Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
060519000 | Expansible chamber having rotatable or oscillatory displacer | 6 |
20080264057 | Power Head Mounted on Power Crosshead - A power piston ( | 10-30-2008 |
20090217658 | Method for Centering Reciprocating Bodies and Structures Manufactured Therewith - Methods for assembling a reciprocating body, such as a piston, within a bore using a design are described. The piston is substantially centered within the bore and then connected at one end through a rotational coupling to a substantially laterally fixed structure connected to the bore such that during normal operation the piston can rotate within the bore along the bore axis of symmetry but can no longer move laterally. Before fixing the rotational coupling, the piston is connected to an external gas source and substantially aligned along the bore axis of symmetry by a gas bearing having one or more gas bearing ports disposed toward the bore. During normal operation, the gas bearing provides a rotational force sufficient to realize a non-frictional bearing between the piston and the bore. The method of assembly is particularly useful in the assembly of Stirling cycle cryocooler comprising a piston, a compressor bore, adapted to contain the piston, a gas inlet to the piston, a plurality of gas bearing ports located within the piston and disposed toward the compressor bore, the gas inlet being in fluid communication with the gas bearing ports, a rotational coupling structure attached to one end of the piston, and a substantially laterally fixed structure affixed to the compressor bore and the rotational coupling structure. | 09-03-2009 |
20090313989 | Rotary stirling cycle machine - A rotary Stirling cycle engine including motor and pump rotors located eccentrically in motor and pump chambers arranged endwise adjacent each other, with both rotors on a single drive shaft. The pump and motor chambers may be shaped as circular cylinders. Working fluid inlet and outlet ports are located in motor and pump chamber ends. A bypass conduit may include a valve allowing working fluid to bypass the motor chamber. | 12-24-2009 |
20100162697 | STIRLING ENGINE AND ASSOCIATED METHODS - A stirling engine is disclosed. The engine includes at least two fluid chambers; a displacer, which may be rotary; and a movable seal. At least one displacer may be included in each of the at least two fluid chambers. The movable seal separates the at least two fluid chambers. In a further aspect, a stirling engine may include any one of at least one heat source, at least one heat sink, at least one converter, or any combination of any two or more of the preceding. | 07-01-2010 |
20110259002 | STIRLING CYCLE EPITROCHOIDAL HEAT ENGINE - An epitrochoidal Stirling type engine operating on a Carnot cycle. The engine has a hot end and a cool end. Each end has a three-lobed rotary piston or rotor eccentrically mounted. Each rotor is in a four-lobed housing. There are connections for fluid flow between pairs of lobes with regenerators in the connections. The thermodynamic cycle corresponds to that of the Stirling engine. Heat is applied to one end of the engine and heat is discharged at the other end. As each rotor moves in and out of the housing lobes, a hydrodynamic fluid film of gas is produced between the rotor and the housing which keeps the rotor from contacting the housing. | 10-27-2011 |
20120317971 | THERMAL PENDULAR ENGINE - The engine consists of two sealed containers joined by a near horizontally orientated pipe mounted at a point along its length upon a shaft assembly within which is housed an axle about which the device is free to oscillate, and so constructed as to interact with an attuned complementary pendulum. When a temperature differential exists between the two containers, either by means of heating one container (hot leg) and/or cooling the other (cold leg), the consequent increase in pressure in the hot leg forces a quantity of the encased working fluid along the pipe to the cold leg, thereby creating a weight imbalance and changing the device's planar orientation. This change in orientation allows gas to escape from the hot leg, and a cycle is subsequently developed in which liquid is alternately expelled from the hot leg and then readmitted as the device oscillates. Force from this oscillation is transmitted to the pendulum which begins to oscillate at its natural frequency in synchronous interaction with the device. The momentum attained by the pendulum and the torque thereby created can be utilized to perform useful work. | 12-20-2012 |