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Stirling Engine

from Bright Future by Baba Brinkman

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about

The Stirling Engine was slept on for centuries, but now its time has finally come. From the gutter to the stars, Stirling Engines are helping capture waste energy, power remote technology, and slow climate change – and they make a good metaphor for an eclectic slow-burn rap career.

Further Reading:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine
www.nasa.gov/feature/glenn/2020/stirling-convertor-sets-14-year-continuous-operation-milestone

lyrics

I’m on that slow roll, that’s how I go the distance
Like a space probe exiting the solar system
With all the generators I need
To provide decades of energy, maintenance free

Take it slow on the way to big things
You would’ve thought I was invented in 1816
And then slept on, and never fully deployed
Except as a fan in ventilators and toys

I’m not annoyed, I just bide my time
‘Cause I know my hyper-scientific version of rhyme
Can seem costly, heavy, and slow to ignite
And tough to commercialize, though many have tried

The dude abides, ‘cause all I need is inches
Competition leapin’ past me obsolete in minutes
I’m out to leave a legacy, not a speed record
Listed in a museum with the steam engines

I thought internal combustion had me
Fifteen hundred degree ignition, I can’t compete!
Until the onset of climate change
Every gas-guzzlin’ contraption, apply the brakes

I keep it movin’ like a Stirling Engine
Converting heat to work in an instant
I keep it tight like a closed-cycle
Thermodynamic system, churning pistons

I keep fresh with external combustion
Plus low internal pressure
Regenerator for thermal retention
Low key like a Stirling Engine

Low key like a Stirling Engine

Oh, look who’s comin’ back around
Who’s got that steady energy capture now?
The mainstream stays deep in hydrocarbons
But any heat source gets my cycle started

Carnot cycle-target-level efficiency
Hydrogen, geo-thermal, solar, no difference to me
Nuclear fission, any industry, waste heat
Converted into electrical energy

Oh, your fuel source has to be really pure?
Mine can be anything, even pig manure
I can transform it into AC/DC
Which means farmers in the developing world need me

I can even act as a battery for renewables
Trap that heat in recycled molten aluminum
And then convert it to current, for the final user
I can even work in reverse as a cryocooler

Make it freeze, when I pump that heat
Make it negative 80 degrees for vaccines
Not to mix metaphors, but I’m universal
Stirling style, wild versatile

My compressed air knows how to work a valve
Reducin’ methane waste and personnel
In other words, my flow is so low-maintenance
The type you want to go into space with

I keep it movin’ like a Stirling Engine
Converting heat to work in an instant
I keep it tight like a closed-cycle
Thermodynamic system, churning pistons

I keep it fresh with external combustion
Plus low internal pressure
Regenerator for thermal retention
Low key like a Stirling Engine

Low key like a Stirling Engine

I’m on that slow roll, like a space probe
And this is my time, if I do say so
Settings records for continuous effort
Technology finally catching up to my potential

Space Age Rap Star, NASA said it
“The most reliable heat engine ever invented”
Not to take credit, but I just keep running
Steppin’ over dead energizer bunnies

Plus dead quiet, for sonar evasion
A Gotland-class sub in the Swedish Navy
Not to mix metaphors, but I’m freakin’ crazy
Sneak up and take a pic of the USS Ronald Reagan

Too much noisy friction in these engines
I got that free piston flow that’s efficient
Never crashing, practically everlasting
Don’t ask me when the springs wear out, it’s never happened

If you ask me about my future work
I’m running scientific instruments on Jupiter
KRUSTY reactors in a Mars colony
Not bad for a centuries-old technology

Not to mix metaphors
But there’s no stoppin’ me

I keep it movin’ like a Stirling Engine
Converting heat to work in an instant
I keep it tight like a closed-cycle
Thermodynamic system, churning pistons

I keep fresh with external combustion
Plus low internal pressure
Regenerator for thermal retention
Low key like a Stirling Engine

Low key like a Stirling Engine

Low key like a Stirling Engine

credits

from Bright Future, released May 28, 2021
Written by D. Brinkman, J. Simmonds
Produced and Mixed by Mr. Simmonds

Made with support from Qnergy
www.qnergy.com

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about

Baba Brinkman New York, New York

Science rapper and inventor of several novel hip-hop variants. Canadian transplant to New York. Pathological optimist.

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