Abstract: An improved multicylinder Stirling engine is disclosed. A dual crank drive is provided in place of the conventional swash plate drive. The use of a dual crank creates a more compact engine as well as other benefits which arise when the engine is used as an automotive prime mover.

Abstract: A multi-cycle thermal reciprocating machine of the type commonly known as Stirling engine, which operates on a closed cycle with a compressible fluid as the operational medium. Double-acting pistons are combined into reciprocating members, each of which is in contact with the operational medium of at least four different Stirling cycles. These cycles occur simultaneously and are symmetrically phased, each performed in at least two different expansible chambers at two different temperatures, typically one hot expansion chamber connected to a cold compression chamber through a conduit containing two heat exchangers and one regenerator.

Abstract: A hot gas engine of the Stirling type having a cylinder and associated piston, piston rod and cross-head, wherein the seals for the cylinder and piston rod are carried in a seal assembly unit clamped between separable engine housing parts. The seal assembly unit includes a guide for the cross-head.

Abstract: Hot gas engine units of the type having parallel cylinders in two parallel rows and containing pistons connected to two parallel crank shafts engaging a common third output shaft are juxtaposed into an assemblage of four such units. The output shaft is common to all four units and each of four crank shafts is connected to pistons in cylinders of adjacent rows of neighboring units. In such assemblage the total number of crank shafts in four units is reduced from eight to four and one output shaft will replace four output shafts.

Abstract: A free-piston Stirling engine having a double acting, gas spring system for applying bi-directional, resilient spring forces to the displacer piston rod and also a free-piston Stirling engine having a displacer and power piston which are mechanically resonant at the operating frequency of the engine. The springing system is a gas containing compartment which is formed in communication with the effective end of the displacer rod. An adjustable spool valve arrangement may be formed in the mating walls of the displacer rod and its cylinder for connecting the gas containing compartment with the bounce space during a relatively minor interval of the displacer rod stroke intermediate its extremes for adjustably maintaining the mean position of the displacer at the position at which the interconnection occurs.

Abstract: A heat engine employs counterrotating rotors disposed in different cavities of a stator. The engine provides a heat recuperator which removes heat from working medium confined in a rotating constant volume chamber in one cavity and utilizes that heat to heat working medium confined in a rotating constant volume chamber in another cavity. Each rotor carries partitions forming separate chambers in its cavity and each cavity has a blocking means which permits the partitions to pass but prevents working medium from making a complete orbit in the cavity whereby the working medium is caused to flow from one cavity to another through ducts disposed near the blocking means.

Abstract: A balanced crankshaft mechanism for the two piston Stirling engine which permits the use of a single crankpin and eliminates side forces on the pistons. A triangular yoke has connected to its respective apexes the connecting rods for each piston and the crankpin. One end of a rocking lever is connected to said yoke at a point between the points at which the connecting rods are attached. The other end of said rocking lever is connected to the base of the machine. As the crankpin rotates, the separate connecting rods and their respective pistons are moved with a phase relation appropriate for a two piston Stirling engine, and side forces are absorbed by the rocking lever, rather than by the pistons. A simple means of balancing the reciprocating inertial forces is described, which is also applicable to other types of Stirling engines.

Abstract: A heater head is arranged about the central axis of a multiple cylinder hot gas turbine with a manifold ring of a diameter substantially smaller than the combustion chamber and connected to cylinders and regenerators by heat exchanger tubes extending upwardly therefrom and inwardly toward the manifold.

Abstract: An eight cylinder rotary Stirling cycle engine ncludes first and second cylinder banks each comprising four cylinders having a fire box about the upper end of the cylinders and cooling fins about the lower end of the cylinders. The four cylinders of each bank are disposed about the centrally located longitudinal axis of each cylinder bank. A spacer divides each cylinder into a displacer cylinder and a power cylinder. A power piston and a displacer piston are disposed respectively in the power cylinder and the displacer cylinder and are rigidly connected together by a shaft. The lower porton of each displacer cylinder includes a displacer port, while the upper portion of each power cylinder includes a power port. A crossover pipe couples the displacer port of one displacer cylinder to a power port in an adjacent power cylinder. Since one of the two coupled cylinders is operating 90.degree.

Abstract: A Stirling cycle machine comprises a normal temperature housing having a rotor disposed therein to define normal temperature chambers therein. The machine further includes a high or low temperature housing having a rotor disposed therein to define high or low temperature chambers therein. Passages are provided between the normal temperature chambers and the high or low temperature chambers by means of a heat exchanger and a regenerator which are connected to the rotors to rotate therewith in unison. The passages in the regenerator is connected with the high or low temperature chambers through a plurality of passages by use of slide valves formed in the high or low temperaturehousing.

