PROGRESSIVE THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEM

• US 20110000206A1
• Filed: 01/23/2008
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Torok Aprad
• Original Assignee: Torok Aprad
• Inventors: Aprad, Torok
• Application Number:
  US12/449,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20110000206A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 60/517
• 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: F24V 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/1823 structurally associated with turbines or similar engines

Abstract

The invention refers to a thermo dynamic system able to capture heat from the surrounding environment and transform it in mechanical energy which is to be used partially for self functioning while the rest is saved for a consumer. The system can work with any heat source, but is also designed for very small temperature differences between the warm and the cold source, which makes it fit for working with non-conventional energy, especially solar energy. The system can be used to provide heat, mechanical energy or electrical energy to both small and large consumers. The system progressively increases this pressure using compressors with liquid, with refrigerant, isochoric-isobar compressors, compressors with atomizer, with constant volume, etc absorbing the heat from the environment it is placed in using receivers, bellow receivers, magnetized piston receivers, inline engine receivers, etc, and later transforming it in mechanical energy or even directly into electrical energy, through a pneumatic engine, a double gamma Stirling engine or through a special type of caged turbine capable of working with small enthalpy falls due to the large surface of the pallets. The pressure increase in the system can be also used to power a reversed cycle thermodynamic system, giving the possibility to obtain lower temperatures than the cold source'"'"'s temperature or higher than the warm source'"'"'s temperature. The pressure increase in the system'"'"'s compressor is mainly obtained also through a thermal transfer in a compressor with constant volume. FIG. 20 presents a system to be setup on sea surface: the whole installation is setup on some support pillars 20h, using supports 20i which are sliding with the tides transforming this energy in the rotation of an electrical generator. Series of horizontal receivers are setup on this supports: warm receivers 20j or cold receivers 20k that can be also used as a platform for technical interventions, for focusing mirrors, for caged turbines, for pressurized refrigerant tanks and other equipments. Using mobile arms 20m on the water level cold receivers are placed 20k, with the horizontal axis tangent to a circle circumference having the center in the axis of the support pillar, while the hot receivers 20j can move around a vertical axis for orientation: one side perpendicular on the wind direction and the other sides parallel to it. This way a wind turbine is achieved. On top, due to the wave movement the vertical receivers have an oscillating movement that is transformed into energy using some pistons 20e actuated by the mobile arm. At their turn, the cold and warm receivers are elements of double-gamma Stirling engines, Stirling compressors, compressors with refrigerant, compressors with constant volume, counter flow sequential heat exchangers. All of them leading to increased enthalpy of the working agent and to its transformation into electrical energy in a caged turbine.

Claims

1. Progressive Thermodynamic System (PTS) for heat conversion into electrical or mechanical energy, characterized by the fact that it is made of a series of receivers and constant volume heat exchangers, a series of isochoric-isobar compressors, Stirling compressors, compressors with atomizers, compressors with liquid and/or compressors with refrigerant and a series of motive elements (Stirling engine;

double-gamma Stirling engine, Stirling generator, pneumatic engine, caged turbine)

2. Thermodynamic system for heat conversion into electrical or mechanical energy, as per claim 1, made of a refrigerator installation or a heat pump, characterized by the fact that the temperature difference between the condenser and the vaporizer of the system is used by a Stirling engine or a turbine

3. Thermodynamic system for converting heat into electrical or mechanical energy, as per claim 1, made of a vaporizer placed in the hot source and a condenser placed in the cold source;

partially filled with liquid refrigerant, linked on the inferior side through a liquid pipe on which a pump is placed, and on the superior side through a gas pipe, further called receiver with refrigerant, characterized by the fact that on the gas pipe a compressor is placed with the exhaustion in the vaporizer.

4. Thermodynamic system for converting heat into electrical or mechanical energy, as per claim 1, made of a vaporizer placed in the hot source and a condenser placed in the cold source, partially filled with liquid refrigerant, linked on the inferior side through a liquid pipe on which a pump is placed and on the superior side through a gas pipe, characterized by the fact that on the gas pipe a pneumatic engine or a turbine is placed.

