The invention belongs to a
prime mover, and particularly relates to a
prime mover and a working method. The
prime mover comprises an
evaporator, a
machine body and an energy body, wherein the energy body is arranged in the
machine body in a sliding mode; a
closed cavity is formed between the bottom of the energy body and the inner wall of the
machine body; the
evaporator communicates with the cavity and continuously absorbs heat to evaporate a liquid working medium, and the volume of the working medium expands due to
evaporation so as to push the energy body to move upwards to do work until the upper limit
stroke; and when the ambient temperature is lower than the
evaporation temperature, the energy body moves downwards to compress the gaseous working medium due to
self weight to completethe
liquefaction. According to the prime mover and the working method, the
evaporator evaporates the liquid working medium, the
volume expansion pushes the energy body to move upwards to do work, andthe
mechanical energy is output; when the ambient temperature meets the set value of the
liquefaction stroke, the gaseous working medium is compressed by the
self weight of the energy body to carry out the
liquefaction stroke; the whole working stroke and liquefaction stroke do not need other auxiliary equipment, so that unnecessary
energy loss is avoided; and the whole structure is simple, the cost is low, the performance is stable, the efficiency is high, and the positive economic value is realized.