Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
060520000 | Having free floating displacer or transfer piston | 33 |
20080256945 | Linear Free Piston Stirling Machine - A linear-free piston Stirling machine comprising a displacer and a power piston. A rod is attached at one end to the displacer, extends through the power piston and is mounted to the casing at its opposite end via a spring. A resilient stopper at the opposite end is arranged to contact the engine casing if the displacement of the displacer exceeds a predetermined limit. | 10-23-2008 |
20080282695 | Displacer Piston Assembly - A split displacer piston assembly ( | 11-20-2008 |
20080289328 | Power Piston Sealing Assembly - A power piston sealing assembly in conjunction with a Stirling engine is disclosed. The power piston sealing assembly consists of one or several sealing retainers with threads alternatively using fasteners within the power piston. Said power piston sealing assembly comprises of a power piston, displacer rod seal(s), displacer seal spring(s) and sealing retainer(s) all concentrically mounted within the power piston. | 11-27-2008 |
20080295511 | Connection Of A Free-Piston Stirling Machine And A Load Or Prime Mover Permitting Differing Amplitudes Of Reciprocation - The reciprocatable power piston of a free-piston Stirling machine is drivingly linked to a reciprocatable component body of an associated apparatus by at least one spring with no rigid connection linking the piston to the component body. The spring drive linkage allows the power piston and the reciprocatable component body of the associated apparatus to reciprocate at different amplitudes of oscillation. Therefore, the Stirling machine and the associated apparatus can be optimized at different amplitudes of piston and the component body oscillation thereby improving the optimization of two very different dynamic systems that are drivingly connected together. | 12-04-2008 |
20090056329 | Heat engine - A high-temperature side power piston ( | 03-05-2009 |
20090056330 | MINIATURISED DEVICE THAT CAN OPERATE AS AN ENGINE OR A COOLER ACCORDING TO A STIRLING THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE - Miniaturised device, which can operate as an engine or a cooler according to a Stirling thermodynamic cycle, comprising an expansion chamber and a compression chamber, which are interconnected by means of a regenerator enabling the working fluid to flow through from the expansion chamber to the compression chamber, and vice versa, under the effect of the movement of a displacing mechanism, a fraction of the compression chamber being mobile and operating as a piston in order to modify the volume of the said compression chamber, characterized in that it also comprises a complementary chamber which is connected to the compression chamber by means of a complementary connection channel, the said complementary chamber being at an intermediate temperature between the temperature of the compression chamber and the temperature of the expansion chamber, the complementary chamber being separated from the expansion chamber by means of the displacing mechanism. | 03-05-2009 |
20090077961 | Heat Concentrator Piston and Chamber - A piston and chamber system to be used in connection with a heat concentrator such as those used for converting low grade thermal energy into useful energy. The example apparatus disclosed herein includes a heat engine floating piston which inhibits condensation normally associated with thermodynamic cycles which run at or near vapor saturation. The resulting improvement allows increased efficiency for lower temperature systems. | 03-26-2009 |
20090094977 | Linear free piston stirling machine - A linear free piston Stirling machine having a displacer piston mounted on first and second planar springs. The first spring has a stiffness which increases with increasing spring displacement. The second has a stiffness which is less variable with spring displacement to provide a combined stiffness which rapidly increases once the displacer piston displacement exceeds a fixed limit. Each of the springs has a plurality of spiral spring portions and a stress relieving hole beyond the outer edge of the spiral spring portions. | 04-16-2009 |
20090133397 | FREE PISTON STIRLING ENGINE - A free piston Stirling engine, comprising a power piston fitted into a cylinder further includes: a support structure carrying moving magnets for a linear alternator; and a passive structure that at normal operating power and frequency produces a restoring force on the piston in the absence of contact with the cylinder. In one variation, the passive structure further comprises a mass suspended within the piston from at least one spring, such that the mass oscillates under influence of movement of the piston at normal operating power and frequency so as to produce the restoring force. In another variation, the passive structure further comprises: a magnet disposed outside the cylinder at a position and in an orientation to produce a field that opposes a field of a moving magnet carried by the support structure when the piston moves toward the magnet. | 05-28-2009 |
20090193805 | STIRLING CYCLE ENGINE - To provide a less expensive and high-efficient free-piston Stirling cycle machine with an outer diameter of entire machine being relatively small. In a Stirling cycle cooler as a free-piston Stirling cycle machine including a cylinder | 08-06-2009 |
