205 results about "Stirling cycle" patented technology

A cushion (10, 12) has a plenum (16) which includes a plurality of flexible plastic woven tubes (34) held within a pair of similarly woven sheathes (38,40). The plenum has its sides and bottom covered by an air impermeable (14) layer with the top covered by an air permeable layer (20). A low to medium density foam pad (19) is located between the plenum (16) and the top layer (20). Conditioned air is provided to the cushions (10,12) from a Stirling cycle heat pump (44).

A multiple convective cushion seating and sleeping system for providing temperature modified air to multiple surfaces, such as a seating surface and a sleeping surface, with the same air cooling or heating source. The invention includes the use of tubular spacer material including tubular spacer fabric. A power unit including a heat pump and blower is in fluid communication with a first convective cushion by a first duct and with a second convective cushion by a second duct to provide the temperature modified air to both convective cushions for controllably heating or cooling multiple users. A thermoelectric heat pump, a Stirling cycle heat pump or other type of heat pump can be used. The invention includes the use or one or more valves to control the air flow to one or more of the convective cushions and provides for manual operation, electronic control and operation by a remote telecommunications unit. The invention can be utilized in vehicles, such as tractor trailers and recreational vehicles, and in buildings such as apartments, dorm rooms and houses.

The present invention is an advanced co-generation system for abating solid wastes, hydrocarbons and other volatile organic compounds (VOC's) produced by various processes utilizing a Stirling cycle engine, turbines or other internal combustion engines doing useful work. The turbine exhaust is directed into an abatement chamber which may include a catalyst that is designed to operate at high temperature and includes supplementary fuel and air inputs which are controlled by a computer that receives sensor inputs to achieve the requisite heat ranges necessary to convert exhaust and VOC's to non-toxic substances. The exhaust generated by the abatement chamber is directed to a Stirling cycle engine for additional heat generation and recovery. The exhaust generated from this process can also be used to perform direct or indirect heating.

Solar-powered reactor for processing of slightly absorbing and transparent gases. An obvious path to providing storable, renewable energy is through solar dissociation of gas molecules. These dissociation products are the precursors of modern liquid and gaseous fuels such as hydrogen and methanol/ethanol. An apparatus and method using a solar concentrator (such as a focusing trough or dish) directed at the receiving end of a reactor are disclosed. A range of designs of reactors for the dissociation of gases, both those that absorb slightly in the visible spectrum and those that are transparent in the visible and only absorb in the infrared, is described. For slightly-absorbing gases, a funnel-shaped reactor that preheats the gas and concentrates sunlight is the indicated embodiment. A system for dissociating CO₂ using the invention is described. For transparent gases, a holraum embodiment is more appropriate for coupling solar energy into the gas. In both cases, heat from the hot stream of dissociated gas may also be used to produce electricity with a standard steam or Stirling cycle generator.

A cryogenic cooler and a dewar assembly including a cooled surface; a cooling surface for removing thermal energy from said cooled surface; and an adapter disposed between said cooling surface and the cooled surface for conducting thermal energy therebetween. A first fluid is disposed between the cooled surface and the adapter for conducting thermal energy from the cooled surface to the adapter. A second fluid is disposed between the cooling surface and the adapter for conducting thermal energy from the adapter to the cooling surface whereby the cooling surface remains free to move axially relative to the adapter at a temperature of the cooling surface at which the first fluid is susceptible to freezing. This allows for movement of the cold finger relative to the dewar and adapter, due to differential thermal coefficients of expansion or support structure motion, without adversely affecting the communication of thermal energy from the load. In the illustrative embodiment, the cooler is a Stirling cycle cooler, the first fluid is thermal grease and the second fluid is nitrogen. The cooling surface is a cylindrical cold finger of the Stirling cycle cooler and the cooled surface is an inner wall of a dewar assembly. The dewar is in thermal contact with a load. The adapter is disposed between the inner wall of the dewar and the cold finger. The adapter has an end cap and a cylindrical housing extending therefrom. The housing extends at least partially along a longitudinal axis of the cold finger. An insulator is disposed about the cold finger and the adapter housing. A spring is disposed between a proximal end of the insulator and a base of the cold finger to maintain a distal end of the insulator in contact with the adapter and the adapter in contact with the dewar.

A beta-type free-piston Stirling cycle engine or cooler is drivingly coupled to a linear alternator or linear motor and has an improved balancing system to minimize vibration without the need for a separate vibration balancing unit. The stator of the linear motor or alternator is mounted to the interior of the casing through an interposed spring to provide an oscillating system permitting the stator to reciprocate and flex the spring during operation of the Stirling machine and coupled transducer. The natural frequency of oscillation, ω_s, of the stator is maintained essentially equal to ω_p

and the natural frequency of oscillation of the piston, ∩_p, is maintained essentially equal to the operating frequency, ω_o of the coupled Stirling machine and alternator or motor. For applications in which variations of the average temperature and/or the average pressure of the working gas cause more than insubstantial variations of the piston resonant frequency ω_p, various alternative means for compensating for those changes in order to maintain vibration balancing are also disclosed.