5. Heat receiver for PTS according to claim 1 or for other thermodynamic systems for capturing the heat in the ground, made of a system of horizontal pipes covered by a metallic foil or by a layer made of material that accumulates heat, characterized by the fact that it has a network of vertical rods (FIG. 3d) that absorb the heat from deep in the ground and transfer it to the pipe system.

6. Heat recuperator for PTS according to claim 1 or for other thermodynamic systems, made of a series of filaments perpendicular on the direction of the gas flow, characterized by the fact that closed tubes with saturated refrigerant are interlaid among these filaments.

7. Device for fluid motion for a PTS as per claim 1 or for other thermodynamic systems, called from now on receiver, characterized by the fact that it is made of a tank with a translation body shape and the section perpendicular on the translation axis in any shape, driven by a piston that splits the tank in two different rooms with no connection between them, each having intake and exhaustion valves and with the piston being able to move from one end to another of the tank without loosing the sealing between the two chambers.

8. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that the sealing between chambers is ensured by one or more fittings that have an inflatable internal chamber filled with pressurized air.

9. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that between the two covers and the respective face of the piston there is a system of articulated bars that fold and unfold together with the piston motion.

10. System made of one or more receivers as per claim 7, placed on the same axis, with a common rod, characterized by the fact that the pistons motion is done through the rotation of a gear coupled with the common rod through an adherent contact or a mechanical couple.

11. System made of one or more receivers as per claim 10, characterized by the fact that changing the direction of the piston motion is driven by the motion of a trolley with gears attached, motion that leads to introducing or eliminating from the cinematic chain of a transmission gear with the same diameter as the one of the gear it moves (FIGS. 6 and 8)

12. Receiver as per claim 7 characterized by the fact that on the two faces of the piston the ends of a flexible rod are coupled, rod that is straightened and moved by a gear system (FIG. 5D)

13. System with two vertical receivers as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that their pistons are coupled through a common flexible rod in order to reciprocally compensate their weight during the motion.

14. Receiver as per claim 7 characterized by the fact that its piston is made of two cylindrical wheels that roll sealed and tangent between them and with the superior and inferior walls, having the axis sealed on two trolleys that move in a sealed manner each in one channel produced in the lateral walls of the receiver (FIG. 7A)

15. Receiver as per claim 7 characterized by the fact that its piston is made of a flexible tape with the ends attached to two opposite edges of the receiver with the same width as the receiver'"'"'s and the length equal to a receiver'"'"'s length plus a receiver'"'"'s height, and two cylindrical wheels placed on one and another side of the tape each having the axes sealed on two trolleys that move in a sealed manner each in one channel created in the lateral walls of the receiver;

the two wheels are always in a plane perpendicular on the receiver'"'"'s axis and are moving along this axis so that the flexible tape is always straight and its margins are sealed on the lateral walls of the receiver.

16. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that its walls are placed on one and another side of the piston, between the margins of one side of the piston and the margins of the interior surface of the cover and they are made of fragments sealed among them and sealed with the cover and the piston on all edges with hinge type of systems so that at the piston motion toward one of the covers (motion that is done through sliding or rolling along a path parallel with the piston axis) the walls between piston and the respective cover are folding exhausting all the air in the interior through an exhaustion valve at the end of the path, while the walls between piston and the opposite cover are unfolding allowing the intake of additional gas through the intake valve;

at the end of the path the walls are completely unfolded forming plane surfaces and obtaining maximum volume in the interior.

17. Counter flow heat exchanger for a PTS as per claim 1 or for other thermodynamic systems, made of two rows with the same number of receivers with the same volume as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that there is a thermal transfer at constant volume between the two rows from a receiver in the first row to the receiver in the second row, so that after a number of completed piston paths (that are all moving in the same time, with the same speed in all the receivers, continuously or with breaks after each path completion), number of paths equal to the number of receivers in a row, the gas is successively passing through all the receivers in the respective row.

