<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">My involvement and knowledge goes way back so I have forgotten much. I think the unit was charged with Helium. Helium has a slow leak it seems. the units I was familiar with had no way to refill the helium charge. Also the rings or seas may be bad. The piston had rings, seals, and a long life was expected but if those seals went bad of course the power would drop off. I do not even remember the basic Sterling cycle, I think the piston did the valving such that the only moving part was the piston. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Thank you for the many helpful comments you have made over the years.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 1:40 PM Starlight Solar Power Systems <<a href="mailto:larry@starlightsolar.com">larry@starlightsolar.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Thank you Hilton and Darryl. That explains what I\u2019m seeing here in Yuma: A 90kW installation that went slowly, and is now entirely, off line. <br>
<br>
These are the linear alternator design. Any chance your friend will have technical documents?<br>
<br>
Larry<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Nov 24, 2018, at 11:37 AM, Hilton Dier <<a href="mailto:hiltondier@gmail.com" target="_blank">hiltondier@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
A friend of mine worked for them. I believe they went bankrupt and/or got bought out. Seemed like the usual high tech startup management cluster_____. Tech guys trying to do finance and finance guys trying to do tech. <br>
<br>
They had a good idea in that the 3kW engine didn\u2019t require the complicated heat exchanger of larger machines. It had a linear alternator design, which simplified things as well. They also developed a cheaper mirror. <br>
<br>
Their problem was that the price of PV dropped so much that they couldn\u2019t compete in turnkey $/kWh. There are a few orphaned arrays out there with nobody to do O&M.<br>
<br>
Unsolicited opinion: solar Stirling is a non-starter in a world of cheap PV. Stirling does have a place in small scale cogeneration.<br>
<br>
Hilton Dier III<br>
Renewable Energy Design<br>
Missisquoi River Hydro LLC<br>
<br>
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