1979 NASA Stirling-powered AMC Spirit - photo

[nova_robotics]

These Sterling engines have a lot of potential. Used on some of the quietest submarines on the planet. So they are a mature design.

I watched a documentary about those Swedish Gotland-class submarines. Very interesting stuff. My patent guy is in love with Sterling engines. I got him a small toy one a few years ago. I hope we see a proliferation of Sterling engines in the near future. They allow useful work to be extracted from a multitude of heat sources that would otherwise be useless. There are a ton of applications for that, particularly with the current huge push toward renewables and green technologies.

Also interesting are ORCs (organic rankine cycle generators). There are a number of manufacturers making these now. They are skid mounted self contained units that allow electricity production from waste heat sources.