Uncoupled, thermal-compressor, gas-turbine engine
First Claim
1. A heat engine that used a thermal compressor to power a compressed gas drive, where gas compression is mechanically uncoupled from the output drive and where a quasi-constant-pressure process is used and comprising:
- (a) a thermal compressor (TC) which receives gas at engine ambient pressure and discharges it at a higher pressure, and comprising;
a closed container and a displacer, means of bringing heat into the engine, a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves and a piping set that connects the elements;
(b) a displacer drive system which receives power from a controller and outputs mechanical power to a displacer; and
(c) a compressed gas drive that recieves high-pressure gas from the TC, transforms it into output mechanical shaft power and discharges low-pressure gas to the TC.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is for a continuous-combustion, closed-cycle, gas turbine engine with a regenerator and a displacer. It has embodiments that remove heater and cooler interior volumes during gas compression, which enable it to scale well to very large sizes. Low combustion temperatures insure very low emissions. The displacer levitated by an integral gas bearing and small clearance seal and given oscillatory translational motion by electromagnetic forces operates without surface wear. The turbine blades, subjected only to warm gases, are durable and inexpensive. Thus, this engine has a very long, continuous, maintenance-free service life. This gas turbine engine also operates without back work allowing high efficiency for both low and rated output. Pressurized encapsulation permits use of low-cost ceramics for high temperature components. The invention includes a unique monolithic ceramic heater, a compact high-capacity regenerator and a constant-power gas turbine.
101 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A heat engine that used a thermal compressor to power a compressed gas drive, where gas compression is mechanically uncoupled from the output drive and where a quasi-constant-pressure process is used and comprising:
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(a) a thermal compressor (TC) which receives gas at engine ambient pressure and discharges it at a higher pressure, and comprising;
a closed container and a displacer, means of bringing heat into the engine, a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves and a piping set that connects the elements;
(b) a displacer drive system which receives power from a controller and outputs mechanical power to a displacer; and
(c) a compressed gas drive that recieves high-pressure gas from the TC, transforms it into output mechanical shaft power and discharges low-pressure gas to the TC. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A heat engine, with a continuous internal combustion thermal compressor, a displacer that is supported by a center rod and powered by a linear electromagnetic drive, and comprising:
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(a) a continuous internal combustion thermal compressor closed container with a displacer supported by a center rod and powered by a linear electromagnetic drive;
(b) a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves, a piping set that connects the elements, and a compressed gas drive which transforms compressed gas from the high pressure tank into mechanical power that is delivered to a load and discharges gas to the low pressure tank;
(c) a displacer, center-rod seal that inhibits drive chamber lubricant from entering the closed container cold chamber;
(d) means of equalizing the pressure between the closed container cold chamber and displacer center rod base;
(e) means of pumping fuel and air, oxygen or oxidizer into the interior of the system; and
(f) means of extracting compressed gas energy from the products of combustion before discharging them. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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17. A heat engine with a continuous internal combustion thermal compressor that uses a pushrod-driven displacer that obviates the wear problem of a pushrod seal by nullifying the pressure change across the seal, and comprising:
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(a) a continuous internal combustion thermal compressor closed container with a pushrod-driven displacer that separates it into a hot space and a cold space;
(b) a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves, a piping set that connects the elements, and a compressed gas drive which transforms compressed gas into mechanical power and delivers it to a load;
(c) a displacer drive chamber and liquid lubricant that fills all chamber voids precluding gas in the drive chamber;
(d) a displacer drive connected to the displacer by means of a pushrod;
(e) an expandable baffle with its interior connected by a passage to the closed container cold space, located in the drive chamber, and which expands and contracts so that the pressure in the closed container cold chamber equalizes with that of the displacer drive chamber;
(f) means of pumping fuel and air, oxygen or oxidizer into the interior of the system; and