20090255249 | EXTERNALLY HEATED ENGINE - An externally heated engine is provided which has a piston and a displacer. The position of the piston can be adjusted by a yoke and disk assembly on one end of a link and spacers and gaskets in the cylinder. The relative position of the displacer with respect to the piston can be changed by changing the relative position of a pair of disks in the crankshaft assembly. The displacer is caused to reciprocate by a link which is moved by a displacer cam assembly. The displacer cam assembly includes a first cam and a second cam. The first cam and the second cam each have a groove path. The displacer link follows the groove path of the cams to cause the displacer to dwell at the two ends of its stroke and to move rapidly from one end to the other. | 10-15-2009 |
20100011759 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING ENERGY - The present invention relates to a device for energy conversion, comprising: a housing provided with at least one chamber and a piston which is freely movable within said chamber, wherein said piston is capable of reciprocating movement from a central position or rest position, and wherein a gap between the piston and the wall of the chamber has a dimension that decreases as the piston moves further away from said central position or rest position. | 01-21-2010 |
20100011760 | Hydraulic heat engine utilizing heat of compression and having independent control loop - A high performance modular heat engine is presented that uses a highly pressurized working gas and hydraulic fluid within a pipeline or flow circuit to produce power hydraulically. It does this by adding heat to the working gas via a control loop, isolated from the power producing working gas and hydraulic fluid, to increase its pressure and impart movement to said hydraulic fluid. The heat engine can utilizes its working gas' heat of compression to improve its performance by removing it during compression and returning it to the working gas during expansion. The engine can use momentum developed internally to convert low temperature heat into high temperature heat to boost its efficiency and performance by creating an artificial high ΔT between its heat source and heat sink. | 01-21-2010 |
20100064681 | Method for increasing performance of a stirling or free-piston engine - A method for improving performance of a free-piston engine, also comprising various other engines such as Stirling Engines, Ericsson engines, Stirling cryocoolers and other external combustion or hot air engines. The improvement is the inclusion of a means, such as a valve or set of valves interposed in a passageway, to contain the working fluid (gas) in the hot or expansion work area so that increased work can occur; or the improvement is by means of piston blocking a port to the working gas passageway such that working gas is contained in the work space such that increased work can occur. The improvement reduces or ideally eliminates free flow of fluid until such time in the cycle where valve or port opens and allows the fluid to flow to the passageway from one space to the other. | 03-18-2010 |
20100095668 | BALANCED MULTIPLE GROUPINGS OF BETA STIRLING MACHINES - Multiple free-piston Stirling (FPS) machines are arranged in a group and connected for preventing or minimizing vibration. A first set of identical beta FPS machines are rigidly connected together, arranged in a mechanically co-directional orientation and configured to reciprocate in thermodynamically synchronous reciprocation with each other. The first set has axes of reciprocation intersecting a first point, which may be a point at infinity. The axes of the first FPS machines make the same angle with a central axis of motion and are equi-angularly spaced around the central axis. A second set of beta FPS machines are rigidly connected together and rigidly connected to the first set of machines. The second set of machines are arranged in a mechanically co-directional orientation that is the same as the mechanical orientation of the first set of beta FPS machines. The second set of machines are configured to reciprocate in thermodynamically synchronous reciprocation with each other but in thermodynamically opposed reciprocation to the first set. The FPS machines of the second set are identical to the FPS machines of the first set and have axes of reciprocation intersecting a point, which may be a point at infinity. The axes of the second set of FPS machines all make the same angle with the central axis of motion and are equi-angularly spaced around the central axis of motion. | 04-22-2010 |
20100115941 | System and Method for Electrically-Coupled Thermal Cycle - In one embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for generating electrical energy using a thermal cycle of a working gas. The method comprises using the motion of a piston in a cylinder, containing the working gas performing the thermal cycle, to electromagnetically induce current in an electrical circuit coupled to the cylinder; using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy, produced by the current induced in the electrical circuit, in an electrical storage device; and using the electrical energy stored in the electrical storage device to electromagnetically provide a motive force to the piston. Cyclically using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy and using the stored energy to provide a motive force to the piston effect a net positive average power transfer into the electrical storage device over the course of the thermal cycle. | 05-13-2010 |
