Abstract: A reciprocating compressor that includes an auxiliary port 38 in series with a check valve 40 to move fluid at an intermediate pressure that is between the main suction and discharge pressures. Piston 31 normally covers the auxiliary port during a portion of its stroke. In one embodiment the check valve 40 is oriented so that fluid flows into the compressor. The piston 31 uncovers the auxiliary port 38 during the early part of the down stroke to allow fluid in through the port. As the piston 31 continues to move down it covers the auxiliary port, which drops pressure in chamber 37 to allow fluid to enter through a main suction valve 34. In other embodiments the orientation of the check valve is reversed and auxiliary port acts as an auxiliary discharge port. Multiple auxiliary ports may be used in a single cylinder to achieve multiple suction and/or discharge pressures.

Abstract: An ion thruster includes a source of a plasma of ions and electrons, and an ion-optics system located in sufficient proximity to the source of the plasma to extract ions therefrom. The ion-optics system has at least two domed grids arranged in a facing-but-spaced-apart relationship to each other. Each grid has a local reference vector that is perpendicular to the surface of the grid and a reference plane perpendicular to the reference vector. Each of the grids is formed of anisotropic pyrolytic graphite having an “ab” crystallographic plane that lies substantially in the reference plane. In one form, the “ab” crystallographic plane lies coplanar with the reference plane at all locations on each domed grid made of pyrolytic graphite. In another form, the “ab” crystallographic plane has a constant orientation at all locations on the domed grid.

Abstract: A combustor for a gas turbine engine uses compressed air to cool a combustor liner and uses at least a portion of the same compressed air for combustion air. A flow diverting mechanism regulates compressed air flow entering a combustion air plenum feeding combustion air to a plurality of fuel nozzles. The flow diverting mechanism adjusts combustion air according to engine loading.

Abstract: A dual disc pump in which the suction disc is phased to lag by more than 180° behind the pressure disc.

Abstract: The ignition system includes an optical source capable of producing light having physical characteristics sufficient for optically driven chemical disassociation of a hydrogen peroxide oxidizer; and, an optical delivery system for providing optical delivery of light from the optical source to a combustion chamber. The ignition system is used for a propulsion producing engine having a combustion chamber for the introduction of a fuel and a hydrogen peroxide oxidizer. The initiation of combustion is produced by the non-linear, optical interaction of the produced light with a fuel and the oxidizer present in the combustion chamber, thereby leading to molecular disassociation of the oxidizer such that there is initiation of combustion.

Abstract: A jerk pump provided for an internal combustion engine has an integral solenoid valve in which a pump plunger driven by a cam delivers fuel at high pressure through a channel that extends in the pump housing and through an injection line to an injection nozzle. An armature of the solenoid valve cooperates with a spring-loaded valve piston by which the channel-guiding high-pressure side can be connected with a low-pressure side. In order at least largely to avoid rebounding of the solenoid valve in such jerk pumps, provision is made such that the valve piston has an absorbent body held in its resting position by spring force, said absorbent body striking a stop body that holds the valve piston in its closed position when the valve piston is resting on its valve seat.

Abstract: In a power generating plant including a gas turbine which utilizes fuel gas from an oxygen blown gasifier for combustion at a predetermined pressure to drive a primary load, and where the fuel gas is supplied from the gasifier at a pressure higher than the predetermined pressure, an arrangement is provided to decrease the pressure of the fuel gas to a lower pressure required by the gas turbine. This arrangement includes a combustor and an expander downstream of the combustor, the combustor and the expander located between the gasifier and the gas turbine.

Abstract: A coating with the ability to protect (1) the inside wall (i.e., lining) of a rocket engine combustion chamber and (2) parts of other apparatuses that utilize or are exposed to combustive or high-temperature environments. The novelty of this invention lies in the manner a protective coating is embedded into the lining.

Abstract: A turbo molecular pump comprises an electric component section having a motor, a base section supporting the electric component section, a shaft rotationally driven by the motor, and an impeller connected to the shaft for rotation therewith. A first cover member is connected to a lower portion of the base section. A second cover member is disposed in a lower portion of the electric component section and in contact with the first cover member for transferring heat generated within the electric component section to an exterior of the turbo molecular pump through the first cover member.

Abstract: A combined cycle power plant having a gas turbine plant and a steam turbine plant combined together is disclosed. Steam is used for cooling a high-temperature portion (5) to be cooled around the combustor (4) of the gas turbine (2). The power plant has an air duct (9), connected to a steam path (7) for supplying steam for cooling the high-temperature portion (5), for cooling this portion using air if the steam for cooling is insufficient, typically when the plant is activated or stopped, and the air duct includes a device for boosting the air to have a pressure higher than that inside a combustor (4) of the power plant. Accordingly, the combustor and attached piping arrangement can be protected from burning and the power plant can be safely and reliably operated for a long time.

Abstract: Modular, cryogenic, solid rocket propellants of different fuel components, such as fuels, oxidizers, energy-increasing admixtures, binders, additives, etc., for all applications of solid rockets produce a uniform, stable and complete combustion, This objective is accomplished since one of the fuel elements, due to the special selection of its composition, is provided as a permanent igniter generator of the modular propellant.

