Stirling engine
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHiroshi Yaguchi, Daisaku Sawada
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stirling engine includes a flow path that communicates a working space of the stirling engine and outside of the stirling engine. A working gas is supplied from the outside of the stirling engine to the working space via the flow path based on a differential pressure of the working space and the outside of the stirling engine.
Drawings
Claims13
A stirling engine of a two-piston type in which a working gas reciprocates between a compression space which is a working space of a low-temperature side cylinder and an expansion space which is a working space of a high temperature side cylinder, comprising:
- a flow path that communicates the working space of the stirling engine and outside of the stirling engine;
- check valves which are arranged in the flow path to allow a flow only in a direction from the outside of the stirling engine to the compression space;
- a valve that is arranged in the flow path closer to the outside of the stirling engine than the check valves;
- and
- a piston pump that is arranged between two of the check valves and can supply pressurized working gas to the flow path, in addition to a low-temperature side piston of the low-temperature side cylinder and a high-temperature side piston of the high temperature side cylinder;
- wherein
- a crank shaft of the piston pump is integrally formed with a crank shaft of the stirling engine, and
- a phase of an intra-cylindrical pressure of the piston pump is opposite to a phase of an intra-cylindrical pressure of the sterling engine which is a combined wave of a pressure waveform of the compression space and a pressure waveform of the expansion space.
A hybrid system comprising:
- a stirling engine of a two-piston type in which a working gas reciprocates between a compression space which is a working space of a low-temperature side cylinder and an expansion space which is a working space of a high temperature side cylinder, the stirling engine includes a flow path that communicates the working space of the stirling engine and outside of the stirling engine, a working gas being supplied from the outside of the stirling engine to the working space via the flow path based on a differential pressure of the working space and the outside of the stirling engine;
- check valves which are arranged in the flow path to allow a flow only in a direction from the outside of the stirling engine to the compression space;
- a valve that is arranged in the flow path closer to the outside of the stirling engine than the check valves;
- and
- a piston pump that is arranged between two of the check valves and can supply pressurized working gas to the flow path, in addition to a low-temperature side piston of the low-temperature side cylinder and a high-temperature side piston of the high temperature side cylinder;
- wherein
- a crank shaft of the piston pump is integrally formed with a crank shaft of the stirling engine, and
- a phase of an intra-cylindrical pressure of the piston pump is opposite to a phase of an intra-cylindrical pressure of the sterling engine which is a combined wave of a pressure waveform of the compression space and a pressure waveform of the expansion space;
- and
- an internal combustion engine of a vehicle,
- wherein the stirling engine is mounted on the vehicle and a heater of the stirling engine is provided to receive a heat from an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine.
A stirling engine of a two-piston type in which a working gas reciprocates between a compression space which is a working space of a low-temperature side cylinder and an expansion space which is a working space of a high-temperature side cylinder, comprising:
- a path that can cause a fluid to flow from an outside of the stirling engine to the compression space;
- a check valve that is arranged in the path to allow a flow only in a direction from the outside of the stirling engine to the compression space;
- a pressurizing pump that can supply pressurized working gas to a branch path which diverts at a position closer to the compression space than the check valve from the path;
- and
- a tank that is arranged at a position closer to the compression space than the pressurizing pump in the branch path to store the working gas pressurized by the pressurizing pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.