Multi-cylinder hot gas engine

In a double-acting, multi-cylinder hot gas engine, the improvement comprising a V-shaped engine block formed by two banks of cylinders with the cylinders in each bank having parallel, equal-length axes for connecting rods to pistons reciprocatingly movable therein and with the planes of the two banks containing the axes of the cylinders intersecting along or near the axis of a single crankshaft;

• annular regenerator means surrounding each cylinder and defining a regenerator space;
• a single annular heater head means including a plurality of annularly arrayed working fluid passageways;
• a combustor supported within said annular heater head means for flowing hot combustion gases past the working fluid passageways for heating the working fluid therein;
• balanced-flow manifold means for interconnecting the working fluid passageways in said heater head means between the expansion space the regenerator space of the respective cylinders, said manifold means comprising two concentric inner and outer rings of arcuately-shaped manifold chambers with the number of arcuate manifold chambers in each ring being equal to the number of cylinders, the respective manifold chambers in one of the concentric rings communicating with a respective expansion space of one of the cylinders, and the respective manifold chambers of the other concentric ring communicating with a respective regenerator space of each cylinder;
• the plurality of annularly arrayed working fluid passageways being arranged in a circle around the combustor with each working fluid passageway having one end thereof communicating thru a respective manifold chamber to the expansion space of one of the cylinders and the remaining end thereof communicating thru respective manifold chamber to the regenerator space of the same cylinder;
• and the number of working fluid passageways thus connected to the respective expansion and regenerator spaces of each cylinder being equal to the number of working fluid passageways respectively connected to the other cylinders in the multi-cylinder engine.

A multi-cylinder hot gas engine comprising in combination a plurality of cylinders disposed along paths forming two banks of cylinders having equal parallel axes and the planes of which form a V-shaped engine block extending from a single crankshaft, each cylinder containing a piston connected to said crankshaft in proper phase relation and dividing said cylinder into a high temperature space and a low temperature space with the low temperature space being nearer said single crankshaft;

• a plurality of annular regenerator-coolers each communicating between two cylinders and each disposed around a single cylinder;
• a plurality of working fluid passageways connecting said low temperature space of one cylinder to the cooler of the regenerator-cooler of an adjacent cylinder;
• a plurality of arcuately-shaped expansion space manifolds each positioned over the axial centerline of a respective cylinder or as near thereto as possible and communicating with the high temperature space of said cylinder;
• a plurality of arcuately-shaped regenerator manifolds one each positioned over the centerline of each of the cylinders or as near thereto as possible and communicating with the regenerator of the said cylinder;
• heater head means comprising a plurality of working fluid passageways disposed in a substantially uniform circular array above said cylinders and near the high temperature spaces thereof to define on top of the V-shaped engine blocks a combustion space;
• said working fluid passageways connecting said expansion space manifold of each cylinder to the associated regenerator manifold of the same cylinder;
• and a combustor unit mounted in said combustion space for uniformly heating the working fluid in all of the working fluid passageways of said heater head means.