Abstract: A turbine and gas turbine comprise an annular stator and a turbine rotor rotatably disposed in the stator. The stator includes a tangential inlet to introduce a jet stream of motive gases in a tangential direction, an outlet to exhaust expanded gases, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced and radially extending flow deflectors. The turbine rotor includes an annular jet stream path communicating with the inlet and the outlet, and a plurality of turbine blades circumferentially spaced in close proximity with the annular jet stream path, which accommodates the flow detectors to deflect the jet stream toward the turbine blades.

Abstract: A shaft supporting structure for an axial fan includes a base and a casing. Electronic control elements are provided for driving the fan wheel under byvirtue of the induction of a coil. The fan wheel includes blades and a magnet ring that can be inducted for driving a central shaft thereof. The central shaft includes two ends that are respectively supported in an arcuate recess of a support member in the base and an arcuate recess of another support member in the casing.

Abstract: The temperature can nowadays be reduced by about 400° C. as a result of the cooling of the guide vane (15) of the first guide wheel. The many film bores leading outward from the guide vane (15) must therefore remain free of blockages or deposits caused by suspended matter in the cooling medium. Only pure gas must therefore be used as the cooling medium for the first guide wheel. This purpose is served by a dust separator which is designed advantageously as an axial cyclone (24, 24′). The latter has no moving structural parts, has a simple design, is therefore insusceptible to faults and can be exposed to high temperatures. The axial cyclone is a centrifugal deduster without gas stream reversal.

Abstract: A vortex flow field and an apparatus and a method to produce and sustain it. The flow field includes an outer fluid vortex spiraling toward a closed end of the flow field generating apparatus and an inner fluid vortex substantially concentric with the outer vortex spiraling away from the closed end and toward an outlet opening in which the inner vortex spirals in the same direction as the outer vortex, but in the opposite axial direction. The invention also relates to a rocket propulsion system utilizing the flow field in which the propulsion system includes a combustion chamber with a fuel source and an oxidizer source flowing along the flow field.

Abstract: This invention provides a sealing mechanism for sealing the piston-cylinder unit of a reciprocating diaphragm pump to ensure that the piston-cylinder unit is permanently and reliably sealed while being simple to assemble. The invention further provides a piston-cylinder unit which has almost no play in the micrometer (&mgr;m) range, and which is sealed by hydrodynamically sealing a slot thereof.

Abstract: An ambient pressure gas turbine system is provided for mid-range power plants (for example, 1-4 MW) while achieving low NOx emission levels. The system includes a combustor that burns a hydrocarbon fuel at ambient pressure. A first heat exchanger upstream of the combustor heats the working fluid. A turbine downstream from the combustor expands combustion gases. The combustion gases are directed to the first heat exchanger for heat exchange with the working fluid and then to a compressor operative to compress the combustion gases. A second heat exchanger between the first heat exchanger and the compressor further cools the combustion gases to the compressor inlet temperature.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for power generation, by which high-efficiency power generation is achieved by utilizing a boiler-oriented fuel such as inexpensive coal, heavy oil and waste plastic, and by further utilizing a gas-turbine-oriented fuel in some cases, without exerting bad effects on the environment, at low equipment cost. In the apparatus, first, the boiler-oriented fuel is separated into a distillate and a residue by partial processing. The distillate (in some cases, with a gas-turbine-oriented fuel) is supplied to a gas turbine to generate electric power. Further, a combustion exhaust gas discharged from the turbine is supplied to a boiler. Then, the residue (in some cases, with a boiler-oriented fuel) is burned to obtain steam. Further, electric power is generated by the steam.

Abstract: A process and installation for the regulation of the vacuum level prevailing in a network of vacuum conduits in a hospital building comprises one or several vacuum pumps connected pneumatically to the vacuum conduits (CV); elements (C2) for determining the pressure to determine the underpressure prevailing in the vacuum conduits (CV); a pilot device (MP) controlling at least one vacuum pump, at least one line for connection to the atmosphere (L1, L2) having a first end connected pneumatically to the vacuum conduits and having a second free end; and control elements (EV1, EV2) for the flow of fluid arranged in the line for connection to the atmosphere (L1, L2) to permit controlling the passage of air in the line connecting to the atmosphere.

Abstract: In a discharge pulsation damping apparatus of a compressor according to this invention, an expansion muffler 46 and a resonance muffler 58 each having a predetermined capacity are defined inside cylinder blocks 11 and 12 through partitions 59 and 60 so that the resonance muffler 58 is situated at a position higher than the expansion muffler 46 in a gravitational direction (vertical direction). The expansion muffler 46is connected to discharge chambers 38 and 39 and to an outlet 48, and both mufflers 46 and 58 are communicated by a communication passage 61 formed in the partitions 59and 60. The capacity of the resonance muffler 58, the open sectional area of the communication passage 61 and its passage length are set to values such that a pressure change capable of offsetting specific frequency components of the discharge pulsation inside the expansion muffler 46 can be generated inside the resonance muffler 58.