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Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by telchar on Thursday May 03, 2018 @10:38AM (#16986410)
Yes they are. An ideal stirling engine has the Carnot level efficiency, i.e. maximum theoretical efficiency for a heat engine.

https://blog.mide.com/thermodynamic-theory-of-the-ideal-stir...

Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by coryrc on Thursday May 03, 2018 @12:20PM (#16987308)
Except the ideal one doesn't exist and multistage stream turbines are more efficient in practice.
Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by hwillis on Thursday May 03, 2018 @03:54PM (#16989314)
Definitely not at that scale. Small turbines have low efficiency because tip speed increases quadratically as they get smaller.
Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by jacquesm on Thursday May 03, 2018 @01:36PM (#16987970)
And more reliable too. The Stirling does have one huge advantage which is that it is entirely self contained.
Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by Faaak on Thursday May 03, 2018 @12:24PM (#16987356)
But I suppose that having a multistage steam turbine in mars in not something will see at first
Re:NASA completes full-power tests of small, portable nuclea... by rfrey on Thursday May 03, 2018 @02:24PM (#16988423)
You may be interested in reading Allan Organ’s books. He claims that aspirations to Carnot efficiency are a red herring and claims (with Much Math) that the peak efficiency is closer to 50% of The Carnot cycle.