Abstract: A new and improved resonant free-piston Stirling engine and method of operation employing a novel virtual rod displacer is described. A rod is secured to and reciprocally moves with the displacer within the Stirling engine and has a rod piston area formed on the end of the rod remote from the displacer with the rod piston area also being subjected to the working gas periodic pressure wave. Suitable support bearings are designed within the Stirling engine housing for reciprocatingly supporting the displacer and rod assembly within the Stirling engine with a set of opposed acting gas springs being provided to act on the displacer end and rod assembly area end of the displacer and rod assembly.

Abstract: An open Rankine cycle heat pump that utilizes a multistage compressor having interstage desuperheating wherein process fluid in the form of water drawn from a waste heat producing process is used as the working fluid in the heat pump thereby eliminating the need for heat exchangers at the conventional evaporator and condensor locations. Heated return water drawn from the process is flashed to a vapor and the vapors passed through the compressor to provide thermal energy that is used in compatible process related equipment.

Abstract: A combined magnetic/centrifugal seal for a rotating shaft rotatably journalled within a housing. The rotating shaft has a generally circular cross section and at least one radially extending generally Vee-shaped cross section circumferential portion formed about its periphery. A plurality of radially extending circumferential teeth are concentrically arrayed around the periphery of the rotating shaft in parallel relationship to the Vee-shaped circumferential portion on the rotating shaft on at least one of its sides and spaced closely adjacent thereto. The housing has a complementary generally Vee-shaped cross section within which the Vee-shaped circumferential portion of the rotating shaft rides and in conjunction with the Vee-shaped cross section portion defines a space within which the concentrically arrayed circumferential teeth extend.

Abstract: In a piston rod seal of the type comprising a gland through which the piston rod is passed the piston is provided with a sleeve surrounding the piston rod and extending axially so as to axially partly overlap the gland when the piston is in its bottom dead center position.

Abstract: A compressor, pump, or alternator apparatus is designed for use with a resonant free piston Stirling engine so as to isolate apparatus fluid from the periodically pressurized working fluid of the Stirling engine. The apparatus housing has a first side closed by a power coupling flexible diaphragm (the engine working member) and a second side closed by a flexible diaphragm gas spring. A reciprocally movable piston is disposed in a transverse cylinder in the housing and moves substantially at right angles relative to the flexible diaphragms. An incompressible fluid fills the housing which is divided into two separate chambers by suitable ports. One chamber provides fluid coupling between the power diaphragm of the RFPSE and the piston and the second chamber provides fluid coupling between the gas spring diaphragm and the opposite side of the piston. The working members of a gas compressor, pump, or alternator are driven by the piston.

Abstract: A lubricated piston rod seal which inhibits gas leaking from a high pressure chamber on one side of the seal to a low pressure chamber on the other side of the seal. A liquid is supplied to the surface of the piston rod on the low pressure side of the seal. This liquid acts as lubricant for the seal and provides cooling for the rod. The seal, which can be a plastic, elastomer or other material with low elastic modulus, is designed to positively pump lubricant through the piston rod/seal interface in both directions when the piston rod is reciprocating. The capacity of the seal to pump lubricant from the low pressure side to the high pressure side is less than its capacity to pump lubricant from the high pressure side to the low pressure side which ensures that there is zero net flow of lubricant to the high pressure side of the seal. The film of lubricant between the seal and the rod minimizes any sliding contact and prevents the leakage of gas.

Abstract: A ferrofin magnetic-fluid seal for hermetically sealing the space between a portion of a rotating member of magnetically permeable material and a portion of a close-fitting, spaced-apart stationary member also fabricated from magnetically permeable material and comprising a part of a housing for journalling the rotating member. The ferrofin magnetic-fluid seal is comprised of a plurality of concentric, fin-like projections of magnetically permeable material formed on each of the rotating member and the stationary member in spaced-apart opposing relation to define a plurality of magnetic gap regions. The magnetic ferrofluid is disposed within the magnetic gap regions. A magnetic field producing means is magnetically coupled in closed magnetic circuit relationship with at least the portions of the rotating and stationary members, the opposed fin-like projections and the magnetic ferrofluid trapped in the magnetic gaps defined between the opposing ends of the fin-like projections.

Abstract: A resonant free-piston Stirling engine having a new and improved start-up and control method and system. A displacer linear electrodynamic machine is provided having an armature secured to and movable with the displacer and having a stator supported by the Stirling engine housing in juxtaposition to the armature. A control excitation circuit is provided for electrically exciting the displacer linear electrodynamic machine with electrical excitation signals having substantially the same frequency as the desired frequency of operation of the Stirling engine.

Abstract: A stability control system for a free piston Stirling engine/alternator power unit whose engine power is an exponential function on the engine piston stroke and whose alternator power demand is also an exponential function of the piston stroke, and wherein the engine exponent is normally equal to or greater than the alternator exponent, includes a connection through a rectifier between the alternator output terminals and the alternator field windings. This increases the alternator exponent above the engine exponent to make the system stable. The large time constant of the field winding inductance, which would tend to slow the response time during transients, can be avoided by adding a suitable resistance in series with the field winding.

