Abstract: The adaptation of a heat pipe as a turbo-generator or other power output device for a reliable, quiet, light-weight high-endurance power source is shown. The device requires input thermal energy from a burner radioisotope (or solar heat) and also forced or natural heat rejection from condenser surfaces. Thermal energy conversion to a suitable power output is accomplished by encapsulating a turbine wheel within a heat pipe shell, located in an appropriately geometrical contoured section. Flow work extracted from the kinetic energy of the vapor flow provides rotary shaft power output. The shaft power can drive an electrical generator, pump, compressor, or similar device, also mounted within the heat pipe shell structure. A completely self-contained enclosed unit is provided which requires only external power connection at attachment terminals.

Abstract: A fluid engine comprising a coiled conduit having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet and supported to rotate about its axis in a partially immersed condition within a first fluid which interfaces with a second fluid having a different fluid density. Rotation of the conduit about its axis causes the fluid inlet to alternately be immersed in the first and second fluids whereby a quantity of each fluid is entrapped within each convolution of the conduit resulting in an unbalanced fluid condition producing a gravitational turning moment. Pressure differential across the coiled conduit between the inlet and the outlet maintains fluid flow through the conduit from the inlet to the outlet thereby sustaining the unbalanced condition which causes conduit rotation. The required differential may be provided by a head of water or may be created by evaporating a liquid or by thermally expanding a gas.

Abstract: A solar energy device for producing a continuous mechanical motion to drive apparatus such as a well pump comprises a frame made of conduit sections that supports a heat collector to receive the sun's rays. Heat generated within the collector is transferred to a network of conduits therein through which an evaporatable fluid is circulated as it is heated to its vaporous state. The vaporized fluid or gas is furnished to a vapor pressure motor having a common connection to the conduit network. The motor is situated within the collector and has a movable piston operated by its own valving system that produces a continuous reciprocating action. The piston is connected to an output shaft that engages a working lever arm connected to the pump. Vapor used to operate the motor is conveyed to a condenser within the frame where it is cooled to its liquid state by water produced by the well pump which is forced through the frame.

Abstract: The variable speed condensing steam turbine is a simplified and effective steam expander which is built mainly of simple, low-cost sheet metal parts and is designed to provide a variable speed/torque output range.The turbine concept is based on the past Tesla turbine principle of equally spaced rotor discs to provide a long helical path for steam expansion with high operating efficiency and minimum friction. Unlike the cylindrical Tesla turbine this unit is in conical form with uniformly varying diameter discs used to provide a variable speed/torque power output range.A further purpose of having a uniform conical housing and uniformly increasing diameter discs is to achieve maximum steam expansion which will lead to rapid steam condensation, or a precondensation condition for the expended steam passing through the conical turbine.

Abstract: A vaporized driving fluid generator and engine unit are associated in open communication with each other with driving fluid being injected, in synchronized relation to the cyclic operation of the engine, into an externally heated casing which contains heat conductive elements that displace a substantial portion of the casing volume to vaporize the driving fluid. A cyclically operable expansible chamber engine is used and where such engine includes a reciprocable piston the piston may carry a tapered metering probe which reciprocates in the open communication between the generator and engine to increase the size of the open communication as the engine piston moves away from the open communication toward exhaust porting in the wall of the cylinder containing the piston.

Abstract: This invention relates to a steam turbine system which utilizes a unique heat-absorbing lens-shaped heating plate and boiler for the production of steam.

Abstract: The invention comes within the field of heat engines which operate by means of a fluid which flows in a closed circuit. A device characterized by the fact that the engine is placed in a sealed chamber and that its output shaft is coupled to a transmission shaft which does not undergo any bending stress, having a seal where the transmission shaft passes through the chamber, the seal being permanently in contact with a lubricant during operation and when the engine is stopped. The invention applies in particular to isolated low or medium power engine installations which require only slight supervision.

Abstract: A simple vapor-power plant, completely self-contained in an enclosed space, whose working fluid executes, in a truly continuous fashion, a complete cyclic operation involving at least vaporization, expansion, condensation and recycling of itself by flowing steadily through a closed loop of continuous space consisting of several distinct funcational zones within a capillary (or porous) structure and an adjacent opened space, while converting the work of expansion into the corresponding mechanical work by a free-rotating turbine situated inside said opened space; said turbine being the only required basic moving-part of said vapor-power plant.

