Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090039655 | RESONANT STATOR BALANCING OF FREE PISTON MACHINE COUPLED TO LINEAR MOTOR OR ALTERNATOR - 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 | 02-12-2009 |
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 |
20100299924 | Involute Foil Regenerator - A regenerator having a plurality of involute foils disposed in an annular gap between an inner cylindrical tube and an outer cylindrical tube. The involute shape of the foils provides uniform spacing throughout the entire regenerator and substantial surface area for fluid contact. | 12-02-2010 |
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 |
20110056196 | BEARING SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR FREE-PISTON STIRLING MACHINES - A bearing support system for a piston and its connecting rod in which the bearing system supports the combined piston and connecting rod by only two bearings, a gas bearing at the power piston (or displacer) and a radially acting spring bearing at its connecting rod. The spacing between them meets prescribed relationships and preferably exceeds a calculated value based upon chosen engineering parameters. A non-compliant connecting rod is fixed to an end of a piston which has a clearance seal length in the range of 0.3 times the diameter of the piston and 1.5 times the diameter of the piston. The distance from the gas bearing to the effective point of connection of the radially acting spring bearing to the connecting rod is greater than the seal length of the piston. The allowable off-center distance A for the radial displacement of the fixed connection of the radially acting spring bearing to the connecting rod is considerably greater than the diametrical clearance gap g which illustrates the reduction in the required precision for adjusting the position of the radially acting spring bearing. The piston and connecting rod unit is not supported by additional bearings that introduce additional alignment problems. | 03-10-2011 |
20110095542 | LUBRICANT FREE, REDUCED MASS, FREE-PISTON, STIRLING MACHINE HAVING RECIPROCATING PISTON DRIVINGLY LINKED TO ROTARY ELECTROMAGNETIC TRANSDUCER MOVING IN ROTATIONAL OSCILLATION - A free-piston Stirling machine drivingly coupled to at least one rotary electromagnetic transducer. At least one pulley is oriented in a plane of a reciprocating piston connecting rod. At least one motion translating drive link connects the connecting rod to the pulley by at least two straps so that the pulley moves in rotationally oscillating motion. The two straps extend along an arcuate surface of the pulley into connection to the piston rod at two spaced locations. The pulley is linked to a rotary electromagnetic transducer so that both move in rotationally oscillating motion. Preferably a piston spring resonates the piston at an operating frequency of the Stirling machine and a torsion spring resonates the pulley in rotational oscillation at the operating frequency of the Stirling machine. | 04-28-2011 |
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 |
20130255283 | Energy Efficient Biological Freezer With Vial Management System - An automated, ultra-low temperature freezer having multiple structural features that reduce heat transfer into the freezer, protect its internal mechanical devices against low temperature mechanical binding of their movements, allow defrosting and autoclaving as a result of only minimal changes to the conventional CO | 10-03-2013 |
20140020408 | VEHICLE AND STORAGE LNG SYSTEMS - LNG, for use as a motor vehicle fuel, is stored in a manner that does not require massive tanks, eliminates evaporative loss and reduces refrigeration energy consumption. A Stirling cryocooler extends through a wall of a highly insulated, relatively low pressure container to its cold end located in the vapor phase above the liquid surface. The pressure or temperature of the LNG is sensed and applied to a feedback control that modulates the heat transfer rate of the Stirling cryocooler so that LNG vapor is liquefied at a rate to maintain a desired pressure and temperature within the container. Maintaining a superatmospheric pressure in the container reduces the energy consumption required for re-liquefaction of the LNG vapor. The apparatus is also usable for liquefaction of natural gas for refueling vehicles from the ubiquitous consumer level domestic gas distribution system. | 01-23-2014 |