Abstract: A heat pump providing semi-continuous or substantially continuous refrigeration and/or heating in which liquid working fluid in a vaporizer vaporizes at a low pressure by extracting heat from a cold heat source and the vapors are adsorbed in at least one solid adsorbent body. The adsorbent is subsequently heated to desorb vapors at a high pressure, and the vapors condense by giving up heat to a heat sink at a relatively high temperature. The condensed liquid is returned via pressure-reducing means to the vaporizer, and the adsorbent body is cooled. There may be several adsorbent bodies undergoing heating and cooling out of phase with each other.

Abstract: A burner for burning a liquid hydrocarbon fuel at low outputs (no more than 50 kw) comprises a vaporizer to which liquid fuel is supplied and in which fuel is vaporized at autogeneous pressure, and means operative to furnish a flow of air at atmospheric pressure which sweeps fuel vapor escaping from the vaporizer to a burner head where the air-fuel vapor mixture is burned. The vaporizer operates independently of the conditions at the burner head, and the ratio of air to fuel vapor passed to the head is automatically maintained stoichiometric. The vaporizer is constructed to avoid fuel decomposition, and the fuel supply is arranged to ensure operating stability. Means to avoid fuel vapor emission at start-up and shut-down are provided.

Abstract: Heat is transferred from a cold heat source to a hot heat sink by an absorption type heat pump wherein the working fluid and the absorbent liquid are capable of forming a solution having a lower critical solution temperature t.sub.c. The working fluid at a low pressure extracts heat from the cold source and is reabsorbed in the absorbent liquid to form a solution which, at a higher pressure, is heated above t.sub.c to separate the working fluid from the solution. The heat requirement for this separation is less than that for distillation in prior heat pumps.

Abstract: An atomizing device for mixing or atomizing fluids without moving parts and comprising, in combination, a hollow tube which has a substantially cylindrical inner wall and a core member situated within the tube in substantial coaxial relationship with and spaced from the inner wall. The surface of the core member includes at least one non-intersecting helical channel which extends substantially continuously for the length of the channel. Also, channel-forming means is provided about the core member in close proximity with the surface thereof and with the inner wall of the tube, which comprises at least one layer of at least one non-intersecting helical winding. Each winding in any single layer is in the opposite direction to each winding in the next or adjacent layer and each winding in the layer nearest the core is in the opposite direction to the helical channel formed in the core member.