Stirling Engine

The stirling engine is a machine that needs nothing but a temperature gradient to produce power. No fuel intake, no exhaust - just silent and seemingly magical motion. There is purely science behind the concept of a stirling engine, though.

The heating up, expansion, cooling down and subsequent compression of the gas in the cylinder follows a pattern that converts heat energy from the source into kinetic energy of the cylinders - and thanks to the ingenious rhombic drive configuration of the flywheels into rotational energy which could then be transformed into electrical energy.

The other use of a stirling engine is to simply "put it in reverse": By using energy to power the movement of the engine, it is used as a heat pump and is transferring heat from the colder side to the hotter one.

Much science. Much fascination.