The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 19, 1976
Filed:
Jun. 06, 1975
Kenneth G Hagen, Acton, MA (US);
Fred N Huffman, Sudbury, MA (US);
Arthur E Ruggles, Billerica, MA (US);
Thermo Electron Corporation, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
An expansion mode tidal regenerator heat engine including a housing assembly enclosing an interior region, a power extraction means and a condensable vapor disposed within the interior region. A condenser is adapted to maintain a portion of the interior region at a condenser temperature equal to or below the boiling point of the working fluid at a predetermined minimum pressure. A super-heater is adapted to maintain a portion of the interior region at a super-heater temperature above the boiling point of the working fluid at a predetermined maximum temperature. A boiler is adapted to maintain a portion of the interior region below the super-heater temperature and above or equal to the boiling point of the working fluid at a predetermined maximum pressure. A tidal liquid regenerator is adapted to maintain a predetermined temperature gradient in the portion of the interior region between those characterized by the condenser and boiler temperatures and a vapor regenerator is adapted to maintain the predetermined temperature gradient in the portion of the interior region between those characterized by the boiler and super-heater temperatures. A cycle control means establishes a sequence of locations for the liquid vapor interface of the working fluid between and including the regions characterized by the boiler and condenser temperatures. The cycle control means successively establishes (1) heating and vaporizing of the working fluid at constant volume, vaporizing and super-heating the working fluid in part at constant pressure and in part with decreasing pressure (due to expansion), cooling at constant volume, condensing in part at constant volume and in part at constant pressure.