20100115942 | System and Method for Electrically-Coupled Thermal Cycle - In one embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for generating electrical energy using a thermal cycle of a working gas. The method comprises using the motion of a piston in a cylinder, containing the working gas performing the thermal cycle, to electromagnetically induce current in an electrical circuit coupled to the cylinder; using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy, produced by the current induced in the electrical circuit, in an electrical storage device; and using the electrical energy stored in the electrical storage device to electromagnetically provide a motive force to the piston. Cyclically using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy and using the stored energy to provide a motive force to the piston effect a net positive average power transfer into the electrical storage device over the course of the thermal cycle. | 05-13-2010 |
20100146962 | PISTON ENGINE - A Stirling engine is provided with a fluid passage that connects a low temperature-side actuating fluid space and a crankcase inner space, and a passage opening/closing valve that is provided in the fluid passage and that opens and closes the fluid passage. Upon stopping of the Stirling engine, the passage opening/closing valve enables communication through the fluid passage, at a region at which the piston floats in the cylinder. This region is determined based on the pressure of an actuating fluid in the actuating fluid space and the rotational speed of a crankshaft of the Stirling engine. | 06-17-2010 |
20100212311 | Thermoacoustic driven compressor - The present disclosure details a thermoacoustic driven compressor having a pressurized housing, which contains within a thermoacoustic engine and a working gas, coupled to a positive displacement reciprocating compressor. The thermoacoustic driven compressor generates scalable compressed air from a given heat source. | 08-26-2010 |
20100313559 | THERMAL ENGINE - A thermal engine is described, which has two pairs of chambers, comprising a first and a second heat transmission chamber and a first and second working chamber which are connected alternately via a first and second cooling device and a first and second heat exchanger, so that a shared total interior is formed, in which a working medium is situated. Linearly movable first and second heat transmission pistons and first and second working pistons are mounted inside the chambers. The particular relative aligned arrangement of the chambers and the special development of the piston heads of the heat transmission pistons lead to an increased efficiency of the thermal engine being able to be achieved. | 12-16-2010 |
20110005220 | GAMMA TYPE FREE-PISTON STIRLING MACHINE CONFIGURATION - An improved free piston Stirling machine having a gamma configuration. The displacer and each piston is reciprocatable within a cylinder having an unobstructed opening at its inner end into a common volume of the workspace. The common volume is defined by the intersection of inward projections of the displacer cylinder and the piston cylinders. The displacer and the pistons each have a range of reciprocation that extends into the common volume. A displacer drive rod is reciprocatable in a drive rod cylinder and both are positioned outside the common volume and on the opposite side of the common volume from the displacer. The displacer is connected to the displacer drive rod by a displacer connecting rod. Importantly, the displacer and pistons have complementary interfacing surface contours formed on their inner ends which substantially reduces the dead volume of this gamma configured machine. | 01-13-2011 |
20110011079 | STIRLING CYCLE MACHINE - A Stirling cycle machine. The machine includes at least one rocking drive mechanism which includes: a rocking beam having a rocker pivot, at least one cylinder and at least one piston. The piston is housed within a respective cylinder and is capable of substantially linearly reciprocating within the respective cylinder. Also, the drive mechanism includes at least one coupling assembly having a proximal end and a distal end. The linear motion of the piston is converted to rotary motion of the rocking beam. Also, a crankcase housing the rocking beam and housing a first portion of the coupling assembly is included. The machine also includes a working space housing the at least one cylinder, the at least one piston and a second portion of the coupling assembly. An airlock is included between the workspace and the crankcase and a seal is included for sealing the workspace from the airlock and crankcase. A burner and burner control system is also included for heating the machine and controlling ignition and combustion in the burner. | 01-20-2011 |
20110041492 | Stirling engine with thermoelectric control - The present invention provides apparatus and methods for utilizing thermoelectric devices to control the operation of a Stirling type engine. | 02-24-2011 |
20110061378 | Liquid Cooled Stirling Engine with a Segmented Rotary Displacer - The present invention provides a Stirling engine employing a segmented, rotary displacer for producing mechanical energy from a heat source. The engine includes a rotor shaft rotatably positioned in the interior toroidal cavity with a segmented displacer mounted to the rotor shaft within the interior toroidal cavity. | 03-17-2011 |