An external combustion engine is disclosed. The external combustion engine containing a working fluid and including a burner element for heating the working fluid of the engine, at least one heater head defining a working space containing the working fluid, at least one piston cylinder containing a piston for compressing the working fluid, a cooler for cooling the working fluid, a crankcase. The crankcase includes a crankshaft for producing an engine output, a rocking beam rotating about a rocker pivot for driving the crankshaft, a piston rod connected to the piston, a rocking beam driven by the piston rod, and a connecting rod connected at a first end to the rocking beam and at a second end to a crankshaft to convert rotary motion of the rocking beam to rotary motion of the crankshaft. The external combustion engine also includes an airlock space separating the crankcase and the working space for maintaining a pressure differential between the crankcase housing and the working space housing and an airlock pressure regulator connected between the crankcase and one of the airlock space and working space.

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.

A microscalable thermal control module consists of a Stirling cycle cooler that can be manipulated to operate at a selected temperature within the heating and cooling range of the module. The microscalable thermal control module is particularly suited for controlling the temperature of devices that must be maintained at precise temperatures. It is particularly suited for controlling the temperature of devices that need to be alternately heated or cooled. The module contains upper and lower opposing diaphragms, with a regenerator region containing a plurality of regenerators interposed between the diaphragms. Gaps exist on each side of each diaphragm to permit it to oscillate freely. The gap on the interior side one diaphragm is in fluid connection with the gap on the interior side of the other diaphragm through regenerators. As the diaphragms oscillate working gas is forced through the regenerators. The surface area of each regenerator is sufficiently large to effectively transfer thermal energy to and from the working gas as it is passed through them. The phase and amplitude of the oscillations can be manipulated electronically to control the steady state temperature of the active thermal control surface, and to switch the operation of the module from cooling to heating, or vice versa. The ability of the microscalable thermal control module to heat and cool may be enhanced by operating a plurality of modules in series, in parallel, or in connection through a shared bottom layer.

The invention discloses a fluctuation thermoacoustic generation system, which comprises the following loop parts in sequence: cold junction heat exchanger, heat regenerator, heater, heat buffer pipe, hot junction heat exchanger, ring-shaped connection pipe and line generator in the pipe, wherein the generator contains a cylinder with one end of casing on the pipe and the other end with line sliding bearing; a double-loop magnetic-inductive soft iron with ring orifice is set in the cavity between cylinder and casing; the permanent magnet is inserted in the outer ring magnetic wall of soft iron; the coil rack is fixed on cylinder inner wall with part of coil in the ring orifice; the elastic or quality component is set in the hot junction pipe; the quality component does shift sliding along the elastic element; the elastic or quality phase modulation component is set in the greenhouse pipe; the quality component does shift sliding along the elastic phase modulation element. The invention can adjust the phase difference of pressure fluctuation and bulk flow fluctuation, which feedbacks the acoustic power to accomplish high effective Stirling cycle as well as inhibits the loop ring current to improve property of entire machine.

A channelized stratified regenerator with integrated heat exchangers are disclosed using micromachining to precisely construct structural geometries, such as fins and axial stratification of material to be used in a Stirling cycle based system. In operation, a working fluid passes through the regenerator when traveling between two heat exchangers. In some implementations, the regenerator and the heat exchangers are formed as a single construction. In other implementations, the regenerator and heat exchangers are formed separately, but are constructed to integrate efficiently with one another.

An integrated solar and wind hybrid energy generating system is capable of converting a solar collector to a wind deflector to increase wind catching area for the wind turbine during the nighttime and on overcast days and exchangeable between modes of Stirling cycle and reversed Stirling cycle for electricity generation and environmental control. During the sunny days, the system concurrently derives energy from both wind and solar energy sources.

A heat exchanger element for a Stirling cycle refrigerator is produced by integrally forming an annular corrugate fin that is produced by forming a sheet material, corrugated so as to have a large number of grooves, into a cylindrical shape with the grooves parallel to an axis of the cylindrical shape and an inner ring-shaped member that is placed in contact with the inner periphery of the annular corrugate fin. A heat rejector or heat absorber for a Stirling cycle refrigerator is produced by inserting this heat exchanger element into the hollow portion of a tubular body.

A Stirling cycle engine of a simplified structure, having enhanced reliability by improving abrasion resistance and lubricity of components thereof. When a piston reciprocates in a cylinder along the axial direction thereof by a driving mechanism, a displacer reciprocates in the cylinder along the axial direction thereof accompanying the reciprocation of the piston. The piston and the displacer slide in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder, but the piston and the displacer are each integrally made from an engineering plastic such as PPS having fine strength, dimensional stability, abrasion resistance and formability, while PPS is made CFRP. Moreover, solid lubricity agent is added to PPS. Accordingly, abrasion resistance, lubricity, strength and precision of the piston and displacer are enhanced, while the piston and the displacer can be simply produced by a well-known plastic molding.

Stirling cycle engines with hot and cold gerotor sets separated by an insulation barrier. The barrier has regenerative gas passages to allow gasses to flow therethrough thus connecting displacing chambers of the hot and cold gerotor sets. Each gerotor set has a rotor within a stator and displacing chambers created in an offset space therebetween. The stators may rotate about the rotors, or vice-versa. Either the rotor of the cold gerotor set has an axis of rotation offset with respect to the rotor of the hot gerotor set or the stator of the cold gerotor set has an axis of rotation offset with respect to the stator of the hot gerotor set, and the non-offset rotors or stators rotate about a common axis and are rotationally connected and create an angular phase offset between connected hot and cold chambers. The gerotor apparatuses may be utilized for a Stirling cycle engine for generating electricity, for example.