#sterling engine

Sterling engine

Sterling Engine Animation, from MIT.edu 

I’m a machinist by trade, and my tech college class built something similar for our final project one year.

Sterling Engines are an underused design that can harvest solar energy without needing solar panels.  You concentrate sunlight on the hot end of the cylinder (pink in the animation), using a parabolic mirror, Fresnel lens, angled mirrors, etc., and the expanding air compresses the piston, which starts the action.  Any kind of heat source can power these things, so yeah... if you have heat, you have motion that can be turned into electricity.

This week for example:

I just finished my Chemistry lab report (having spent around 4 hours on it) and I was talking to Jeff about the mechanism and realised I'd done mine wrong, and I have no idea what the right way to do it is, so I'm basically stuck between spending at least 2 more hours on it or just handing it up as it is, which will effect my overall grade at the end of the year.

We were on our third week of the Stirling Engine experiment in Physics and HAD to finish it and start a new one next week because we only have 3 weeks left to get 2 experiments done and they've taken us at least 2 weeks each so far. It was just me and Niamh as Aiden was sick again. Now, I know it might be the truth, but he never comes into college...ever... He just wanders in when we have assignments due and expects other people to give him theirs, that they've worked on for weeks, so that he can get a good grade. Anyway, we didn't get it finished and none of our graphs were working and we couldn't get it to calibrate and it was a disaster! (This is the experiment everyone says to avoid, but we got given it by our crazy Professor (whose name lacks the vowels necessary to make it pronounceable) and even he didn't know how to do a really large section of it...so when we get interrogated about it it's gonna be a complete and utter disaster! They don't tend to like answers like "I dunno...reasons...?") So, we had to go in today during our 3 hour break (during which time I usually try to catch up on work in the library) to try finish it...again! The graphs weren't like they were supposed to be, the burner ran out of ethanol, the plots wouldn't open on my laptop, or one-note so I had to cut and paste all 10 of them into Word, and then Stamenov came over and was like "well Cross got it to work, so the equipment is working just fine"...OF COURSE HE GOT IT TO WORK!! HE'S OUR FREAKIN' THERMODYNAMICS PROFESSOR!! And he said 3 weeks was too long to spend on one experiment...?! Well it should be so hard then! Some groups spent 5 weeks on it before just giving up!

After that disastrous THREE HOURS, I went to see Cormac McGuinness with Niamh C to talk about transferring to Nanoscience, cause that means no organic chemistry! Also no astro, which is kinda sad cause I chose this course to do Physics and Astrophysics...but I just can't do a fully Physics or a full Chemistry degree...I just can't. He said that it'd be fine with him if we moved and that if we transfer before reading week we won't have missed anything examinable which would be awesome!...buuut I was emailing my college tutor and he said that I have to fill in the transfer application and if it was successful I'd transfer at the beginning of next year...erm...no! I'll have missed out on a nanoscience module (taking astro instead...the complete opposite) AND I'm really worried that if a load of people end up wanting to transfer then  it might be down to grades from SF summer exams. I mean, I get pretty decent grades but if I transfer now I KNOW I've a place next year a opposed to being faced with the idea of full Physics or full Chemistry. I'm meeting with him on Friday at 2 (just before BC at 2:30) to talk about it. So I'll see if I can get him to try get me in this year, or guarantee me a place or something...GAH!! I'm also going to go talk to Anne tomorrow and see about the girl who transferring around this time last year in SF and she got to go straight in...maybe Anne can use her connection or something? AND, I'm going to go to the admissions office with Niamh tomorrow as well to see if it is just my tutor being all crappy and lazy and there's a chance the Senior Lecturer (who has to approve all course transfers) the hear me out.

I ALSO have a BC Chem presentation that's due in 3 weeks...during reading week...awesome...There's supposed to be around 11 in our group, but Aiden never shows up, no one's seen Ryan since before Christmas, Jack's not gonna be there and Ste's going to Munich with Physoc...and then there's Matthew who's more of a hinderance and just  puts down other peoples idea rather than suggest his own...and he's just...so...irritating!! So we're meeting Baker on Friday and we need an A4 outline of our section from the write up we did for it before Christmas so that we can try put a script together...and then we need costumes and props and I think we're shooting a movie as well? (Colin's got a director from players and NCAD people making props for us)

And then there's...y'know STUDYING!!! I've been up late every single night trying to finish work and I just haven't had time to actually  go over stuff and try to understand it...so I can't keep on top of what we're doing this semester and I need to learn and remember last semester's stuff for the summer exams as well. I cannot have repeats! Flying to NY by myself once is bad enough, I do not k=need the added stress of having to come back, sit my exams and then fly back out...nope...no.

  So...yeah...my life's going pretty awesome right now...I have so much work to do I don't know where to start, so I lie and tell myself I can read a book on the dart instead of doing my Maths tutorial questions... I can go to MacTurcaills on Friday with my friends instead of doing my Physics lab report... I can my friends over to my house for a girls sleepover with brownies on Saturday instead of trying to understand Special Rel...I can bitch about my life to Tumblr instead of writing out Quantum Chemistry notes...I just...I don't know how it's going to get done, I really don't...

It's at this point where I'm like "shoulda done Arts..." and all the Arts kids (Zu in particular) freak out and complain about the amount of reading they have and their essays...erm...no! You have reading? I have lecture slides to read and then make notes on, and have to use about 3 different textbooks to get the amount of background knowledge required for each topic! You have essays? I have lab reports and tutorials! Chemistry reports (the easy ones) take between 4-6 hours each...that's EVERY WEEK! Physics reports are due when I finish the experiment, so around every 2 weeks...Saturday is my Physics day, where I spend ALL DAY, working on it (having already put most of the data together in the library during the week)...so about 10-12hours altogether! You also only have around 10-16 contact hours a week. I have 26-28 depending on the week...Tuesday I have 9 hours straight...no break, just lectures, tutorials and a lab...10-7 awesome. 

The worse thing about this is I haven't seen any of my friends that aren't on my course in weeks! When I have lunch (if I have a break in my timetable) it's only for an hour or so, so we go to the JCR and eat and then go to the next lecture...or we sit together in the library...that's our bonding time, but if you're not on my course I won't have time to see you. I go from home to the dart to lectures and the library to the dart and home...

  Jerry Howell's Mini Sterling Engine Fan