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Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engine
Fusion360 CAD
Throughout my years in shop class, I began to learn more about engines in a very hands on way by machining them. Working this way allowed me to better understand what was going on and I found one type of engine in particular very fascinating.
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The Stirling engine is a highly efficient engine that operates on relatively small changes in heat, especially when compared to traditional combustion engines. These low temperature differential (LTD) Stirling engines can be calibrated to run off of the heat from a lit candle or the steam from a cup of coffee. If machined precisely enough, they can even run off of body heat by simply holding them!
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A few years ago I was leant James R. Senft's book "An Introduction to Low Temperature Differential Stirling Engines". It is a fantastic resource on the science behind LTD Stirling engines. It provided machine prints on how to make your own, and I was inspired to model my own take using Fusion360.
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You can see the results here! I was able to explore a lot of the features that Fusion360 has to offer, including the various types of mates, importing hardware from McMaster, exploring the materials library, creating high quality renders, and animating assemblies.
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