Denso Corporation

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho

Katsuya Komaki

Shinichi Yatsuzuka

Toshiyuki Morishita

Takashi Kaneko

Takashi Koyama

Takashi Shimazu

Yoshiaki Fukushima

Shuzo Oda

Yasumasa Hagiwara

Yasunori Niiyama

Kazutoshi Wakatsuki

Hiroshi Mieda

Seiji Inoue

Hideo Sobukawa

Masaaki Tanaka

Kazutoshi Kuwayama

Hiroyuki Mitsui

Masakatsu Tsubouchi

Satoshi Inoue

Hisao Nagashima

Tomohisa Wakasugi

Takeshi Oochi

Shunji Okemoto

Tadahiro Nakagawa

Miyo Mochizuki

Setsuo Nakamura

Masashi Hara

A heat exchanger cooling system includes: a passage extending from a water tank and branching off into a first passage and a second passage at a branch portion provided in the middle of extension of the passage, the passage including a water discharge portion provided on a distal end side of the first passage so as to face a radiator; a pump configured to send water into the passage from the water tank; a first opening-closing valve provided in the first passage and configured to open and close the first passage; a second opening-closing valve provided in the second passage and configured to open and close the second passage; and a controlling portion configured to control an operation of the pump and to control opening and closing of the first opening-closing valve and the second opening-closing valve.

Heat exchanger cooling system

Provided is a fuel cell system including a fuel cell, a radiator that is provided in a circulation path of coolant that cools the fuel cell, a spray unit that sprays, toward the radiator, generated water that has been generated in and discharged from the fuel cell, and a heating unit that is provided in a supply path of the generated water from the fuel cell to the spray unit and heats the generated water.

Fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell; an air discharge passage configured to discharge an air exhaust gas from the fuel cell; a back pressure adjusting valve provided in the air discharge passage and configured to adjust pressure of the air exhaust gas; a cooling device configured to cool the fuel cell by carrying out heat exchange using a heat medium; a water reservoir storing water; a high pressure introduction passage connecting an upstream side of the air discharge passage which is more upstream than the back pressure adjusting valve in an air flow direction to the water reservoir; and a sprinkling device configured to sprinkle the water of the water reservoir over the cooling device. The sprinkling device is configured to sprinkle the water of the water reservoir pumped by pressure of the air exhaust gas over the cooling device.

In fuel cell system, exhaust material M exhausted from a fuel cell stack flows through the exhaust pipe. The gas-liquid separator is provided at the exhaust pipe and separates the exhaust material M into gas and liquid. The connecting pipe is connected to an exhaust port of the gas-liquid separator. The pressure regulating valve is connected to the connecting pipe and regulates pressures of the gas such that a pressure of the gas at an upstream side is higher than atmospheric pressure. The guide pipe is connected at the downstream side of the pressure regulating valve and guides at least the gas toward the exhaust pipe. The heat exchange unit exchanges heat between the exhaust pipe and the guide pipe.

A chemical heat accumulator includes a receptacle, a first reaction vessel, and a second reaction vessel. The first reaction vessel is hermetically connected to the receptacle and supplied with water from the receptacle. The first reaction vessel contains a chemical compound that causes a hydration reaction with the water from the receptacle to generate water vapor by a heat of reaction, and causes a dehydration reaction by receiving heat. The second reaction vessel is hermetically connected to the first reaction vessel and supplied with the water vapor from the first reaction vessel. The second reaction vessel contains a chemical heat storage material that generates heat by causing a hydration reaction with the water vapor from the first reaction vessel and stores heat through a dehydration reaction caused by receiving heat. The chemical heat storage material is thermally in contact with an object to be heated.

Chemical heat accumulator

An adsorption module has heat medium pipes through which a fluid flows, a porous heat transferring member, and adsorbent. The porous heat transferring member is a sintered body formed by sintering a metallic material that is in a form of one of powders, particles and fibers, and has pores for allowing an adsorbed medium to pass through. The porous heat transferring member is disposed on peripheries of the heat medium pipes and bonded to outer surfaces of the heat medium pipes by sintering. The adsorbent is disposed in the pores. The porous heat transferring member further has an adsorbed medium passage for allowing the adsorbed medium to pass through. The adsorbed medium passage is located between the heat medium pipes, and extends straight and parallel to axes of the heat medium pipes.

Adsorption module and method of manufacturing the same

A steam engine has a pipe shaped fluid container, a heating and cooling devices respectively provided at a heating and cooling portions of the fluid container, and an output device connected to the fluid container, so that the output device is operated by the fluid pressure change in the fluid container, to generate an electric power. In such a steam engine, an inner radius 'r' of the cooling portion is made to almost equal to a depth '&#x3b4;' of the thermal penetration, which is calculated by the following formula (1);  wherein, &#x201c;a&#x201d; is a heat diffusivity of the working fluid at its low pressure, and &#x201c;&#x3c9;&#x201d; is an angular frequency of the movement of the working fluid.

Steam engine

An external combustion engineis disclosed, wherein a containersealed with a working medium adapted to flow in a liquid state includes a heating unitfor generating a vapor of the working mediumby heating part of the working medium, and a cooling unitfor liquefying by cooling the vapor. The volume of the working mediumis changed by the generation and liquefaction of the vapor, and the displacement of the liquid portion of the working mediumcaused by the volume change of the working mediumis converted into and output as mechanical energy. The heating unitis structured so that inner membersarranged on the inside and outer membersarranged on the outside are bonded to each other. The outer membersare made of a second material higher in heat resistance than the first material of the inner members. Further, the thickness of the inner membersis not smaller than the thermal penetration depth &#x3b4; of the first material.

