Stirling Engine
Designed in SolidWorks
I designed this Stirling engine inspired by a car wheel. The brass hub is expanded to represent the spokes of the wheel and bolted to the flywheel which emulates the tire. All parts were modeled in SolidWorks, with some some non-machined parts given, and mated into an assembly with working motion mates. For each machined part, I made engineering drawings with GD&T, and also calculated a full-engine tolerance stack-up to determine critical tolerances in order for the displacer to interface correctly with the air chamber.
An Introduction to Machining
Throughout the semester I machined over 15 individual parts out of aluminum, brass, and steel on 3-axis manual and converted mills and lathes, including 2-D CNC toolpaths. Several parts required fixture setups which I also designed and machined. After assembly, the engine flywheel spun at over 1350 RPM with a heat source applied to the air chamber.