(g) means of extracting compressed gas energy from the products of combustion before discharging them. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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28. A heat engine with a continuous external combustion heater, which uses a displacer push rod and obviates the wear problem of a high-pressure, push-rod seal by nullifying the pressure change across the seal and comprising:
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(a) a continuous external combustion thermal compressor, a heater, a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves, a piping set that connects the elements, and a compressed gas drive which transforms compressed gas into mechanical power that is delivered to a load;
(b) a displacer drive chamber and a liquid lubricant that fills all voids precluding gas in the drive chamber;
(c) a displacer drive connected to the displacer by means of a pushrod; and
(d) a closed expandable baffle that is located in the drive chamber and with its interior connected by a passage to the closed container cold space, and which expands and contracts so that the pressure in the closed container cold chamber equalizes with the displacer drive chamber. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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29. A heat engine with a continuous external combustion thermal compressor and a displacer and closed container that has no contact between them and therefore no wear surfaces and comprising:
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(a) a continuous external combustion thermal compressor which receives gas at engine ambient pressure and discharges it at a high pressure, and comprising;
a displacer and closed container, an external combustion heater, a cooler that rejects heat, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves, a piping set that connects the elements, and a compressed gas drive which transforms compressed gas into mechanical power delivered to a load;
(b) an integral gas bearing that supports the displacer relative to the closed container and small clearance displacer seal comprising two concentric cylinders with one attached to the displacer and one attached to the closed container;
(c) a spin motor that induces axial rotation;
(d) a linear electromagnetic drive that induces reciprocating motion of the displacer; and
(e) means to determine the position of the displacer relative to the closed container. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A heat engine with an external combustion thermal compressor that uses a displacer, center-rod support and a linear electromagnetic drive, comprising:
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(a) a closed container, an external combustion heater, a cooler, a regenerator, a region or tank for accumulating low-pressure gas, a region or tank for accumulating high-pressure gas, a pair of pump check valves, a piping set that connects the elements, and a compressed gas drive which transforms compressed gas into mechanical power and delivers it to a load;
(b) a displacer supported by a lubricated slender center rod with means of balancing the pressure at the base of the center rod with the closed container cold chamber;
(c) a displacer drive coil attached to the displacer and attached to spring-like leads that serve to bring power to the displacer coil;
(d) a spring set that causes the displacer to bounce at the end of the stroke;
(e) a stationary electromagnetic drive circuit that directs magnetic flux through the displacer drive coil;
(f) a position sensor used by the displacer linear drive controller to control displacer motion;
(g) a power supply that provides regulated power to the displacer drive coil and stationary electromagnetic drive coils; and
(h) a displacer drive controller.
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46. An integral solar energy and natural gas TC heat engine system comprising:
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(a) a thermal compressor integrated with a solar receiver;
(b) a sun-tracking parabolic mirror;
(c) a thermal compressor integrated with a natural gas heater;
(d) a low-pressure tank;
(e) a high-pressure tank;
(f) a hot water tank with a heat exchanger that transfers rejected engine heat to the water; and
(g) a turbo generator.
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47. A seal and integral gas bearing for use with a thermal-compressor displacer, comprising two concentric cylinders having a small clearance, manufactured from a material with a small coefficient of thermal expansion and a high service temperature, and attached so that pressure equalizes on both sides of each cylinder.
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48. A motorized, thermal-compressor, displacer-center-rod bushing that maintains a displacer centering force and comprises:
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(a) a lubricated slender center rod that supports a displacer;
(b) an inner bushing that rotates, is motor driven, supports the center rod and provides a fluid dynamic centering force that acts on the center rod;
(c) an outer bushing that interfaces with the inner bushing;
(d) a support structure for the outer bushing;
(e) a motor that rotates the inner bushing; and
(f) means to enable the gas pressure at the base of the center rod to equalize with the pressure of the closed container cold chamber.
