US 7,111,449 B1Granted

Gas heat engine

OwnerDavid W. Stebbingsinventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A new type of gas heat engine is described that has several features similar to a gas turbine or jet engine. The engine is developed in many different configurations, each yielding different theoretical advantages and degrees of freedom. All of this family of engines have no moving components, provide heat recovery and operate over a wide range of input gas velocities. The new engines can use higher combustion temperatures and consequently have the potential for improved efficiency over current technology. There are many theoretical and practical advantages to the new concepts, which give flexibility in both engine design and operating characteristics that are difficult to embody in current turbo jets. Among the most important is the potential for a thermodynamic efficiency which exceeds that of current open cycle gas heat engines at a given pressure ratio. A new term in the equation of the Enthalpy of a gas is described, which could be exploited in yet other variants of the engine. An application of special interest that emerges from this work is the potential to design first stage rocket boosters. The substantiative benefits of the new engines are improved safety to aircraft, fuel economy, reduced engine weight, and cost. Furthermore, the engine concepts can be scaled to create engines of any desired size and power output without the conventional mechanical limits associated with gas turbines.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A thermodynamic gas heat engine comprising:

a gas or working fluid inlet means comprising a first geometry and area;
mixing chamber means wherein inlet gas is entrained and mixed with a recirculating gas;
at least one injector means which incorporates at least one convergent-divergent nozzle comprising a second geometry and area and which generate supersonic flow from the said recirculating gas for compressing said entrained inlet and recirculation gas or at least one working fluid;
a diffuser means, which reduces the velocity of the combined inlet, entrained gas and the recirculating gas, and thus increases the pressure of the combined gas stream, said diffuser optionally including means for the development of shock waves to aid the compression process;
a primary combustion system means used in connection with Joule-Brayton turbo-jet engines;
at least one outlet nozzle having a third geometry and area and optionally arranged to enable the outlet gas to be at least one of choked and unchoked;
at least one scoop means optionally including at least one diffuser-that divert, said at least one scoop means diverting a portion of the gas moving to an engine outlet and so derive said recirculating gas by diverting it to the input of the engine for supplying the said injector means;
duct means for diverting said recirculating gas and diverting said gas to the injector means;
fuel supply means for the primary combustion system means;
diverted cooling gas bleeds means for cooling at least one duct and combustion chambers;
regulation means for regulating the geometry and area of said gas or working fluid inlet means.

8 more elements

A thermodynamic gas heat engine comprising:

a gas or working fluid inlet device comprising a first geometry and area;
mixing chamber device wherein inlet gas is entrained and mixed with a recirculating gas;
at least one injector device which incorporates at least one convergent-divergent nozzle comprising a second geometry and area and which generate supersonic flow from the said recirculating gas for compressing said entrained inlet and recirculating gas or at least one working fluid;
a diffuser device, which reduces the velocity of the combined inlet, entrained gas and the recirculating gas, and thus increases the pressure of the combined gas stream, said diffuser optionally including a device for the development of shock waves to aid the compression process;
a primary combustion system device used in connection with Joule-Brayton turbo-jet engines;
at least one outlet nozzle having a third geometry and area and optionally arranged to enable the outlet gas to be at least one of choked and unchoked;
at least one scoop device optionally including at least one diffuser, said at least one scoop device diverting a portion of the gas moving to the engine outlet and so derive said recirculating gas by diverting it to the input of the engine for supplying the said injector device;
duct device for diverting said recirculating gas and diverting said gas to the injector device;
fuel supply device for the primary combustion system device;
diverted cooling gas bleeds device for cooling at least one duct and combustion chambers;
regulation device for regulating at least one of the geometry and area of said gas or working fluid inlet device for regulating the thermodynamic conditions of the working fluid or gas.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.