A stirling idea [Stirling engine-based combined heat and power]

Disenco, a British company, acquired the technology for a Stirling engine-based combined heat and power (CHP) appliance from its Scandinavian developers, facing the challenge of lacking the skills needed to turn it into a saleable product. Disenco's focus therefore shifted to managing its interaction with the partners who were supplying it with the capabilities it lacked to build its HomePowerPlant (HPP). Stirling engine can produce as much as 15kW of thermal and 3kW of electricity, giving it up to three times the electrical output of other micro-CHP technologies. The HPP uses a two-piston beta type Stirling engine, where heat from the boiler turns linear motion into rotary motion using a rhombic drive, which produces electricity from a generator. Prodrive is doing some of the mechanical development on the Stirling engine, and Sentec is doing the electrical work. The other part of the system that Sentec designed was the appliance's user interface. Sentec has nearly completed its workload, and Enertec has a complete appliance on a PAS67 rig for endurance testing and approvals.