ROTARY HEAT ENGINE

• US 20090139227A1
• Filed: 09/05/2006
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Da Vinci Co., Ltd., University of Tokyo
• Original Assignee: Da Vinci Co., Ltd., University of Tokyo
• Inventors: Higashi, Kenji, Nakasuka, Shinichi, Sahara, Hironori
• Granted Patent: US 8,839,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 60/517
• CPC Class Codes: F01C 1/22 of internal-axis type with equidirectional movement of co-operating members at the points of engagement, or with one of the co-operating members being stationary, the inner member having more teeth or tooth- equivalents than the outer member
• CPC Class Codes: F01C 21/06 Heating; Cooling of machines or engines in general F01P; Heat insulation heat insulation in general F16L
• CPC Class Codes: F01C 21/10 Outer members for co-operation with rotary pistons; Casings casings for rotary engines or machines in general F16M
• CPC Class Codes: F01K 25/10 the vapours being cold, e.g. ammonia, carbon dioxide, ether
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 2053/005 Wankel engines
• CPC Class Codes: F02G 1/043 the engine being operated by expansion and contraction of a mass of working gas which is heated and cooled in one of a plurality of constantly communicating expansible chambers, e.g. Stirling cycle type engines
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2210/24 mixed, e.g. two-phase fluid
• CPC Class Codes: F04C 2240/30 Casings or housings
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/1823 structurally associated with turbines or similar engines
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 20/14 Combined heat and power generation [CHP]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/15 On-site combined power, heat or cool generation or distribution, e.g. combined heat and power [CHP] supply

Abstract

A rotary heat engine having a cylinder and a rotor having a rotating shaft rotatably placed in the cylinder. The cylinder has a heat receiving section for supplying heat to the inside of the cylinder and a heat radiating section for radiating heat from the inside. The engine also has an engine section body and an operation liquid storage section. A vaporized gas supply channel and a gas recovery channel communicating with the inside of the cylinder are provided, respectively, on the heat receiving section side and heat radiating section side of the cylinder in the engine section body. The operation liquid storage section is between the vaporized gas supply channel and the gas collection channel in order to aggregate and liquefy recovered gas and is installed such that both channels fluidly communicate with each other. Also, the operation liquid storage section has a heat insulation dam provided with a through hole for preventing backflow of fluid flowing inside.

Claims

1. A rotary heat engine comprising a cylinder, a rotor rotatably received within the cylinder, and a fluid flow path for circulating a working fluid through the cylinder;

wherein said cylinder includes a first section for receiving external heat to gasify said working fluid on one side, and a second section for discharging heat to liquefy the gasified working fluid on the other side, said first section and said second section including, respectively, an inlet channel and an outlet channel for supplying gasified working fluid to the cylinder and recovering liquefied working fluid from the cylinder; and

wherein said circulating path including a working liquid reservoir section connecting said inlet and outlet channels in fluid flow communication, said reservoir section including a flow restricting dam for preventing backflow of the working fluid toward said outlet channel.

2. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein the wall of said cylinder is circumferentially interrupted, at least in two zones, by a wall section made of heat insulating material between the heat receiving section side and the heat discharging section side to thermally insulate between them.

3. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein said second section for discharging heat is formed integrally with or in thermally intimate contact with the cylinder, and wherein said cylinder carries on the inner wall in the area where the outer wall of the cylinder is occupied by said second section a plurality of heat exchange fins each radially inwardly extending a distance between the cylinder wall and the outer periphery of the rotor.

4. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein a bundle of capillary tubes extending from said reservoir section is placed in said working fluid inlet channel for assisting to convey the working fluid to the inlet channel by the capillary attraction.

5. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein said working fluid is selected from low boiling poit-alcohols.

6. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein said rotatable shaft is coupled to an output shaft of an electric motor or an input shaft of an electric generator via power transmission means.

7. The rotary heat engine according to claim 6 wherein said power transmission means comprises an input coupling member and an output coupling member each made of a permanent magnet having an opposite plurality capable of joining together face-to-face without direct contact for synchronous rotation.

8. The rotary heat engine according to claim 1 wherein said rotor carries a plurality of permanent magnets disposed at or close to the circumference of the rotor and wherein a plurality of electric power generating coils are disposed around the rotor periphery within the territory of the magnetic field of said plurality of permanent magnets.