Exhaust power recovery system

Abstract

An exhaust power recovery system for internal combustion engines. The engine exhaust gases drive a gas turbine that in turn drives a hydraulic turbine pump pressurizing a hydraulic fluid which then in turn is the driving source for a hydraulic motor which transmits power to the engine shaft. In a preferred embodiment the engine exhaust gases drive a gas turbine with pivotable stator vanes that in turn drives a hydraulic pump pressurizing hydraulic fluid which than in turn is the driving source for a hydraulic motor which transmits power to the engine shaft. The pivotable stator vanes function as an efficient variable nozzle providing precise gas turbine control and improved exhaust energy utilization over a wide range of engine operating conditions. Various embodiments of the present invention make it applicable to a wide range of engines. For high power density engines such as 20 kW/Liter and higher, the engine supercharging system is configured as a combination of hydraulic supercharger in series with turbocharger, such as in the previous invention. For low power density engines as 20 kW/Liter and lower, the supercharging system is configured with either a hybrid supercharger/turbocharger unit such as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,286 or with a standard commercial turbocharger.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.