18. Counter-flow heat exchanger as per claim 17, characterized by the fact that each compartment is split in its turn in layers between the walls of some plates, the layers of the compartments in one row alternating with the layers of the compartments in the other row (FIG. 20)

19. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that the piston is manufactured from a permanent magnet made of a ferromagnetic material or is manufactured as an electromagnet fed with continuous current so that it can be moved by an electromagnet placed on a trolley that moves in the exterior of the receiver along a wall made of a non-magnetic materials (FIG. 9)

20. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that inside the piston and/or in its walls, as well as in the receiver'"'"'s walls electrical conductors are placed with the objective of creating magnetic fields and of producing forces for piston motion (to power the forward-backward movement of the piston) if they are fed with electrical energy or by piston motion electrical currents are induced in these conductors, currents that are collected and provided to a consumer;

the electrical links between the source and conductors on the piston are made with collecting brush (FIG. 10i) placed on the piston, that touch a linear collector placed between the lateral walls of the receiver (FIG. 10t) or are made with a system of articulated bars 10u placed between the piston and one of the covers;

for changing the alimentation flow for the stator coils a system of lamellas 10o touching a linear collector 10n is placed on the piston in the receiver'"'"'s walls.

21. Receiver as per claim 20, characterized by the fact that slowing down the piston at the end of the path is done with springs 10p placed on the interior side of the two covers and/or with a gas pillow created between the two covers and two sealed breaking pistons 10b and/or by decoupling the alimentation on the induced circuit and commuting the circuit towards a consumer

22. Receiver as per claim 20, characterized by the fact that magnetization of the receivers walls is done with coils 10c winded (on a thermo-insulating support or in notches) around armatures on the covers (FIG. 10A) and/or with coils winded on armatures parallel with the walls (FIG. 10B2), the lateral walls being the yoke that are closing the magnetic flux through piston.

23. Receiver as per claim 20 characterized by the fact that the magnetization of the receiver'"'"'s walls is done with winding drum, looped or curled in notches created in the interior walls of the receiver (FIG. 10 I,J,K,L,M,N)

24. Receiver as per claim 20 characterized by the fact that the magnetization of the piston is done with coils winded (on a thermo-insulating support or in notches of the armature) around the piston (FIG. 10L) or with two semi-pistons (FIG. 10M) with the spires in planes parallel with the receiver'"'"'s axis.

25. Receiver as per claim 20 characterized by the fact that the magnetization of the stator (made of receiver'"'"'s walls) is done with a single-polar field while the rotor is a massive metallic piston;

a piston from conductive sheets placed inside or perpendicular on the direction of magnetic flux flow and moving direction (FIG. 10A,B,C);

a horseshoe-like massive piston around the piston rod or around a support in the receiver'"'"'s axis between the two covers;

a piston from sheets having in its axis one or two ferromagnetic rods used to move on a ferromagnetic support and having inside spires winded around the axis in a plane perpendicular on this axis (FIG. 10 F, H)

26. Receiver as per claim 20 characterized by the fact that the magnetization of the piston walls is done with drum winding, looped or curled in notches made in those piston walls that are perpendicular on the direction of the hetero-polar magnetic field created by the stator (FIG. 10 I,J,K,P)

27. Procedure for feeding an continuous current inline engine with alternate current as per claim 20 or any other continuous current engine of derivation type, characterized by the fact that the rotor windings are powered in phase with the stator ones, through powering from the secondary of a transformer whose primary is linked in series with stator windings, or by an alternate current generator in phase with them or form another phase of poly-phased system

28. Receiver as per claim 20, characterized by the fact that it is build with magnetization coils and rotor powering collector only at the two ends, the piston powering being doe with large amplitude pulses with different direction at the two ends

29. Receiver as per claim 20, characterized by the fact that the stator coils generate a rotating field while on the rotor a caged winding is made

30. Receiver as per claim 20, characterized by the fact that notches and windings similar to the rotational engines with field modulation or with the engine with pulsating field or with interference are made on the stator, while the rotor is not being winded but is built with notches similar to the respective rotative engines

31. Stirling type of engine, characterized by the fact that both the movement cylinders as well as the power cylinders are receivers as per claim 7 or 20

32. Stirling type of engine as per claim 30, characterized by the fact that it is made of two receivers with moving piston and equal volume, the ends of one receiver being linked to the other'"'"'s through heat recuperators or counter flow heat exchangers where the thermal exchange is made with constant volume, and a power receiver that has the entry and exit attached to the two linkage pipes (before or after the heat exchanger).

