Flexure bearing support assemblies, with particular application to stirling machines

A piston and displacer assembly configured to be movably supported within a chamber in a housing of a thermal regenerative machine, comprising:

• a piston constructed and arranged to communicate with a working gas in the chamber, and supported for reciprocation within a bore of the chamber;
• a displacer constructed and arranged to communicate with the working gas in the chamber, and supported for reciprocation within a bore of the chamber;
• and
• at least one flexure bearing assembly including radially spaced connections for connecting in assembly to the piston and the displacer, respectively, for accommodating relative axial movement between the piston and the displacer;
• the flexure bearing assembly configured to provide a spring having a spring constant sized to realize a piston-to-displacer phase angle in operation of at most 60 degrees.

An internally mounted flexure bearing assembly for coaxial non-rotating linear reciprocating members in power conversion machinery, comprising:

• an axial member centered about a reference axis;
• a tubular member having a hollow interior structure, the axial member extending at least in part within the hollow interior structure of the tubular member;
• a stator disposed within the hollow interior structure;
• a body configured to support the tubular member along one end;
• and
• a flexure in the form of at least one flat spring positioned across the hollow interior structure of the tubular member, the flat spring including radially spaced connections for securing the flat spring to be carried by the axial member and the tubular member, respectively, for accommodating relative axial movement between the axial member and the tubular member.

A flexure bearing assembly for power conversion machinery, comprising:

• an axial member;
• a laminated stator having a hollow portion, the axial member disposed for axial movement in the hollow portion;
• a body configured to carry the laminated stator adjacent one end;
• and
• a flat spring flexure having radially spaced connections for securing the flat spring flexure to the axial member and the laminated stator, respectively, for accommodating relative accurate axial reciprocation of the axial member relative to the body.