Photos: Catching rays with a Stirling engine
Stirling Energy Systems uses a 19th-century technology to address 21st-century demand for solar power.
1 of 4 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET
Stirling engine
Stirling Energy Systems is one of a number of start-ups focused on solar power. But there's one key difference: It's using an engine technology first developed in 1816.
2 of 4 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET
power conversion unit
The Stirling system's power conversion unit, seen here on a maintenance stand. The power comes from a cycle of heating and cooling--a gas in the system expands with exposure to an external heat source, such as the sun's rays.
3 of 4 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET
power conversion unit without heater head
The power conversion unit with its heater head removed. Stirling Energy is working with Boeing and the U.S. Department of Energy on performance tests.
4 of 4 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET
Robert Stirling
The original design of the Stirling engine, with a picture of its inventor, Church of Scotland minister Robert Stirling.
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