This Chinese 4 Cylinder Stirling Engine is an Engineering Absurdity

When it comes to the internal combustion engine, it really is a beautiful thing that takes complexity and simplicity and somehow combines the pair of polar opposites into one concoction that so flawlessly powers billions of machines around the world today. All kinds of different parts need to act just correctly in order to house the power and transfer it into usable energy. However, there are some engines that really throw a wrench in that whole idea and bring other concepts to life. While these concepts might have not caught on as a widespread phenomenon quite yet, they can be a lot of fun to observe.

As a gearhead, many have had some experience with wrenching on different kinds of engines and this time, the Stirling engine, a variant with four cylinders, is the engine in question but instead of a full-scale power plant hiding away in an engine bay, we check out a miniaturized tabletop version! It’s pretty neat to see as you can take in the entire thing at once!

It’s truly wild to think about how all of the parts came together here and created an engine with the properties of a Stirling. After all, there is no combustion here but rather an engine that creates power thanks to an external heat source and constantly recirculates gasses without releasing them. It’s certainly a concept that’s tough to wrap the mind around.

Check out the video below that shows us this truly awesome machine that we know took lots of hours and a pretty good amount of patience to pull together to get to its final form. Videos like this really give you the chance to take a look into someone’s creativity and what a little bit of ingenuity is able to accomplish when you put your mind to the task.

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