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US 2026/0092576 A1Published application
Hot-gas free-piston stirling engine with efficient hot air inlet
AssigneeExowatt, Inc.
InventorsSushrut Bapat, Pedro Neves, Kiran Kambly, Ehsan Ordouie, Hannan Parvizian, John M DeLappe, SeonYoung Kim, Christopher Rengifo, Simon Shuham
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Abstract
A new thermal engine design and novel hot air inlet provide a high-efficiency hot-gas free-piston Stirling engine design.
Claims18
A thermal engine comprising:
- an engine head defining an internal cylindrical cavity therein and further defining a thermal head;
- a piston reciprocatable within the internal cylindrical cavity according to the Stirling principle,
- a spring connected to the piston, the spring storing and providing energy for continual reciprocation of the piston;
- and
- a conical heat exchanger thermally coupled to the thermal head, the conical heat exchanger configured to receive a flow of first working fluid originating externally to the thermal engine and to transfer heat from the first working fluid flow to the thermal head and thereby to second working fluid within the internal cylindrical cavity, to thereby cause the piston to recirculate within the internal cylindrical cavity according to the Stirling principle.
2 more elements
A conical heat exchanger configured for coupling to a thermal head, the conical heat exchanger configured to receive heated working fluid and to transfer heat from the heated working fluid to the thermal head, the conical heat exchanger comprising:
- a plurality of fins projecting concentrically from a cylindrical cavity defined therein, the plurality of fins comprising side peripheral edges and top peripheral edges, the cylindrical cavity being dimensioned and configured to surround the thermal head;
- a cylindrical collar shroud disposed around the side peripheral edges of the plurality of projecting fins, the cylindrical shroud defining at least one air opening therethrough;
- and
- a truncated conical cap flow-coupled to the top peripheral edges of the plurality of fins to flow working fluid through interstices between the plurality of fins,
- wherein in use the working fluid flows through the truncated conical cap, the interstices between the fins, and cylindrical collar shroud at least one air opening.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.