Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Jin Sakamoto

Shinji Yamagami

Kazushi Yoshimura

Yoshiyuki Kitamura

Hiroshi Yasumura

Kenji Takai

Yoshiaki Ogura

Hirotaka Ohno

Atsuko Sakai

A Stirling engine, wherein the inner yoke of a linear motor is installed on the outer peripheral surface of a cylinder. To keep a proper pressure balance between a compression space on one end side of a displacer and a back pressure space on the outer peripheral side of the cylinder, a first flow passage is formed in the piston starting at the compression space side end face toward the outer peripheral surface and a second flow passage allowing the first flow passage to communicate with the back pressure space is formed in the cylinder. The second flow passage is composed of a through hole that penetrates the wall of the cylinder in a radial direction and a communication passage formed between the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder and the inner peripheral surface of the inner yoke to allow the through hole to communicate with the back pressure space.

Stirling engine

A Stirling engine A has a pressure containerfilled with a working gas, a cylindersecured inside the pressure containera power pistonprovided inside the cylinderand a displacerprovided inside the cylinderon the same axis as the power pistonThe displacerhas a displacer pistonthat slides inside the cylinderand a rodwhich is connected and fixed to the displacer pistonand placed through a slide holeformed at the center of the power pistonThe rodis formed in the shape of a hollow pipe.

A Stirling engine, wherein when a linear motor reciprocatingly move a piston in a cylinder, a displacer also reciprocatingly moves in the cylinder storing the displacer. By this, working mixture moves between a compression space and an expansion space. Though a spring for generating resonance is combined with the displacer, a spring for generating resonance for the piston is eliminated. Gas bearings are installed for the piston at two or more positions at specified intervals in the axial direction. An inside flange formed at the end of the cylinder and a stopper plate fixed to the linear motor determine the moving limit of the piston. Since a pin projected from the stopper plate is received by a through hole in a magnet holder, the piston can be prevented from being rotated.

A cooler box includes a box member that has a hermetically closable cooling chamber formed inside it and that insulates heat and a cooling device that cools the interior of the cooling chamber. The cooling device is a Stirling-cycle refrigerator. Here, using a Stirling-cycle refrigerator as the cooling device helps realize a cooler box that can be operated from an easily available low-capacity, inexpensive power supply and that can cool a to-be-cooled article to a low temperature comparable with that produced by a freezer.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Jin Sakamoto