hydraulic transmission, although only a handful of projects have explored this possibility over the decades. Heat sources include solar concentrating power (CSP) as well as biomass. A NASA Project existed in 1988 - details here.

Applications and Product Ecology

• In future versions of the GVCS, such a concept may be used to power (for example) LifeTrac (="Stirling PowerCube").
• can be coupled to water pumps for irrigation
• biomass: heat can be derived from combustion or from pyrolysis, where biochar would be a useful, carbon-negative byproduct. With biomass-powered Stirling engine, one single engine could handle all sorts of different biomass, whether solid, liquid or gaseous. There is no need for tedious clean-up of fuel.
• liquid piston Stirling engine

Links

• Patent (2007): Stirling engine with hydraulic output
• Mobile hydraulic power supply: Liquid piston Stirling engine pump by James D. Van de Ven Renewable Energy Volume 34, Issue 11, November 2009
• Wikipedia: Fluidyne engine
• OSE Wiki page on Hydraulic Power