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The U49325 Sun Runner Stirling Engine is a solar-powered Stirling Engine which offers a dramatic demonstration of energy conversion.   This motor and its parabolic mirror can be attached to any conventional camera tripod. When properly aimed at the sun, the polished aluminum parabolic mirror focuses incoming solar energy on the heat cap of the engine, which is converted to rotary motion. Unit comes complete with motor, parabolic mirror, and wrenches. Standard camera tripod is not supplied. This engine is completely assembled and ready to run. Each unit is test run at the factory prior to shipping. Motor runs at 2,000 RPM and up. This engine can also run as a horizontal engine with an alcohol burner. Demonstrate this exciting method of harnessing the sun’s clean and renewable energy to your students.  Weight: 6.00 lbs Dimensions: Engine: 8.25 x 3 inches (L x W) Flywheel: 3.25 inchesParabolic Mirror: 18 inch diameterPlease note that this item is designed to demonstrate the operating principles of a Stirling engine for educational use and is not designed for power production.  It can potentially be coupled with a generator for producing very small amounts of electricity but is incapable of powering anything beyond a small light bulb or LED.

The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. Photovoltaic cells are deployed widely, mostly as flat panels, whereas solar thermal electricity generation relying on optical concentrators and mechanical heat engines is only seen in large-scale power plants. Here we demonstrate a promising flat-panel solar thermal to electric power conversion technology based on the Seebeck effect and high thermal concentration, thus enabling wider applications. The developed solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) achieved a peak efficiency of 4.6% under AM1.5G (1 kW m−2) conditions. The efficiency is 7–8 times higher than the previously reported best value for a flat-panel STEG, and is enabled by the use of high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials and spectrally-selective solar absorbers in an innovative design that exploits high thermal concentration in an evacuated environment.