Fluidic-piston engine
OwnerRicardo Conde, Dara Faroughyinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An external combustion engine comprises a mass of compressible working fluid; a fluidic piston in fluid communication with said working fluid; and a second piston in hydraulic communication with said fluidic piston and in fluid communication with said working fluid.
Claims43
An external combustion engine comprising:
- a mass of compressible working fluid;
- a fluidic piston in fluid communication with said working fluid;
- and
- a second piston in hydraulic communication with said fluidic piston and in fluid communication with said working fluid.
An external combustion engine comprising:
- a first set of cavities, each cavity comprising an expansion space in fluid communication with a heat exchanger;
- a first set of pistons disposed in said first set of cavities;
- a second set of cavities, each cavity comprising a compression space in fluid communication with a heat exchanger of a cavity of said first set of cavities;
- a second set of pistons disposed in said second set of cavities wherein at least one set of the first and second sets of pistons comprise fluidic pistons;
- a set of fluidic passageways disposed relative to said fluidic pistons, each for fluidic communication between one of each of said first set of cavities and one of each of said second set of cavities that are not already in fluid communication with the same said heat exchanger;
- a set of elongated hydraulic passageways, each in reciprocal communication between a first piston and a second piston for adapting said first and second pistons to oscillate in reciprocal register with one another such that one of the reciprocally phased pistons in an expansion mode drives the other of the reciprocally phased pistons in a compression mode where the first and second pistons are not already in fluid communication with the same heat exchanger and are not already in fluidic communication;
- and
- a set of hydraulic valves in communication with at least one of said first and second sets of pistons for receiving hydraulic power from said engine.
An external combustion engine comprising:
- a plurality of cavities;
- a compressible working fluid in fluid communication between each pair of adjacent said cavities;
- and
- a plurality of hydraulic linkages in reciprocal phase communication between each pair of alternate said cavities.
An external combustion engine comprising:
- a plurality of cavities;
- a compressible working fluid in fluid communication between each pair of adjacent said cavities;
- and
- a plurality of articulated mechanical linkages in reciprocal phase communication between each pair of alternate said cavities.
An external combustion engine comprising:
- at least four upright cavities disposed substantially equidistant from a central upright axis;
- a compressible working fluid in fluid communication between each pair of adjacent said cavities;
- and
- at least one linkage in reciprocal phase communication between each pair of alternate said cavities.
A method of operating an external combustion engine having a piston disposed relative to a mass of compressible working fluid, a heat exchanger in thermodynamic communication with the working fluid, and a fluidic piston in fluid communication with the working fluid;
- the method comprising:
- heating the working fluid with the heat exchanger;
- expanding the working fluid against the piston in response to said heating;
- cooling the working fluid with the heat exchanger;
- compressing the working fluid in response to said cooling;
- and
- moving the fluidic piston to displace the working fluid from the heat exchanger.
An external combustion engine comprising:
- means for maintaining a mass of compressible working fluid;
- means for compressing said working fluid into a volume exclusive of a heat exchanger;
- means for expanding said working fluid into a volume inclusive of a heat exchanger;
- and
- means for receiving power from said engine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.