Abstract: Apparatus for reheating the exhaust steam or other working fluid from an external combustion engine, e.g., a turbine, comprises two contra-rotating drums, each containing conduit means arranged in a spiral through which the exhaust fluid flows in succession, the drums being located in a cylindrical housing which is divided into four quadrants through which the drums rotate, two of the quadrants being supplied with heat from an external source, one quadrant being neutral and one quadrant being cooled.

Abstract: A solar powered engine and tracking system comprises a piston working within a cylinder for turning a drive shaft for driving an electrical generator or performing other useful work, a solar concentrator comprising a plurality of mirrors, each reflecting Sun light on a common focal point on the end of the cylinder for heating a flash boiler located thereon, preheated water from a source is injected into the flash boiler by a pump powered by the drive shaft timed according to piston movement after operating the piston, the steam is then vented from the boiler by valve means operated from the drive shaft. A starter motor is provided to initially start the engine operating by rotating the drive shaft until the piston movement is self sustaining. The entire device is enclosed in a solar energy collector panel for elevating the temperature of the system so as to maintain the water at a sufficient temperature with a minimum of external heating.

Abstract: A piston machine has arcuately-curved, cooperating pistons and cylinders arranged on the periphery of a pair of coaxially mounted rotatable disks or arms. Swiveling movements of the disks, causing the pistons to move in the cylinders, are controlled by cams and connecting gears. The cams are fixed with respect to the disks. Each cam is scanned by a cam follower connected by an arm to a shaft journaled in one of the disks. A connector gear is affixed to the cam follower and connector gear shaft to drive the disk opposite the disk in which the connector gear shaft is carried. Gear segments on the external periphery of each disk engage interchangeably a driven shaft for power output where work is produced by the machine as in compressed air and heat engine embodiments disclosed or for power input where the machine does work on the compressible fluid as in a compressor embodiment.

Abstract: In combination, a generally conical structure for collecting air and providing a confined space for solar heating of such air, connected, at the upper end of the conical structure, with a vertically placed electric generator through which the solar-heated air passes. The combination utilizes the principle that the heated air expands and becomes lighter, causing it to be displaced by the cooler, atmospheric air at the bottom of the air collecting structure, creating an upward flow of the heated air through the electric generator. The generator is unique for the purpose in that the generator rotor and turbine turn in concert and are a single unit.

Abstract: An engine driven by an expanding gas and utilizing a liquid seal in an inexpensive construction which by virtue of the low temperature differential required between inlet and outlet gas is particularly well adapted for use in converting collected solar energy to mechanical or electrical energy. The engine may also be adapted for use as a compressor.

Abstract: A cascaded, two-fluid, rotary Rankine cycle engine is provided having improved efficiency and being capable of operating with a power fluid which is solid at ambient temperature.

Abstract: A turbine engine provided within a hermetically sealed housing and operative as a closed system in response to applied solar or other thermal energy.

Abstract: An energy converter of the type primarily intended for transforming thermal energy into mechanical energy. The converter accomplishes this transformation by using heat to expand a fluid, resulting in movement of a mass which is in turn attached to a flywheel surrounding an axle. Moving the mass imbalances the flywheel causing its rotation. A usable work force is generated by this rotation.

Abstract: A regenerator for rotary Rankine cycle engines having an annular boiler and an internal coaxial expander for pressure vapor generated in the boiler, comprising at least one annular series of axially extending heat exchange tubes disposed radially inward of the boiler and an array of axially spaced annular fins on each of said tubes which rotate with the engine. A condenser for the exhaust vapor rotates with the engine and means is provided for conducting exhaust vapor to the condenser after passing through the regenerator fins and for returning liquid condensate from the condenser to the regenerator for passage through the tubes thereof in heat exchange relation with the exhaust vapor conveyed between the fins on the tubes.

Abstract: The apparatus described comprises two rotating heat exchangers, which serve as a heat source and a heat sink respectively, and which are designed to act simultaneously as fans. Owing to a very small separation between the annular rotating heat-exchange surfaces, the fans function with extremely low noise. These heat exchangers form a unit with a casing rotatably supported in bearings and their heat-exchange surfaces communicate with the inside of the casing. An expansion engine is located inside the casing and may be designed as a high-speed turbine or as a high-speed displacement motor.