Abstract: A multi-cylinder Stirling cycle thermal device is provided having free floating piston members arranged without a solid mechanism connected to the piston members to derive power therefrom. The piston members are free to oscillate in the cylinders and define variable volume heat-absorbing and heat-rejecting chambers therein. Heat is arranged to be supplied to some of the heat-absorbing chambers so that the device functions as a Stirling cycle heat engine driving a Stirling cycle heat pump, heat being collected from all the heat-rejecting chambers to provide a heat input for a heating system.A reciprocating power output may also be provided by a device responsive to pressure changes in the working gas.

Abstract: In a double-acting multi-cylinder V-configuration Stirling cycle engine having a single burner unit, the regenerator-cooler units are clustered around a central axis of the heater head with radially extending heater pipes to keep manifold volumes small and temperatures on the heater pipes high.

Abstract: The closed fluid working system of a Stirling cycle engine is disclosed having incorporated therein an improved regenerator assembly which modifies the thermodynamic responsiveness of the working system particularly during cold-start conditions. A foraminous regenerator matrix is constructed with a predetermined matrix heat capacity to void volume ratio, and has invested therein an electrical heating element arranged in thermally conductive relationship with a desired zone of the matrix. The heating element is controlled to be energized for attaining precise heat exchange conditions within the matrix.

Abstract: A hot-gas reciprocating machine having a plurality of working spaces connected via ducts to a common control member for controlling working medium flows to the working spaces from a source of pressurized working medium. The control member comprises a stator and a rotor coupled to the crank shaft of the machine, with flow of the working medium being controlled by valves sequentially opened by rotation of said rotor.

Abstract: The rotary closed series cycle engine system is a rotary version of the latest type of series or double-acting reciprocating Stirling cycle engine. Identical rotary units are mounted in a tandem arrangement with each unit providing the displacement function for an adjacent unit, in a series gas flow loop.Thermal transfer is greatly improved by the application of a large number of small transfer tubes in a high external loop with separation between the hot and cold sources.Since the rotary unit has non-contacting vanes, friction is kept to a minimum while the compression ratio is moderately high.Hydrogen gas is the fuel for the system which is obtained from an electrolysis unit with a wind generator, operating on a continuous demand controlled basis.

Abstract: A heat engine comprising a cylindrical heat chamber having an end wall of insulating material and on which is mounted a cylinder. An opening in the end wall communicates between the heat chamber and the cylinder. The cylinder is surrounded by a cooling jacket and a piston reciprocates in the cylinder. The end of the cylinder remote from the end wall is open and a connecting rod has one end secured to the cylinder and the other end to a fly wheel. A second rod extends from the cylinder through the opening in the end wall and through another opening in a second end wall in the heat chamber. A disc like valve is slideably mounted on this rod and is moveable into a position opening and closing the opening. Cooperating elements of a dash pot are formed on the piston rod and valve at each end of the latter. A heat sink is provided on the lower side of the heat chamber and a throttle passage extends between the heat chamber and the cylinder.

Abstract: A closed working fluid system for a regenerative Stirling engine is disclosed. The system employs double-acting pistons arranged with each low temperature (compression) space connected to one hot (expansion) space of an adjacent piston. The low temperature spaces are all connected to a reservoir system employing two separate chambers, one at a high pressure and another at a relatively low pressure. Control means select the reservoir for communication with the working system depending on the torque demand of the engine; the control means also permits fluid flow to pass from any one low temperature space to the selected reservoir when the pressure condition in the low temperature space exceeds the associated reservoir pressure.

Abstract: A device comprising at least three reciprocable piston-shaped bodies, each of which is provided with a drive rod which cooperates, via a drive rod head accommodating sliding bodies, with a plate which is mounted on a rotatable shaft and which can be tilted about a tilting axis which is transverse to the center line of the shaft. The means for tilting the plate are formed by piston-shaped bodies which can rotate with the shaft and which can be adjusted in the direction of the shaft, the first of the said bodies being coupled to the plate on the one side of the tilting axis, the other body being coupled to the plate on the other side of the tilting axis. Each of the said piston-shaped bodies bounds a space whereto pressurized liquid can be applied, the masses of the said piston-shaped bodies also serving for balancing the unbalancing forces occurring during operation.

