Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Kenichi Inoda

Terumaru Harada

Tatsuo Fujita

Kinichi Adachi

Kin-ichi Adachi

A free-piston compressor which has a cylinder, a compressor piston disposed movably in the cylinder, thereby first and second chambers being formed in the cylinder, a low pressure pipe coupled to the first chamber through which pipe, low pressure fluid flows, a high pressure pipe coupled to the first chamber through which, high pressure fluid flows, two valves coupled between the low pressure and high pressure pipes, and the second chamber, a control device for controlling the two valves in a manner that a dead point position of the compressor piston is kept at a target point, and driving means for driving the compressor piston.

Free-piston compressor with gas spring control

In a sealing mechanism for a reciprocation apparatus for use in a cycle engine having a reciprocation member (108), such as Stirling engine, oil or a fluid is enclosed in a fluid room constituted by a pair of flexible partioning members (112, 113) such as diaphragms or multiple bellows and side walls (111a, 111b) of a cylinder (111) or the like, and the fluid room is divided in two parts (114, 115) by a pressure-resistive sealing member (116) fixed to inside wall of a rigid partion wall (111f) to roughly seal the fluid allowing sliding motions of the reciprocating member therein.

Reciprocation apparatus with sealing mechanism

In a sealing mechanism for a reciprocation apparatus for use in a reciprocating engine having a reciprocation member (108), such as Stirling engine, oil or a fluid is enclosed in a fluid room constituted by a pair of flexible partioning members (112,113) such as diaphragms or multiple bellows and side walls (111a,111b) of a cylinder (111) or the like, and the fluid room is divided in two parts (114,115) by a pressure-resistive sealing member (116) fixed to inside wall of a rigid partion wall (111f) to roughly seal the fluid allowing sliding motions of the reciprocating member therein.

The present invention relates to a Stirling engine which includes a first wall member forming a part of a vessel, a second wall member forming a part of the vessel, a third wall member forming a part of the vessel which is transformable and at the same time the transformation of which can change the positional relationship of the second wall member relative to the first wall member, a working fluid sealed in the vessel, a heater for heating the working fluid in the vessel through the first wall member, a cooler for cooling the working fluid in the vessel through the second wall member, a regenerator and a mechanical device which is driven by the working fluid when the working fluid is moved relative to the second wall member to change the pressure so that a part of the heat generated by the heater and transferred to the working fluid is used for driving the mechanical device. The first and second wall members are not connected by a bolt and a nut as in the prior art, but are connected to each other, for example, by bellows. Therefore, according to the present invention, the heat lost from the first wall member to the second wall member is reduced to enhance the thernal efficiency of the Stirling engine.

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Hirakata, Japan

Kenichi Inoda