Abstract: A solar heated device including a conduit for expansion and flow of gases, and a solar light collector for heating the gas in the conduit, is provided with a gas turbine that is driven by the gas as it expands as a result of the solar heating. The conduit may include an inlet for introducing air, or an inlet for introducing water spray (later steam), or both, thus supplying the gas which is heated and expanded in the conduit to drive the gas turbine. The light collector is preferably a parabolic reflector that directs sunlight on the conduit in order to heat and expand the gas therein. The turbine ordinarily drives an electric generator.

Abstract: A heat exchanger for a thermodynamic machine, such as a heat pump or an expansion motor, comprises two corotating and coaxial sections, namely an evaporator section and a condenser section, interconnected by conduits in a closed circuit for the passage of a vaporizable working fluid. Each rotary section comprises an annular collector, centered on the axis of rotation, and an array of axially extending tubes closed at one end, the open tube ends being partly obstructed by barriers serving to retain a pool of liquefied working fluid by centrifugal force in an outer peripheral sector of each tube; the pool on the condenser side overflows into the corresponding collectors to form a reservoir for the liquid.

Abstract: A power plant, e.g. for an automotive vehicle, comprises a rotary heat exchanger and an engine mounted coaxially therewith on a stationary support, the engine having two relatively rotatable members (e.g. a turbine rotor and a turbine stator) driven in opposite directions by the vapor pressure of a working fluid passing in a closed circuit through an evaporator section of the heat exchanger, the engine housing, and a condenser section of the heat exchanger. One of the counterrotating members, generally the stator, is rigid with the housing whereas the other one is operatively coupled with a load, e.g. by magnetic flux traversing a magnetically pervious wall of the housing. The coupling may include an armature winding of an electric-current generator disposed outside the engine housing for excitation by one or more magnets carried by the rotor inside the housing. With a suitable step-down ratio between the load and the rotor, the latter may turn at a speed substantially higher than that of the stator.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for converting heat energy into mechanical energy in which a liquid is maintained against the outer walls of a cylindrical container due to centrifugal force caused by rotation of the container; a plurality of reservoirs are provided extending radially outward from the walls of the container and protruding into a stationary heating device extending around the entire path of rotation of the cylinder and reservoirs. The reservoirs are heated sufficiently to vaporize liquid as it is forced into the reservoirs due to the centrifugal force. A portion of the liquid that is vaporized then forces a portion of the liquid which has not been vaporized to be expelled radially inwardly from the reservoir and against a turbine rotor blade fixed for rotation about the same axis as the cylinder but independently of the rotation of the cylinder to thus provide the power output.

Abstract: Rotary closed Rankine cycle cooling and heating apparatus utilizing a single fluid for both engine power and refrigeration. The apparatus includes a rotary housing containing a boiler, power fluid expander coupled with a refrigerant fluid compressor and a refrigerant expander. A condenser for the expanded power portion and the compressed refrigerant portion of the single fluid, and an evaporator for the expanded refrigerant fluid portion, are mounted at respectively opposite sides of the housing coaxially thereof for rotation with the housing as a unit. The power fluid expander is driven at a predetermined speed by pressure power fluid vapor generated in the boiler and in turn drives the refrigerant fluid compressor. The refrigerant expander is of the capillary type constructed and arranged with respect to the evaporator to automatically control the capacity balance of the refrigerant system.

Abstract: Rotary closed Rankine cycle engine powered electric generating apparatus including a rotary boiler, power fluid expander and means for condensing the exhaust vapor from the expander. The power fluid expander is rotatably driven at a predetermined speed by pressure fluid generated in the boiler and in turn drives an alternator that is hermetically sealed in a casing rotatable with the boiler and condensing means as a unit. The alternator is rotatably mounted in gas bearings and a portion of the power fluid condensed in said condensing means is utilized to cool the alternator and to provide power fluid vapor at a constant low pressure which is supplied to the gas bearings to lubricate said bearings. In the disclosed embodiments a magnetic-harmonic drive between the alternator and the rotary engine rotatably drives the latter at a predetermined speed substantially slower than the speed of the expander and alternator.