Stirling Innovations, LLC was founded for the express purpose of developing and commercializing delta Stirling machines and GREAT TES.
After more than five decades of pushing the state-of-the-art with free-piston Stirling engines and coolers, Maury White was convinced he had defined the ultimate topology for Stirling machines that could enable the highest efficiency, lowest cost, lightest weight, and simplest hardware possible. His initial plan was to document it in a book with the hope that someone, someday would follow through. In moving down that path, it became clear that with proper implementation these machines could play a major role in solving some of our most daunting environmental challenges. He concluded that the only way he was likely to see any such results in his lifetime was to make it happen.
When integrated with GREAT TES delta Stirling engines could provide a solar power generation system with major advantages over any alternative approach. Delta Stirling coolers can eliminate flare gas at oil and gas field sites by liquefying the flare gas on site and trucking it to market as liquefied natural gas. This eliminates huge quantities of greenhouse gases and monetizes the cleanest fossil fuel rather than wasting it. Other refrigeration applications that are superior to existing solutions include extreme hot and cold climate heat pumps and refrigeration systems, commercial food freezer installations, and cryocooling for superconductor systems including extremely low temperature medical diagnostic equipment. In all these applications, the Stirling cycle working fluid is environmentally benign helium.
FOUNDER BIO
Maurice (Maury) White has been a leader in the development of free-piston Stirling (FPS) machines for more than 50 years. His Stirling activities began in 1962 at Atomics International where he was mentored by Ted Finkelstein, who first conceived of the FPS concept. Mr. White subsequently spent more than 20 years developing FPS machines in Richland, WA at the Donald W. Douglas Laboratories and the University of Washington (UW) for a variety of applications, but primarily focused on a power source for a fully implantable artificial heart. The artificial heart work developed technology innovations as diverse as flexure bearings integrated with clearance seals that eliminate all rubbing parts to enable unprecedented long-life, maintenance-free engines and coolers, and phase change salt thermal energy storage (TES) integrated with Stirling engines. In 1985, from his position as Program Manager of the UW Stirling program, Mr. White led a technology transfer initiative in cooperation with UW to found Stirling Technology Company, later renamed Infinia Corporation. He remained with Infinia and its derivatives through September 2021. Mr. White served as President for eight years before returning to his preference for innovating and managing R&D activities as Chief Technology Officer. When Infinia moved to Ogden Utah, and was subsequently acquired by Qnergy, Mr. White remained in Richland with affiliate Infinia Technology Corporation (ITC). After ITC was acquired by AMSC in 2017, Mr. White continued to support advanced technology development part-time through September 2021, at which time he formed Stirling Innovations, LLC to independently pursue development of innovative high-performance, low-cost delta Stirling machines and GREAT (GReen Energy at All Times) TES for baseload solar power applications that enables reliable 24/7/365 solar power generation.
Mr. White holds 10 U.S. Patents for FPS machines and phase-change salt thermal energy storage. He has authored or co-authored over 50 published papers related to Stirling cycle machines and phase-change TES. He has a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College and M.S. in Physics from UCLA.