US 4,055,960 AGranted

Stirling cycle engine

OwnerJohn Craig St. Clairinventor

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Abstract

The hot and cold gases of a Stirling Cycle engine are stored in the opposite ends of a rotating hollow cylinder with the inner surface of the cylinder covered with water held in place by centrifugal force. The hot and cold gases are kept separate by a piston, that moves back and forth in the rotating cylinder, with the outer edge of the piston dipping in the ring of water providing a gas seal. The gas when heated and introduced into the hot end of the rotating cylinder is given the same angular velocity as the rotating hollow cylinder by means of a large number of small holes in a molybdenum sheet of metal. The molybdenum metal is strong and is not corroded, in the hydrogen gas used as the working fluid, at temperatures as hot as 2200.degree. Fahrenheit or even hotter. The system is the basis of a low first cost power plant where hydrogen is compressed, expanded through a turbine with the generation of power and then compressed over again. The overall power plant needs less than 7500 BTU per KWH. With the use of Solar heat stored in enormous piles of sand-lime pebbles with cooling water sprayed in winter and stored in holes, from which has been obtained sand which is made into sand-lime mortar for the pebbles, heat rates of as low as 6500 BTU per KWH can be obtained.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A process for compressing a gas with a lower molecular weight than water by means of Stirling Cycle which comprises:

storing a hot gas and a cold gas of the same composition but in separate compartments with both under approximately the same pressure in a cylinder with the cold and hot gases being separated by a moveable piston, removing cold gas from the cylinder and heating it and introducing the heated cold gas into the end of the cylinder with the hot gas, thus moving the piston and thus increasing the pressure of the hot and cold gas stored, removing gas at increased pressure from the system as a product, reversing the above process with hot gas being removed from the hot gas storage in the cylinder and cooling it and introducing it into the end of the cylinder with the cold gas, thus moving the piston in the opposite direction to that previously obtained and thus decreasing the pressure of the cold and hot gas stored, and introducing gas to be compressed into the system, the novelty comprising revolving the cylinder that stores the hot and cold gases around its longitudinal axis, maintaining a layer of water around the inner surface of the revolving cylinder by centrifugal force, using this layer of water to act as a seal for the edge of the piston as it moves back and forth, and using as the gas mentioned a gas whose density is less than that of pure steam at the same temperature and pressure.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.