Mechanical arrangements for Stirling-cycle, reciprocating thermal machines
OwnerWilliam M. Moscripinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Mechanical arrangements with primary application to single-acting, multiple-piston, Stirling-cycle machines providing a dramatic reduction in mechanical complexity and production cost. Two specific new machines are disclosed in detail, a single-acting, two-piston "ducted axle" machine and a quasi double-acting, four piston "drum cam" machine. A power level control subsystem inherent in the ducted axle machine permits engine output to vary from maximum positive through zero to maximum negative under full load conditions by means of the simple rotation of a single moving part.
Claims7
A reciprocating, single-acting, multiple-piston, Stirling-cycle thermal machine which includes a frame;
- at least one pair of stationary, coaxial, in-line, right-circular cyclinders mounted in said frame, said cylinders being thermally isolated from each other, open at their adjacent ends and closed at their remote ends, one of said cylinders enclosing an expansion space of the machine and the other enclosing a compression space of the machine;
- an external heat source;
- an external heat sink;
- regenerators for each cylinder pair;
- a heater for each expansion space comprising a heat exchanger element closing the remote end of the expansion space and serving to thermally conductively connect said source to the machine working fluid;
- a cooler for each compression space comprising a heat exchanger element closing the remote end of the compression space and serving to thermally conductively connect said sink to the machine working fluid;
- a piston arranged to reciprocate within each of said cylinders, locked against rotation relative thereto and sealing the open end thereof, the pistons of each coaxial pair of cylinders being mechanically linked;
- cam and cam follower means operatively connecting said pistons to a rotary drive mechanism turning about an axis coaxial with the principal machine axis of symmetry, the symmetry plane of said drive mechanism normal to its axis of rotation being coincident with the plane of symmetry of the reciprocating parts of the machine;
- the machine working fluid being contained in one or more isolated stages comprising an expansion space, a heater, a regenerator, a cooler, and a compression space connected in series by passages permitting oscillating flow between said spaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.