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US 2009/0255249 A1Published application
Externally heated engine
AssigneeRenewable Thermodynamics, LLC
InventorsGary P. Hoffman, Richard J. Ide
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An externally heated engine is provided which has a piston and a displacer. The position of the piston can be adjusted by a yoke and disk assembly on one end of a link and spacers and gaskets in the cylinder. The relative position of the displacer with respect to the piston can be changed by changing the relative position of a pair of disks in the crankshaft assembly. The displacer is caused to reciprocate by a link which is moved by a displacer cam assembly. The displacer cam assembly includes a first cam and a second cam. The first cam and the second cam each have a groove path. The displacer link follows the groove path of the cams to cause the displacer to dwell at the two ends of its stroke and to move rapidly from one end to the other.
Claims19
An externally heated engine comprising:
- a) a piston adapted for movement within a first cylinder, said piston having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side and the first cylinder defining a working chamber and the second side and the first cylinder defining an opposite chamber containing an opposing fluid;
- b) a displacer adapted for movement within a second cylinder, said displacer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a cold chamber and the second side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a hot chamber;
- c) a closed fluid path between the first and second cylinders, the closed fluid path including a working fluid, the working fluid capable of moving between the working chamber, the cold chamber and the hot chamber;
- d) a regenerator within the closed fluid path;
- e) a heat source for heating the working fluid;
- f) a link adapted to cause reciprocation of the piston;
- g) a first disk connected to a first shaft section;
- h) a second disk connected to a second shaft section;
- i) a yoke connected to the first disk and the second disk, the yoke adapted for positional adjustment in the radial direction with respect to the first disk and the second disk;
- j) the link connected to the yoke such that positional adjustment of the yoke causes the position of the piston to change within the cylinder.
7 more elements
An externally heated engine comprising:
- a) a piston adapted for movement within a first cylinder, said piston having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side and the first cylinder defining a working chamber and the second side and the first cylinder defining an opposite chamber containing an opposing fluid;
- b) a displacer adapted for movement within a second cylinder, said displacer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a cold chamber and the second side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a hot chamber;
- c) a fluid path between the first and second cylinders, the closed fluid path including a working fluid, the working fluid capable of moving between the working chamber, the cold chamber and the hot chamber;
- d) a regenerator within the fluid path;
- e) a heat source for heating the working fluid;
- f) a piston link adapted to cause reciprocation of the piston, the piston link connected to a piston link disk;
- g) a displacer link adapted to cause reciprocation of the displacer, the displacer link connected to a displacer link disk, the displacer link disk connected to a first shaft section and the piston link disk connected to a second shaft section, the first shaft section and the second shaft section operably connected to each other;
- h) one of the first shaft section and the second shaft section operatively connected to a first disk and a second disk, wherein the angular position of the first disk with respect to the second disk is adjustable.
5 more elements
An externally heated engine comprising:
- a) a piston adapted for movement within a first cylinder, said piston having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side and the first cylinder defining a working chamber and the second side and the first cylinder defining an opposite chamber containing an opposing fluid;
- b) a displacer adapted for movement within a second cylinder, said displacer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a cold chamber and the second side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a hot chamber;
- c) a fluid path between the first and second cylinders, the closed fluid path including a working fluid, the working fluid capable of moving between the working chamber, the cold chamber and the hot chamber;
- d) a regenerator within the fluid path;
- e) a heat source for heating the working fluid;
- f) a displacer link adapted to cause reciprocation of the displacer, the displacer link adapted to be moved by a displacer cam assembly;
- g) the displacer cam assembly comprising a first cam and a second cam, the first cam and the second cam each having a groove therein with a groove path;
- h) the displacer link adapted to follow the groove path of the first cam and the second cam.
5 more elements
An externally heated engine comprising:
- a) a piston adapted for movement within a first cylinder, said piston having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side and the first cylinder defining a working chamber and the second side and the first cylinder defining an opposite chamber containing an opposing fluid;
- b) a displacer adapted for movement within a second cylinder, said displacer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a cold chamber and the second side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a hot chamber;
- c) a closed fluid path between the first and second cylinders, the closed fluid path including a working fluid, the working fluid capable of moving between the working chamber, the cold chamber and the hot chamber;
- d) a regenerator within the closed fluid path;
- e) a heat source for heating the working fluid;
- f) the displacer cold chamber having an external surface wherein a cooling element is attached to the external surface of the cold chamber.
3 more elements
An externally heated engine comprising:
- a) a piston adapted for movement within a first cylinder, said piston having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side and the first cylinder defining a working chamber and the second side and the first cylinder defining an opposite chamber containing an opposing fluid;
- b) a displacer adapted for movement within a second cylinder, said displacer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the first side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a cold chamber and the second side of the displacer and the second cylinder defining a hot chamber;
- c) a closed fluid path between the first and second cylinders, the closed fluid path including a working fluid, the working fluid capable of moving between the working chamber, the cold chamber and the hot chamber;
- d) a regenerator within the closed fluid path;
- e) a heat source for heating the working fluid;
- f) the displacer hot chamber having an external surface wherein a heating element is attached to the external surface of the hot chamber.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.