Single Handed Sailing

[bobfrost]

Hi,

I was reading a previous thread on the merits or otherwise of petrol or diesel. Whilst my boat is a sailing vessel I need an auxillary form of power and am worried about the demise of fossil fuels.

Do any forumites know of any research being done on Stirling Engines. These are incredibly efficient external combustion engines (I recently bought my son a model one for his birthday)

Alternatively I found this web link relating to alternative energy sources.

Would this be feasible? Especially for single handed sailors.

http://www.feralweb.com/fwap.htm

Cheers

Bob

 

[graham]

Would be OK out at sea but what about manouvering in a crowded marina?

/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gifIs this what the saying" one hand for the boat and one hand for yourself"means?

 

[Spyro]

Great idea but think of all that energy already wasted.

 

[Guest]

Check out it's entropy

 

[MacW]

Far from remaining an engineering curiosity, the Stirling Engine is alive and well and quietly taking over the world, as various other `complimentary` technologies have matured,innovative ideas and engineering are seeing the Stirling Engine appear in a number of guises,from quiet yacht power generators running on lpg, to very large industrial power generators running on industrial waste heat,feeding power back into the grid.Recently a very large contract was signed in England for the supply of Whispertech domestic heater/waste heat generator units to be fitted in a large number of specially designed `low energy consumption` houses in the Midlands . In Summer months, it is hoped that these homes will be actually `net ` of electricity,i.e create more power than they are using. Google Whispertech, or Stirling Engine and you`re in for a shock!

 

[Spyro]

This is a fantastic animation I just had to post it I couldn't understand "external combustion" but this is brill
Gas expands when heated, and contracts when cooled. Stirling engines move the gas from the hot side of the engine, where it expands, to the cold side, where it contracts.

Didn't think I could post an animation for the other mentioned energy source

 

[mattw]

Solomon Tech do a system using an electric motor to drive the prop. When you're sailing the prop recharges the batteries.

http://www.solomontechnologies.com/

 

[martinb]

What a fantastic piece of research, just as one gets dissapointed with the content of the internet, someone points us to a fantastic link like this! it restores my faith in the internet, thanks for making my day.

Martin

 

[jenku]

The Swedish navy has Stirling powered submarines.

"Intense R&D and the experiences gained from the Saga project paved way for the installation of a Stirling engine in the Royal Swedish Navy submarine Näcken in 1988. The submarine was placed in dry-dock and cut in two. A fully outfitted eight-meter AIP section was then inserted.

The years of practical sea-trials that followed were extremely satisfactory and resulted in the installation of Stirling AIP systems in the new Swedish Gotland Class submarines."

http://www.kockums.se/Products/kockumsstirlingm.html