LTD Stirling running on ice

[mklotz]

A recent acquaintance scoffed when I told him I'd built an engine that could run on ice so I made a short video to prove it...

As you can see, I'm not an accomplished videographer (I don't do it for money :-) but at least I used a tripod and the background music is classical at a very low volume.

Some details on the engine...

The displacer chamber where the air is alternately heated and cooled is at such a low pressure that, instead of gaskets, it was sealed with a bit of Vaseline smeared on the end plates prior to assembly.

The engine can't be lubricated. Even turbine oil is viscous enough to overpower this extremely low power engine. The power piston is made of self-lubricating graphite; this is a common practice in these LTD engines. The main shaft linking the power piston and displacer drive runs into miniature ball bearings of the type used in gyros in high-end inertial reference platforms.

Below is a picture of the drive side of the engine...