20110120110 | Logic controlled de-coupled displacement-type stirling engine - A low temperature differential Stirling engine includes a sealed elongate hollow container having a corresponding elongate cavity therein containing a gaseous working fluid and a displacer slidably mounted in the cavity. The displacer is translatable along the cavity. The container has a hot end and an opposite cold end. Translation of the displacer along the cavity forces the working fluid into the hot or cold ends sequentially according to a Stirling cycle. The hot end of the container has a power piston conduit. The conduit is in fluid communication with a power piston cylinder containing a power piston slidably mounted therein. Thus the conduit is in fluid communication between the working fluid in the cavity in the hot end of the container and the power piston cylinder so that heated expansion of the working fluid in the hot end of the container produces a power stroke of the piston. The displacer is mechanically decoupled from said power piston. | 05-26-2011 |
20120144821 | Free-Piston Stirling Machine For Extreme Temperatures - A free piston Stirling machine including a thermal buffer tube extending from the machine's expansion space and surrounded by its heat rejector and its regenerator, a displacer cylinder extending from the thermal buffer tube to the compression space and surrounded by the heat rejecting heat exchanger, and a displacer that reciprocates within an excursion limit that extends into the regenerator by no more than 20% of the length of the regenerator during normal operation and preferably within excursion limits that are substantially the length of the heat rejector. | 06-14-2012 |
20120151912 | HEAT ENGINE REGENERATOR AND STIRLING ENGINE USING THE REGENERATOR - A regenerator, for use in a heat engine, configured to receive and store heat from a high-temperature gas flowing from a high-temperature space into the regenerator, and to provide the heat to a low-temperature fluid flowing from a low-temperature space into the regenerator. The regenerator includes a large number of layered metal meshes. Each metal mesh includes a large number of mutually parallel longitudinal strands and a large number of mutually parallel lateral strands perpendicular to the longitudinal strands. The metal meshes are layered such that each metal mesh is sequentially rotated in a same direction by a fixed angle with respect to an immediately previously layered metal mesh. | 06-21-2012 |
20130031899 | Stirling Machine - This Stirling machine comprises a transfer piston ( | 02-07-2013 |
20130042607 | Free-Piston Stirling Machine In An Opposed Piston Gamma Configuration Having Improved Stability, Efficiency And Control - An opposed piston gamma type Stirling machine has its displacer driven by a linear electromagnetic transducer that is drivingly linked to the displacer and is located on the opposite side of the power piston's axis of reciprocation from the displacer preferably in the bounce space. The linear transducer is controlled by an electronic control as a function of sensed inputs of Stirling machine operating parameters. In addition to allowing improvements in stability and efficiency, such a Stirling machine operated as a cooler/heat pump can also be controlled so that its displacer can be driven at (1) a phase angle that pumps heat in one direction through the machine or (2) at another phase angle that pumps heat in the opposite direction through the machine and allows selectively switching between the heat pumping directions. | 02-21-2013 |
20140165551 | Stirling Cycle Machine - A Stirling cycle machine. The machine includes at least one rocking drive mechanism which includes: a rocking beam having a rocker pivot, at least one cylinder and at least one piston. The piston is housed within a respective cylinder and is capable of substantially linearly reciprocating within the respective cylinder. Also, the drive mechanism includes at least one coupling assembly having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end is connected to the piston and the distal end is connected to the rocking beam by an end pivot. The linear motion of the piston is converted to rotary motion of the rocking beam. Also, a crankcase housing the rocking beam and housing a first portion of the coupling assembly is included. A crankshaft coupled to the rocking beam by way of a connecting rod is also included. The rotary motion of the rocking beam is transferred to the crankshaft. The machine also includes a working space housing the at least one cylinder, the at least one piston and a second portion of the coupling assembly. A seal is included for sealing the workspace from the crankcase. | 06-19-2014 |
20140216026 | FREE-PISTON TYPE STIRLING ENGINE - A free-piston type stirling engine | 08-07-2014 |
20140283511 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRICALLY-COUPLED THERMAL CYCLE - In one embodiment according to the invention, there is provided a method for generating electrical energy using a thermal cycle of a working gas. The method comprises using the motion of a piston in a cylinder, containing the working gas performing the thermal cycle, to electromagnetically induce current in an electrical circuit coupled to the cylinder; using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy, produced by the current induced in the electrical circuit, in an electrical storage device; and using the electrical energy stored in the electrical storage device to electromagnetically provide a motive force to the piston. Cyclically using the electrical circuit to store the electrical energy and using the stored energy to provide a motive force to the piston effect a net positive average power transfer into the electrical storage device over the course of the thermal cycle. | 09-25-2014 |
20150135702 | WORKING CYLINDER FOR AN ENERGY CONVERTER - A working cylinder is provided, comprising at least one disc-like displacer ( | 05-21-2015 |