Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

WatchManSam t1_j18kdhs wrote

Reply to comment by GenericUsername2056 in Why do we use phase change refrigerants? by samskiter

Just to tag along on that last sentence, Stirling engines do have a couple niche use cases today such as cryocooling. Instead of using a temperature differential to create mechanical movement, one can apply mechanical movement to create a temperature differential. In commercial applications these can reach down to 40-50 Kelvin. I just think they're neat.

260

Mikeynolan t1_j1fsbqj wrote

You can buy an off-the-shelf Stirling engine two-stage cryocooler giving 10-20K. Radio astronomers use them all the time.

You put in about a kiloWatt of power and get about 2W of cooling, so use a good Dewar. They use Helium as the working gas.

3