I've recently began thinking about the possibilites of using a two-cylinder stirling engine and solar panels to produce viable energy but with a twist. make a unit, lets say 3x3 and 6 feet high and have it halfway into the ground. By having the hot end of the unit in the ground, and have the solar panels (that will be on top of the unit of course) power a heater that will go around the bottom of the unit and into and make direct contact with the hot end of the stirling cylinder. One more thing can be done to improve the effeciency of the model, on the cold side (near the top) have some heat sinks along with fans that will move when the stirling engine moves, the faster the engine, the faster the fans will go keeping the temperature differance at a maximum. Also a good regenerator is in order as well.
Does this sound feesible or is this one of those "It could, but barley not worth the effort" kind of deals.
I hope production of such a unit can be cost effective and not kill the viablility, sure it will still be in the 4 figure range, but hopefully no more than $5000 when everything is said and done.
Thoughts?