33. Stirling type of engine as per claim 31, characterized by the fact that it is equipped with several pairs of movement receivers and the corresponding remunerators that are coupled successively at the force receiver

34. Stirling type of engine as per claim 31, characterized by the fact that periodically or at the end of each path of the piston the pressure on its two faces is being equalized

35. Stirling type of engine as per claim 31 named as of now on Stirling compressor, characterized by the fact that it has a pneumatic engine instead of the power receiver, where both the hot gas expansion with another gas compression and the compression of the gas in the cold receiver is happening

36. Procedure for correcting the thermodynamic processes used by PTS as per claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that in a closed chamber with gas drops of a liquid are atomized, drops that are vaporizing at the temperature and pressure in the chamber, cooling the gas in the chamber and increasing its pressure.

37. Procedure for correcting the thermodynamic processes used by PTS as per claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that in a closed chamber with gas another gas is atomized, gas that at the given temperature and pressure in the chamber liquefies, heating the rest of gas in the chamber

38. Compressor for gas compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that in its walls one or more atomizers are placed realizing an isotherm compression as per procedure in claim 35.

39. Compressor for refrigerant compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that in its walls one or more atomizers are placed realizing an adiabatic compression followed by an isotherm compression as per procedure in claim 35.

40. Heat exchanger for gas compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems named as of now on constant volume compressor, characterized by the fact that in its walls one or mare atomizers are placed realizing adiabatic compression followed by an isotherm compression as per procedure in claim 35.

41. Installation for gas compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems named as of now on compressor with liquid, characterized by the fact that it is made of a double effect receiver whose piston is moved by the piston of a receiver placed in the flow of a liquid, usually the liquid of a heat exchanger

42. Installation for gas compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems named as of now on compressor with refrigerant, characterized by the fact that it is made of a recuperator with refrigerant for which on the gas pipe a receiver with double effect piston with constant load is placed which at the end of each path exhausts in a receiver with expansion or in a pneumatic engine

43. Installation for gas compression used by the PTS as per in claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems named as of now on isochoric-isobar compressor, characterized by the fact that it is made of a row of receivers as per claim 7 in which a gas from a tank or atmospheric air is introduced all along the cooling process at constant pressure using compressors as per claims 35,41,42 or other types of compressors and of a row of receivers where the gas is heated at constant volume

44. Installation for gas compression as per claim 43, characterized by the fact that heat recuperators or heat exchangers are interlaid between the cold receivers and the hot ones

45. Receiver as per claim 7, characterized by the fact that in its walls there is one or more thermo resistances placed for heating the gas inside

46. Thermal or hydraulic turbine for a PTS as per claim 1 or for other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that both the rotor blades as well as the stator blades have both ends fixed on rings placed in parallel planes, with the center on same axis that is perpendicular on the two planes

47. Turbine as per claim 46, characterized by the fact that the stator is manufactured by making notches in a cylindrical pipe

48. Blade made for a turbine as per claim 46 or for other types of turbines or compressors, characterized by the fact that inside the blade, along it, a channel that communicates through nozzle with the space between rotor and stator

49. Electrical generator and engine used by PTS as per claim 1 as well as by other installations, characterized by the fact that the electrical poles are placed on the blades of the device they are rotating or are rotated by

50. On/off or capacity regulator device for a turbine as per claim 46 or for other types of turbines and compressors, characterized by the fact that they are made of a with notches placed inside or outside the stator and which partially covers the stator valves by rotating around the axis