Abstract: A hydraulic drive system operating from the periodic pressure wave produced by a Stirling engine along a first axis thereof and effecting transfer of power from the Stirling engine to a load apparatus therefor and wherein the movable, or working member of the load apparatus is reciprocatingly driven along an axis substantially at right angles to the first axis to achieve an arrangement of a Stirling engine and load apparatus assembly which is much shorter and the components of the load apparatus more readily accessible.

Abstract: A heater head for a multi-cylinder double acting hot gas engine in which each cylinder is surrounded by an annular regenerator unit, and in which the tops of each cylinder and its surrounding regenerator are interconnected by a multiplicity of heater tubes. A manifold for the heater tubes has a centrally disposed duct connected to the top of the cylinder and surrounded by a wider duct connecting the other ends of the heater tubes with the regenerator unit.

Abstract: A free piston Stirling engine inertial cancellation system includes a displacer reciprocating in a hermetic vessel enclosing a working space to circulate working gas through a heater, regenerator, and cooler to create a pressure wave in the working space. A power piston, mechanically unconnected to the displacer, is reciprocally driven by the pressure wave to produce a power output stroke in one direction and a working gas compression stroke in the other direction. The displacer and the power piston form substantially a first mass in the working space. A second mass, outside the working space and preferably including an alternator plunger, is mounted in the vessel and is coupled to the first mass momentum exchange relationship.

Abstract: In a Stirling cycle engine having a plurality of working gas charges separated by pistons reciprocating in cylinders, the total gas content is minimized and the mean pressure equalization among the serial cylinders is improved by using two piston rings axially spaced at least as much as the piston stroke and by providing a duct in the cylinder wall opening in the space between the two piston rings and leading to a source of minimum or maximum working gas pressure.

Abstract: A power control is disclosed for a free piston Stirling engine having a hermetically sealed vessel enclosing a working space in which oscillates a displacer for circulating working gas through a heater, a regenerator and a cooler for creating a pressure wave in the working gas which acts against a power piston for a producing power stroke. The displacer includes a post mounted in a well which forms a gas spring and cooperates with the working gas pressure wave to maintain the displacer in axial reciprocating motion. The post includes a tapered portion which reciprocates opposite a proximity probe to produce a unique signal for each axial position of the displacer to provide stroke, phase and amplitude information regarding the displacer motion. A gas spring volume control is provided, controlled by the displacer sensor, for adjusting the gas spring stiffness to control the amplitude and phase of the displacer required to produce the power to meet the engine load requirements.

Abstract: A free piston Stirling engine has a hermetic vessel containing a displacer piston and a power piston coupled to each other and to the vessel by gas springs. An additional mass is coupled to the vessel by a gas spring which is tuned to the operating frequency of the engine geometrically. The vibration absorber is effective at all engine frequencies because the absorber gas spring follows the engine working gas mean pressure and changes the absorber natural frequency as the engine frequency changes.

Abstract: A mechanical device for effecting a phase change between the expansion and compression volumes of a double-acting Stirling engine uses helical elements which produce opposite rotation of a pair of crankpins when a control rod is moved, so the phase between two pairs of pistons is changed by +.psi. and the phase between the other two pairs of pistons is changed by -.psi.. The phase can change beyond .psi.=90.degree. at which regenerative braking and then reversal of engine rotation occurs.

Abstract: A power control method and apparatus for a Stirling engine including a valved duct connected to the junction of the regenerator and the cooler and running to a bypass chamber connected between the heater and the cylinder. An oscillating zone of demarcation between the hot and cold portions of the working gas is established in the bypass chamber, and the engine pistons and cylinders can run cold.

Abstract: A motion conversion device for converting between the reciprocating motion of the pistons in a Stirling engine and the rotating motion of its output shaft, and for changing the stroke and phase of the pistons, includes a lever pivoted at one end and having a cam follower at the other end. The piston rod engages the lever intermediate its ends and the cam follower engages a cam keyed to the output shaft. The lever pivot can be moved to change the length of the moment arm defined between the cam follower and the piston rod the change the piston stroke and force exerted on the cam, and the levers can be moved in opposite directions to change the phase between pistons.

Abstract: A two-stage harmonic reciprocating Stirling engine has a primary heater and a pair of regenerators with an intermediate heat exchanger disposed in the fluid flow between the two regenerators. High temperature heat above 5000.degree. F. is supplied to the heater head of the engine while lower temperature, otherwise wasted, heat between 500.degree. F. and 1500.degree. is supplied to the intermediate heat exchanger. The lower temperature heat can be from exhaust gases of the primary burner, or can be waste heat from another process for use in a cogeneration installation.

Abstract: A gas bearing for the axially reciprocating displacer and power piston members in a free piston Stirling engine includes a bearing sleeve having a pair of interconnected annular pressure plenums formed by ribs on the outer surface of the sleeve which form a seal with the inner walls of a cylinder in which the sleeve is seated. The outer side of the raised ribs provide a second set of interconnecting drain plenums. A source of a high pressure gas, pressurized internally by the engine itself, is connected to the pressure plenum which communicates with the axially reciprocating members through a multitude of narrow orifices. The bearing gas is drained into the second or drained plenum through a large number of larger sized orifices.