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Photos: Catching rays with a Stirling engine

Stirling Energy Systems uses a 19th-century technology to address 21st-century demand for solar power.
By Bill Detwiler, Contributor
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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