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US 10,982,543 B2Granted
Near-adiabatic engine
OwnerBarry W. Johnstoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A near-adiabatic engine has four stages in a cycle: a means of near adiabatically expanding the working fluid during the downstroke (expansion stroke); a means of cooling the working fluid at Bottom Dead Center (BDC); a means of near adiabatically compressing that cooled fluid from the lower pressure/temperature level at BDC to the higher level at Top Dead Center (TDC); and finally, a means of passing that working fluid back into the high pressure/temperature source in a balanced condition with minimal resistance to that flow.
Claims20
A near-adiabatic cycle heat engine, comprising:
- a working chamber;
- a power piston moveably housed within the working chamber, and configured to
- run on working fluid fed into said working chamber from a heat exchanger, and
- perform a pumping action to force said working fluid in and out of said working chamber;
- stored rotational energy means connected to said power piston through a connecting rod and a crankshaft, the stored rotational energy means configured to balance forces to fill an expansion chamber and empty a pump chamber with continuous rotational movement;
- an inlet valve configured to batch and isolate said working fluid in said working chamber for near-adiabatic expansion;
- a cooling reservoir configured to release cooled working fluid to cool said working fluid in said working chamber after a near complete expansion movement of said power piston;
- a TDC connecting valve configured to separate a portion of said working fluid from said working chamber and near-isothermally cool said cooled portion of fluid in response to the power piston compressing the portion of said cooled portion of fluid at a near constant low temperature into the cooling reservoir;
- and
- a BDC uniflow valve configured to
- close to contain a compressed cooled portion of fluid in said cooling reservoir, and
- open to release said compressed cooled portion of fluid into the working chamber in response to said power piston near completion of a sequential expansion downstroke of said power piston,
- wherein the cooling reservoir is configured to remove heat from said cooled portion of fluid in the working chamber by releasing said cooled portion of fluid in said cooling reservoir into said working chamber,
- during a compression of said cooled portion of fluid in said working chamber, the power piston is configured to move to separate a total fluid to near-isothermal and near-adiabatic portions according to a ratio differential of respective densities, the near-isothermal portion of said total fluid pressed near-isothermally into the cooling reservoir removing the heat while the near-adiabatic portion of remaining working fluid is pressed near adiabatically directly into said pump chamber, which is an extension of the working chamber, before said pumping action occurs,
- during said compression of said cooled portion of fluid in said working chamber, in which the portion of said total fluid that is not pressed into the cooling reservoir remains in said working chamber and is near adiabatically pressed directly into the pump chamber before the pumping action occurs, and
- in response to the nearly isothermal and near-adiabatic portions of the total fluid in the working chamber being compressed, a quantity of the working fluid compressed into the pump chamber is equal to a quantity of the working fluid initially injected into the working chamber at TDC from the heat exchanger at beginning of an engine cycle.
13 more elements
A near-adiabatic cycle heat engine, comprising:
- a working chamber;
- a power piston moveably housed within the working chamber, and configured to
- run on working fluid fed into said working chamber from a heat exchanger, and
- perform a pumping action to force said working fluid in and out of said working chamber;
- a flywheel connected to said power piston through a connecting rod and a crankshaft, the flywheel configured to balance forces to fill an expansion chamber and empty a pump chamber with continuous rotational movement;
- an inlet valve configured to batch and isolate said working fluid in said working chamber for near-adiabatic expansion;
- a cooling reservoir configured to release cooled working fluid to cool said working fluid in said working chamber after a near complete expansion movement of said power piston;
- a TDC connecting valve configured to separate a portion of said working fluid from said working chamber and near-isothermally cool said cooled portion of fluid in response to the power piston compressing the portion of said cooled portion of fluid at a near constant low temperature into the cooling reservoir;
- and
- a BDC uniflow valve configured to
- close to contain compressed cooled portion of fluid in said cooling reservoir, and
- open to release said compressed cooled portion of fluid into the working chamber in response to said power piston near completion of a sequential expansion downstroke of said power piston,
- wherein the cooling reservoir is configured to remove heat from said cooled portion of fluid in the working chamber by releasing said cooled portion of fluid in said cooling reservoir into said working chamber,
- during a compression of said cooled portion of fluid in said working chamber, the power piston is configured to move to separate said total fluid to near-isothermal and near-adiabatic portions according to a ratio differential of respective densities, the near-isothermal portion of said total fluid pressed near-isothermally into the cooling reservoir removing the heat while the near-adiabatic portion of said remaining working fluid is pressed near adiabatically directly into said pump chamber, which is an extension of the working chamber, before said pumping action occurs,
- during said compression of said cooled portion of fluid in said working chamber, in which the portion of said total fluid that is not pressed into the cooling reservoir remains in said working chamber and is near adiabatically pressed directly into the pump chamber before the pumping action occurs, and
- in response to the nearly isothermal and near-adiabatic portions of the total fluid in the working chamber being compressed, a quantity of the working fluid compressed into the pump chamber is equal to a quantity of the working fluid initially injected into the working chamber at TDC from the heat exchanger at beginning of an engine cycle.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.