Stirling engine
Motor Stirling
- Date
- 1816-1818 · confidence high
- Place
- Galston, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Robert Stirling
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Scottish clergyman Robert Stirling patented in 1816 a closed-cycle hot-air engine with a thermal regenerator, safer than the era's steam boilers, which were prone to exploding; in 1818 an engine of his design was used to pump water at an Ayrshire quarry.
The Stirling engine fell out of use in favor of the internal combustion and electric motor, but it resurged due to its efficiency and ability to run on any external heat source.
What it led to
- heat engines safer than high-pressure steam boilers
- renewed 20th-century interest due to its high theoretical efficiency and low noise
- modern applications in solar-thermal power generation and submarines