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49. An active vibration-mitigation system used with an electromagnetic-drive thermal compressor engine comprising:
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(a) a system support plate;
(b) a vibration isolation spring that is attached at one end to the system support plate and at the other end to the engine;
(c) an active damper drive coil and structure that is attached to the system support plate;
(d) an active damper armature housed in the damper drive coil;
(e) a motion sensor that is attached to the system support plate; and
(f) a controller that receives a signal from the motion sensor, commands displacer and damper armature motion and correlates this process so that the system-support-plate vibrations are nullified.
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50. An integrated, thermal-compressor and vibration-mitigation system assembly comprising:
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(a) an electromagnetic-drive thermal compressor;
(b) a heater;
(c) a tilted-disk, vibration-mitigation subsystem;
(d) a vessel for pressurizing the high-temperature engine components; and
(e) a controller that correlates tilt disk position and speed with thermal compressor displacer motion to nullify vibrations.
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- 51. A thermal compressor regenerator with a high gas throughput, low interior volume and a low-pressure drop, and comprising a heat recovery media configured as a folded plate.
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54. A heater for gas-cycle heat engines with a sequence of combustion chambers and heat exchangers configured so that combustion occurs in stages with heat extracted after every stage and fuel rates controlled to limit peak combustion temperatures as a means of controlling the formation of NOx compounds, and comprising:
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(a) an intake filter that receives intake air from the atmosphere and discharges it to the air pump;
(b) an air pump that receives air from the air filter and delivers it to an exhaust heat recuperator;
(c) an exhaust recuperator that transfers heat from the exhaust gases to the intake gases and fuel, and which receives air from an air pump and delivers it to a first combustion chamber;
(d) a combustion chamber that receives air from the recuperator and fuel from the fuel-flow control valve, and delivers products of combustion to a heat exchanger;
(e) a heat exchanger that transfers heat from the products of combustion to the thermal compressor working fluid and which receives products of combustion from the combustion chamber and delivers them to a second combustion chamber;
(f) a process that repeats (d) and (e) several times and then delivers the products of combustion to the last combustion chamber;
(g) a recuperator that receives heat from the last combustion chamber, delivers it to the exhaust, and transfers heat from the exhaust gases to the intake air and fuel;
(h) a fuel system comprising;
a fuel tank, a fuel pump, a motor and a fuel filter, and sends fuel to a flow control valve;
(i) a fuel-flow-control valve that receives fuel from the fuel filter and delivers it to a recuperator that heats the fuel and then sends it to a starter fuel heater;
(j) a starter fuel heater that is used to initially heat fuel during engine start-up and comprising an electrical heating element and which receives fuel from the recuperator and delivers it to all the combustion chambers at a high enough temperature so that combustion can occur;
(k) an igniter located in the last combustion chamber to ignite fuel during start up;
(l) a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the exhaust gases just before entering the recuperator;
(m) an oxygen sensor that measures the exhaust gas oxygen level; and
(n) a controller that regulates the speed of the air pump motor and the fuel pump motor, and receives the output of the temperature and oxygen sensors. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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57. A monolithic ceramic heater formed by joining a plate stack comprised of a three-plate repeated sequence, a front plate and an aft plate with the plate sequence comprised of a cloth layer, a working fluid pipe plate layer, and a porous, fuel-pipe plate layer.
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58. A thermal compressor heat engine with a structure pressurized to enhance resistance to thermal fatigue and thermal shock failures of high temperature elements by minimizing tensile stresses, and comprising:
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(a) a pressure chamber that contains a high-pressure gas and encapsulates a structural assembly being protected from thermal fatigue and thermal shock failures;
(b) a structural assembly which is protected from thermal fatigue and thermal shock failures; and
(c) means to insulate thermally between a pressure chamber and a structural assembly that is protected from thermal fatigue and thermal shock failures. - View Dependent Claims (59)
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- 60. A gas-dynamic drive that maintains a near constant power output over a specified speed range and comprising a turbine, a stator, a gas discharge nozzle, and means that enables velocity compounding to occur.
Specification