Nano Flux Thermo-acoustic Single Cylinder Engine

Thermo-acoustic Single Cylinder Engine

The Kontax Nano Flux Thermo-acoustic Single Cylinder engine has an anodised aluminium construction with delicately styled brass fittings. It features a self-lubricating graphite piston running in a borosilicate glass cylinder and a stainless steel regenerator stack. Unlike Stirling engines, this thermo-acoustic engine has no displacer and can therefore run in either direction. It runs on a tiny candle-sized flame with the top speed a blistering 3300 rpm.

How does it work?

Thermoacoustic engines are known by several names, including resonant engine, lag engine and lamina flow engine. Conventional Stirling engines have a power piston and a second device usually called a displacer that shuttles air between the hot and cold parts of the engine. Thermoacoustic engines don’t use a displacer to shuttle the air around, but rely on a standing wave to do the work of a displacer. Inside the engine at the hot end there is dense slug of stainless steel wool known as a stack, which is heated by the flame. At the other end of the glass tube, by the brass fins, is a barrier with a tiny hole through it, known as the choke. The standing wave resonates between the stack and the choke. In operation, a packet of air is compressed by flywheel and piston motion which heats it slightly. The packet of air is pushed into the end of the hot stack where it absorbs heat from the stack and main tube walls, which causes an overall expansion within the system and drives the piston outward. Piston motion outwards decompresses the packet of air and and it moves out of the hot stack which causes an overall cooling and decompression within the system which does more work on the piston, pulling it in.

Main features:

• Stainless steel regenerator stack
• Top speed of 3300rpm
• Runs on a tiny methylated spirits or denatured alcohol flame
• Extremely low friction self-lubricating graphite piston
• Built in flywheel balancing

Materials

• Aluminium connecting rods
• Stainless steel ball-race bearings
• Micron precision borosilicate glass cylinder
• Micron precision graphite power piston
• Aluminium base, foot, and brackets
• Aluminium flywheel spokes
• Brass flywheel rim

Dimensions

• Base - 115mm x 50mm x 5mm thick (4.5" x 1.9" x 0.2")
• Flywheel - 35mm diameter x 6mm thick (1.4" x 0.23")
• Power piston - 9.5mm diameter (0.375")
• Overall height - 70mm (2.76")
• Burner - 25mm diameter x 40mm high (1" x 1.6")

Assembled

The engine is available fully assembled and ready to go or as a self-assembly kit.

Instructions

Click the image below for PDF assembly, operation and maintenance instructions for this engine.