Tab joint in etched foil regenerator
OwnerMatthew P. Mitchellinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A joint connecting consecutive sheets of etched regenerator foil for a spiral-wrapped regenerator of a regenerative gas cycle machine such as a Stirling cycle engine or Stirling, pulse tube, or Gifford-McMahon cryocooler. The joint comprises a multiplicity of tabs on the end of one sheet of regenerator foil interlocked with a multiplicity of tabs on the end of another piece of regenerator foil. The joint is no thicker than the original thickness of the sheets of etched regenerator foil that it connects together, and the tabs substantially fill the holes into which they are locked, minimizing undesirable leakage through the joint after it has been incorporated in a regenerator.
Claims17
A joint connecting a second piece of etched regenerator foil to a first piece of etched regenerator foil of substantially the same original thickness as the original thickness of said second piece of etched regenerator foil
- wherein a multiplicity of tabs on said second piece of regenerator foil interlock with a multiplicity of holes in said first piece of etched regenerator foil, and
- wherein said tabs substantially fill said holes.
In a spiral-wrapped foil regenerator assembled from a multiplicity of separate pieces of regenerator foil of substantially the same original thickness, an improvement comprising:
- a multiplicity of tabs on a second piece of said regenerator foil interlocked with
- a multiplicity of holes on a first piece of said regenerator foil
- wherein said tabs substantially fill said holes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.