SHAFTLESS ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICE

• US 3,867,655 A
• Filed: 11/21/1973
• Issued: 02/18/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/1973
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Howard Assel, Linda F. Stengel, Rudolph F. Stengel
• Original Assignee: Howard Assel, Linda F. Stengel, Rudolph F. Stengel
• Inventors: Stengel, Rudolph F., Stengel, Linda F., Assel, Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Simmons, G. R.
• Application Number:
  US05/417,950
• Time in Patent Office: 454 Days
• Field of Search: 417/349 415/55 310/66,67 290/54,4
• US Class Current: 310/66
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 15/10 Adaptations for driving, or combinations with, electric generators
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 13/027 Details of the magnetic circuit
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 13/064 Details of the magnetic circuit
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 13/0646 the hollow pump or motor shaft being the conduit for the working fluid
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 29/186 Shaftless rotors F04D13/024 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/14 Structural association with mechanical loads, e.g. with hand-held machine tools or fans with fan or impeller for cooling the machine H02K9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/1823 structurally associated with turbines or similar engines

Abstract

This invention relates to an energy conversion device which may be selectively operated in the pump mode for converting electrical energy into fluid energy or in the generator mode for converting fluid energy into electrical energy. The improved device has a hollow toroidal body with a central axis on which are located opposed inlet and outlet openings. Enclosed in the body on the central axis between the openings are a coil circle, a rotatable circular rotor having an impeller with a number of radial blades fixed thereto, and a fixed circular diffuser having a number of spaced radial vanes secured thereto. The coil circle is formed of a number of electromagnetic coils which are connected to an electrical power supply in the pump mode to produce a travelling electromagnetic wave which rotates about the central axis and cuts radial spokes of the rotor. The fluid flow path through the device in either mode begins with an axial portion, then a radial outward portion, a radial inward portion, and ends with a second axial portion along the same axis as the first axial portion. The components of the device are formed to provide that the radial portions of the flow path are substantially semicircular wherein the efficiency of the device is substantially constant over a wide range of variations in speed and capacity.

Claims

1. An energy conversion device adapted to selectively convert fluid pressure energy into electrical energy in a generator mode and electrical energy into fluid pressure energy in a pump mode, the device having a hollow toroidal body with first and second opposed openings located on a common central axis, the body enclosing the following elements located on the central axis in parallel planes extending perpendicular to the central axis in the following order between the first and second openings:

a. a plurality of circularly spaced electromagnetic coils fixed to said body around said first opening, the coils adapted to be connected to electrical power supply means in the pump mode and to electrical energy receiving means in the generator mode;

b. a rotatably located circular conductive rotor having a central aperture therethrough;

c. a circular impeller having a central aperture therethrough fixed to said rotor, said impeller having a plurality of spaced narrow radial blades extending transversely away from said rotor; and

d. a diffuser fixed to said body, said diffuser having a circular plate spaced adjacent the impeller blades and a plurality of spaced curved radial vanes secured transversely to the plate to extend away from the impeller;

the power supply means adapted to produce a travelling electromagnetic wave which rotates about said central axis adjacent said coils to cut conductive paths of said rotor when the rotor has angular motion relative to said travelling electromagnetic wave, the device providing a reversible fluid flow path therethrough between the first and second openings having a first axial portion, a radial outward portion, a radial inward portion and a second axial portion.

2. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the body defines a circumferential space around the peripheries of the impeller blades and diffuser vanes, thereby providing a transitional area between the radial outward portion and the radial inward portion of the fluid flow path.

3. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 2 further including at least one magnetic dipole means fixed to the rotor and adapted upon rotation of the rotor to interact by means of magnetic flux linkage with the stationary coils.

4. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the diffuser vanes are radially semicircular and the radial outward and radial inward portions of the fluid flow path is substantially semicircular.

5. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 3 wherein the diffuser vanes are radially semicircular and the radial outward and radial inward portions so the fluid flow path is substantially semicircular.

6. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rotor has a plurality of radial spokes interconnected at inner and outer ends thereof.

7. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the rotor has a plurality of cutouts defined between the radial spokes, the cutouts being filled with ferromagnetic material.

8. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 3 wherein the rotor has a plurality of radial spokes interconnected at inner and outer ends thereof.

9. An energy conversion device as claimed in claim 8 wherein the rotor has a plurality of cutouts defined between the radial spokes, the cutouts being filled with ferromagnetic material.