This a solar powered stirling engine that uses a fresnel lens to concantrate the sun and produce power. Unfortunately the lens is sosmall that it can’t produce any useful amounts of electricity, so it’s just for demonstrating purposes.
source/image: JohnnyQ90
The concept of using an external combustion engine to convert solar power into mechanical or electrical power is particularly elegant since it runs on a heat differential and therefore does not depend on a specific kind of fuel./JohnnyQ90
A Stirling engine uses the heated fluid to move pistons and create mechanical power. The mechanical work, in the form of the rotation of the engine’s crankshaft, drives a generator and produces electrical power.
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An electrical generator is directly coupled to the Stirling motor shaft, which converts the mechanical energy into the desired AC electrical energy and as such is a system in which temperature differences plays a significant factor.JohnnyQ90
