Annular Venturi Burner for Stirling Engine
AssigneeNew Power Concepts LLC
InventorsChristopher C. Langenfeld, Michael S. Place, Jeremy B. Lund, Prashant Bhat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An annular venturi burner assembly and Stirling engine. The annular venturi burner injects fuel into combustion air flowing axial through an port with an annular cross section. The fuel enters the annular cross-section from the outside diameter. The flow of air through the annular section creates suction that draws the fuel through the ports. An venturi bushing directs the flow of fuel to provides improved and more uniform mixing of fuel and air.
Claims18
A heating element for heating an external combustion engine or machine comprising:
- a burner element for heating the working fluid of the engine;
- a blower providing air or other gas for facilitating ignition and combustion in the burner;
- a preheater defining an incoming air passage and an exhaust passage separated by an exhaust manifold wall for heating incoming air from the hot exhaust expelled from the heating element;
- fuel injector for supplying fuel;
- an igniter to ignite the fuel/air mixture;
- a venturi for receiving the heated incoming air and drawing in fuel from the fuel injector and directing the flow of the fuel/air mixture near the ignitor;
- a combustion chamber disposed linearly below the prechamber to receive the fuel/air mixture from the venturi and for supporting a flame;
- and
- wherein the fuel injector supplies fuel to an annulus that is coaxial with the venturi and directs the fuel along the outer wall of the venturi.
A method of operating a heating element comprising:
- providing an electronic control unit for managing ignition and combustion operations of a burner in the heating element;
- inputting at least one of air and other combustion gas for facilitating ignition and combustion in the burner;
- defining a preheater having an incoming air passage and an exhaust passage separated by an exhaust manifold wall for heating incoming air from hot exhaust expelled from the heating element;
- supplying fuel through a fuel injector to mix with the incoming air or other combustion gas in a venturi;
- igniting the fuel/air mixture in the venturi to obtain a flame;
- maintaining the flame in the combustion chamber;
- and
- exhausting gases from the combustion chamber into the exhaust passage to heat the incoming air or other combustion gas.
The method of operating a heating element as set forth in claim 17 further comprising the steps of operating the electronic control unit according to a plurality of predetermined data ranges to control at least re-ignition and resetting procedures, a shut-off procedure and a shut down procedure for the heating element.
An external combustion engine containing a working fluid comprising:
- a burner element for heating the working fluid of the engine;
- at least one heater head defining a working space containing the working fluid;
- at least one piston cylinder containing a piston for compressing the working fluid;
- a cooler for cooling the working fluid;
- a crankcase comprising;
- a crankshaft for producing an engine output;
- a rocking beam rotating about a rocker pivot for driving the crankshaft;
- a piston rod connected to the piston;
- a rocking beam driven by the piston rod;
- and
- a connecting rod connected at a first end to the rocking beam and at a second end to a crankshaft to convert rotary motion of the rocking beam to rotary motion of the crankshaft;
- and
- wherein the cooler is comprises a cooler body with an inner cylinder and header plates at each end of the cylinder and multiple tubes arranged around the inner cylinder and bonded to each heater plate and the working gas flows though the inside diameter of the multiple tubes while coolant flows across the outside of the multiple tubes.
A method of fabricating a cooler for a Stirling engine comprising the steps of:
- assembling multiple tubes into a cooler body which comprises an inner cylinder and header plates at each end of the cylinder and wherein the multiple tubes are fabricated from a first material with a lower coefficient of thermal expansion compared to the thermal expansion of the cooler body;
- and
- brazing the multiple tubes to the header plates to form a cooler at a temperature sufficient to anneal the multiple tubes;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.