Ametek acquires Sunpower---Thursday, January 03, 2013

ametec

There was a question I wanted to answer with a brief research this early morning.  Is there a place that makes Stirling Engines for sale?  It seems that I've been down this road before.  It may have brought me to a dead end, so I don't know if this will be fruitful or not.

The links available from a google search were quite thin.  I came up with Sunpower Incorporated.  As shown in the title above, they were acquired early this year.

The link at the top takes you to a site where they might have an engine that would work in a car, but I'm not sure.  I can continue this research later, I suppose.  Anyway, this acquisition was of a company that had been making small Stirling engines.  It is now a part of this larger company that is listed on the NYSE.

Another website, managed by amateurs, wants to develop a Stirling Engine on their own.  This would be interesting except for one thing---it's re-inventing the wheel.  Trouble is, you just don't see many companies out there making these kinds of engines.

There's a reason for this, I suppose.  Perhaps it just isn't suitable for a car.  Yet, Ford worked on this concept in the early 70's.  The thought occurred to me that it could be used for a series electric hybrid that would run on ammonia.  Such an engine could be carbon free.  If it were to be combined with a design with the Urbee, the size of engine required could be minimized.  Such an engine could be more efficient that the diesel engine that the Urbee uses.  Even if not so, the Stirling Engine could be completely emission free.  Any internal combustion engine, regardless of fuel used, will produce some emissions.  Since the Stirling can be a sealed unit, the emissions just might be brought to all the way down to zero.

California did have a designation for such an auto, as I recall some time ago.  There may be a market for it, provided that it could be produced.