Porous restrictor for gas bearing
AssigneeGlobal Cooling, Inc.
InventorDale E. Kiikka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas restrictor particularly usrful for applicatio in gas bearing as used, for example, in free-piston Striling cycle machinery. Porous strip material together with a backing plate and orifice (bleed hole) is used to provide the restriction to the flow of gas into an annular gap between a piston and a cylinder.
Claims24
A fluid bearing apparatus in a machine having a piston with a sidewall having an outer cylindrical surface disposed in close proximity to an inner cylindrical surface of a housing sidewall in which the piston is slidably mounted, and an annular clearance gap between the cylindrical surface of the piston and the cylindrical surface of the housing, the fluid bearing apparatus comprising:
- a) a fluid flow path extending in a stream from a plurality of orifices formed through at least one of said sidewalls into the annular gap;
- and
- b) a fluid-permeable, porous body mounted in the fluid flow path upstream of at least one of said orifices.
A fluid bearing apparatus in a machine having a piston with a sidewall having an outer cylindrical surface disposed in close proximity to an inner cylindrical surface of a housing sidewall in which the piston is slidably mounted, the piston sidewall having an internal chamber, defined by an inner surface in the piston sidewall, the machine also having an annular clearance gap between the outer cylindrical surface of the piston and the cylindrical surface of the housing, the fluid bearing apparatus comprising:
- a) a fluid flow path extending in a stream from the internal chamber through a plurality of orifices formed through the piston sidewall and into the annular gap, and
- b) a fluid-permeable, porous body mounted in the fluid flow path to the inner surface of the piston sidewall upstream of said orifices.
A fluid bearing apparatus in a machine having a piston with a sidewall having an outer cylindrical surface disposed in close proximity to an inner cylindrical surface of a housing sidewall in which the piston is slidably mounted, the housing sidewall having an outer surface, the machine also having an annular clearance gap between the outer cylindrical surface of the piston and the inner cylindrical surface of the housing, the fluid bearing apparatus comprising:
- a) a fluid flow path extending in a stream from the outer surface of the housing sidewall through a plurality of orifices formed through the housing sidewall and into the annular gap;
- and
- b) a fluid-permeable, porous body mounted in the fluid flow path to the outer surface of the housing sidewall upstream of said orifices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.