51. Procedure for capacity regulation or compensation for the dilatation of the blades of a turbine as per claim 46 or of other types of turbines, compressors or ventilation devices, characterized by the fact that this is made by the manual or automate rotation of the stator or rotor blades around their axis

52. Thermal or hydraulic turbine as per claim 46 or another type of turbine characterized by the fact that the profile of its blades is made so that the turbine can rotate both ways

53. Procedure for changing the working characteristics of a turbine as per claim 46 or of another type of turbine, characterized by the fact that thermal agent is introduced in the turbine'"'"'s circuit through channels made inside the blades or in the space created if some blades are eliminated, being possible to heat the agent inside the channels it is introduced in

54. Procedure for changing the working characteristics of a turbine as per claim 46 or of another type of turbine, characterized by the fact that its peripheral chamber is cooled with a heat pump

55. Procedure for changing the working characteristics of a turbine as per claim 46 or of another type of turbine, characterized by the fact that some of its blades are cooled with thermal agent collected from the peripheral chamber

56. Procedure for changing the working characteristics of a turbine with condensation as per claim 46 or of another type of turbine, characterized by the fact that the latest stages have a small speed and are used to expand the steam with small standard

57. Installation for heating different types of living buildings characterized by the fact that it is equipped with a turbine as per claim 46 that introduces electrical current into the network

58. Internal combustion engine used by PTS as per claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that compression and combustion happen in different cylinders

59. Internal combustion engine with double effect pistons used by PTS as per claim 1 as well as by other thermodynamic systems, characterized by the fact that the fuel combustion happens all along the cycle time, one semi-cycle on each face of the piston once the compressed air is intake, while on the other side the gases are pushed into a turbine.

60. Procedure for building acclimatization with PTS as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that the thermal agent is introduced between the external wall and its thermal outer cover

61. Procedure for obtaining electrical, thermal and mechanical energy with PTS as per claim 1, from solar energy or any other source with low thermal potential, characterized by the fact that a vaporizer with the boiling temperature as low as possible is placed in the peripheral chamber of a turbine, the resulting vapors being compressed in a constant volume compressor and liquefied in solar receivers

62. Procedure for improving the work of compressors in a PTS as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that by making notches in the cylinder cover the air that remains in the cylinder at the end of piston path is transferred on the other side of the piston

63. Procedure for improving the usage of pneumatic and hydraulic equipments, characterized by the fact that on their feeding pipe there is a caged turbine as per claim 46 instead of usual elements for capacity regulation

64. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that it has hot receivers placed on the roof and the sunny side of a building and cold receivers placed on the shadowed side, inside compartments formed in the thermal outer cover

65. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that it has hot receivers placed on the sunny side (or under the incidence of focusing mirrors) of a wall, an embankment or a dam and the cold receivers are placed on the ground in a shadowed area, in the ground, in the water of a river, of a lake or of the sea

66. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that it has hot receivers setup in the wearing layer of a road or highway, and the cold receivers buried deeper in the ground.

67. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that it has hot receivers setup on a fixed or floating structure on a lake or a river, while the cold receivers are setup under the water

68. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that part of its receivers are the blades of a hydraulic or wind turbine

69. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that the working agent is compressed in an isochoric-isobar compressor, then is heated from a heat source and afterwards it expands in a classical or caged turbine or in a pneumatic engine

70. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that the working agent is compressed in a classical compressor or as per claims 35 to 43, then is heated from a heat source and afterwards it expands in a classical or caged turbine or in a pneumatic engine

71. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that the working agent is a refrigerant compressed in a classical compressor or as per claims 35 to 43, then is heated from a heat source and afterwards it expands in a classical or caged turbine or in a pneumatic engine, the first part of the expansion happening with the atomization of a gas that liquefies at the respective temperature

72. Thermodynamic system as per claim 1, characterized by the fact that it is made of a recuperator with refrigerant in which the receivers of a double-gamma Stirling engine are submerged, and on the gas pipe a constant volume compressor is setup, whose cold walls are the cold source for other double-gamma Stirling engines.