This Computer Lives By the Flame
When it comes to power generation, everything is just steam engines — that includes both coal and nuclear power plants. That’s amusing to think about, but there are plenty of exceptions. Stirling engines, for example, can produce power through a thermal differential without using steam. PicketCode took advantage of that fact to build this computer that runs entirely on the energy from a flame.
The power generation part of the puzzle here is easy enough to grasp. You know how a gas or diesel generator works by using the rotational output to spin a alternator? This works in the same way, just with a Stirling engine spinning a small electric motor that acts as a dynamo.
It is the Stirling engine itself that is interesting. It works by harnessing a temperature differential in air. The flame heats up a chamber, causing the air inside to expand and push a...
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