Sara Flanagan, JR MacKenzie, Cody Reaume, Peter Lain, Imed Zitouni
Overheating of a computer’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a common problem, and often a designated cooling system within the computer must run continuously to cool the chip. Excessive heat produced by the CPU can damage the chip permanently, causing the computer to crash continuously and, most severely, melting the chip. Our team’s objective is to design and build a Stirling Engine powered by the excess heat from the CPU. A Stirling Engine takes advantage of temperature differentials and turns heat energy directly into mechanical motion. The primary application of our Stirling Engine will be to power a cooling fan for the CPU, creating an attractive, compact solution that reduces the computer’s total power draw. As the CPU heats up, the Stirling powered fan will rotate faster, thus maintaining the temperature of the CPU at an ideal equilibrium. The Stirling Engine could also reclaim this waste heat energy to power small, low wattage devices that people use daily.