stirling motor driver/holder

myminifactory

I have one of this wonderful ringbom stirling motor models. They are fascinating, with the temperature of the hand palm they run already. But you nee to take them in the hand or put them on ice to make them go. I have nine on the desk just because it's great to see. But some time I'd like to make them run while I do something on the computer. This brought me to the idea to take a peltier element which can be heated electrically. So I made this striling stand which has an integrated peltier element, a switch and a jack to connect an USB power supply. The peltier I have draws 6A @ 15V. This 70W would destroy my beautiful model for sure. But with the 5V from the USB adapter there flows 1A max and going to be lower when it's getting warm. With this 5W the stirling runs perfectly. Yes, yes - I know to drive a stirling with electricity is somehow odd, but ......