Abstract: A closed working fluid system for a regenerative type Stirling engine is disclosed. The system has pistons therein arranged to be of the double-acting type. A compensating system is employed to eliminate the force differential that works upon the upper and lower surfaces of each double-acting piston during cold engine start and restarting conditions.The compensating system employs a parallel path to the normal intercommunication between hot and cold chambers; a variable area valve is disposed in the parallel path. Communication through the variable area valve is controlled by a shuttle valve and one-way flow is assured by at least one check valve.

Abstract: A power plant comprising combustion means for generating heat for use in a power plant with at least two hot gas engines, comprising first and second working fluid spaces, reciprocating means for varying the volume of working fluid spaces, heating means adjacent said first working fluid space, a source of cooling fluid, first conduit means connecting said source of cooling fluid and said cooling means to convey cooling fluid from said source of cooling fluid to said cooling means to cool working fluid in said second working fluid space and means for conveying the products of combustion from said combustion means to the heating means to heat working fluid in said first working fluid space; second conduit means in communication with the cooling means one said hot gas engine and the combustion means to convey cooling fluid from the cooling means of said one hot gas engine to the combustion means for participation in combustion therein, the cooling means of said second hot gas engine being independent of the comb

Abstract: A hot-gas reciprocating engine comprising at least three piston-like bodies which each separate a hot space and a cold space in the relevant cylinder. Each of the hot spaces communicates, via a regenerator, with one of the cold spaces in another cylinder. Each of the piston-like bodies cooperates, by way of a drive rod, with a plate which is mounted on a rotatable shaft in such a manner that it cannot rotate with respect to this shaft, but can be tilted about a tilting shaft extending transversely of the first-mentioned shaft. Each of the cold spaces communicates, by way of a duct incorporating a control valve, with a cold space in another cylinder. Means for operating these valves are so constructed that, when the valves are opened, these means operate the means for tilting the plate, so that the plate assumes a more inclined position with respect to the shaft. The means for tilting the plate can be operated independently of the means for operating the valves.

Abstract: A hot-gas reciprocating engine comprising at least three pistons which each separate a space of lower temperature and a space of higher temperature. Each space of lower temperature is each time connected, via a regenerator and a heat exchanger which is in heat-exchanging contact with a reservoir containing heat-accummulating material, to a space of higher temperature having volume variations which lead in phase as well as to a space of higher temperature having volume variations which lag in phase. The said connections include valves which are operated by means for selectively releasing one of the two connections, each of the pistons co-operating, by way of a drive rod, with a tiltable plate which is mounted on a rotatable shaft.

Abstract: A multi-cylinder self-starting hot gas engine according to the present invention consists of two parallel pairs of opposed displacer cylinders with respective displacer members mounted for movement therein and two parallel pairs of opposed work cylinders disposed parallel to the displacer cylinders and having respective pistons arranged to reciprocate therein; each work cylinder communicating with a respective displacer cylinder to provide a cold end chamber. First transmission connects the displacers for synchronized movement offset in phase within the cylinders and a second transmission interconnects the pistons for synchronized movement offset in phase within the cylinders. An output drive is connected to the pistons.

Abstract: A rotary Stirling cycle engine wherein the rotors are utilized as internal heat exchangers and the displacers are utilized as heat regenerators. This engine in its simple configuration consists of two wedge-shaped spherical sectors connected by a disk-like universal type coupling within a spherical housing to form four variable displacement chambers. The sectors which contain passageways for conducting fluids through them are mounted as rotors on rotatable hollow shafts and are covered with fins to provide for the rapid transfer of heat between the conducted fluids and a working fluid contained within the chambers. The coupling which is also covered with fins to complement the rotors in the transfer of heat, contains passageways to interconnect the chambers into two pair and is constructed of porous heat absorbing material to transfer heat to and from the working fluid as it displaces the fluid from one interconnected chamber to the other.

Abstract: The rotary Stirling cycle engine system consists of multiple rotary units mounted together for a combined power output. Each rotary unit is comprised of an eccentric rotor, multiple vane rotary engine which is independent from adjacent units in a modular arrangement.Heat transfer is accomplished by multiple heat transfer tubing loops located on either side of each rotary unit, with heating and cooling sources in close proximity to the tubing loops.Both internal and external regeneration techniques are utilized to improve overall performance and efficiency.Hydrogen is the internal working gas and any suitable fuel may be used to heat the engine system.

Abstract: An internal combustion Stirling V-engine is disclosed having individual heat exchangers for each cylinder disposed between two adjacent cylinders. A central preheater is disposed centrally between the cylinders in the V-space to vertically overlap the cylinder heat exchanger span.