External combustion engine

An external combustion engine includes: a main container sealed with a working fluid in a liquid state adapted to flow; a heater for heating a portion of the working fluid in the main container and generating the vapor of the working fluid; a cooler for cooling and liquefying the vapor; an output unit for outputting by converting the displacement of the liquid portion of the working fluid generated by the volume change of the working fluid due to the generation and liquefaction of the vapor into mechanical energy; and an auxiliary container communicating with the main container. The heater, the cooler and the output unit are arranged in order, in the direction of displacement of the working fluid. The working fluid is sealed in the auxiliary container which communicates with the portion of the main container nearer the output unit than the cooler. The engine further includes a communication area adjusting unit for establishing communication between the main container and the auxiliary container with a first communication area in normal operation mode and with a second communication area larger than the first communication area at the time of engine start. Thus, a predetermined output is produced quickly after engine start.

An external combustion engine comprises a container () with a working liquid () sealed therein in a state adapted to flow, a heater () for heating and vaporizing the working liquid () in the container (), and a cooler () for cooling and liquefying the vapor of the working liquid () heated and vaporized by the heater (). The displacement of the working liquid () caused by the vapor volume change is output as mechanical energy by being converted into the mechanical energy. A pressure regulating liquid () is sealed in a pressure regulating container () communicating with the container (). A pressure regulating unit () regulates the internal pressure (Pt) of the pressure regulating container (). A control unit () controls the pressure regulating unit () in such a manner that the internal pressure (Pt) is decreased in the case where it is higher than the saturation vapor pressure (Ps) of the working liquid () at the temperature (T) of a heated portion () of the container for vaporizing the working liquid (), while the internal pressure (Pt) is increased in the case where it is lower than the saturation vapor pressure (Ps).

An external combustion engine provided with a plurality of evaporators and stabilized in output and efficiency, that is, an engine provided with at least one main container, a plurality of evaporators heating the working medium to evaporate, condensers cooling the vapor of the working medium evaporated at the evaporators to make it condense, an output part communicated with the other end of the main container and converting displacement of a liquid part of the working medium occurring due to fluctuations in volume of the working medium accompanying evaporation and condensation of the working medium to mechanical energy for output, a single main container pressure adjusting means adjusting an internal pressure of the main container, and controlling means for controlling the main container pressure adjusting means based on a lowest temperature in the temperatures of the plurality of evaporators constituting a minimum evaporator temperature.

An external combustion engine including a containersealed with a working mediumin liquid phase adapted to flow, a multiplicity of evaporatorstofor heating and evaporating part of the liquid-phase working medium, a multiplicity of condenserstofor cooling and condensing the working mediumevaporated in the evaporatorsto, and an output unitfor outputting by converting the displacement of the liquid-phase portion of the working mediuminto mechanical energy. The multiplicity of the evaporatorstoshare a heat source from which heat is supplied thereto. The engine further includes an influent liquid amount regulation unit whereby the liquid-phase portion of the working mediumin a greater amount flows into the evaporators nearer the heat source upon displacement of the liquid-phase portion of the working mediumtoward the multiplicity of the evaporatorstofrom the output unit, while the influent liquid amount is smaller for the evaporators farther from the heat source. In this way, heat loss is reduced resulting in improved efficiency.

An external combustion engine formed with a plurality of heaters for improving output, provided with a container in which a working medium is sealed flowable in a liquid state, the container being formed with heaters for heating part of a working medium to generate vapor of the working medium and coolers for cooling the vapor to liquefy, the generation and liquefaction of the vapor causing the working medium to change in volume and the displacement of the liquid part of the working medium caused by the change in volume of the working medium being converted to mechanical energy for output, wherein at least the parts of the container connected with the heaters being branched into pluralities of tubular parts, a plurality of heaters are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of tubular parts, a plurality of vapor reservoirs for storing the vapor of the working medium are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of heaters, and the plurality of vapor reservoirs are connected with each other.

A fluid pump enabling circulation of a working fluid in a Rankine cycle system etc. without utilizing electrical energy and able to be realized at a low cost, provided with a water pump for pumping up working fluid (water) from a steam condenser of the Rankine cycle system and feeding it to a boiler, a fluid vessel, a heater heating and vaporizing working fluid in the vessel, and a cooler cooling and liquefying the steam obtained by vaporization at the heater. Further, the fluid vessel is provided with a vibrator storing expansion energy by the expansion pressure of the steam heated by the heater. When the cooler causes the steam to condense and the pressure falls, the energy stored in the vibrator is used to feed working fluid to the heaterwhere the working fluid is then heated.

Fluid pump and Rankine cycle system

A liquid pump for circulating working fluid (water) in a Rankine cycle comprises a U-shaped fluid vessel having a bending pipe portion and a pair of straight pipe portions, wherein a heating device and a cooling device are provided at one of the straight pipe portions for heating and cooling the water in the fluid vessel. The liquid pump further has a discharge pipe portion and an inlet pipe portion, and check valves are respectively provided in the discharge and inlet pipe portions. The water is vaporized by a heating operation of the heating device to increase pressure of the working fluid in the pump, so that the working fluid is discharged. The vaporized working fluid is then cooled down by the cooling device to decrease the pressure of the working fluid in the pump, so that the working fluid is sucked into the pump.

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Kariya, Japan

Katsuya Komaki