Reticulated electrothermal fluid motor

Abstract

A new electrothermal fluid motor connected to an electrically controlled energy source for uniformly heating a unique reticulated heat exchanger, which together with an expansion fluid fills a chamber, having a mechanical energy output consisting of a jet flow or a change of force, pressure, or motion, has achieved elimination of internal convection and consequent start-up wall losses found in prior art devices, resulting in improved efficiency and response-time reduction. Typically, the heat exchanger has millions of heating elements, interconnected in a network of distorted dodecahedron cells, each with thirty shared heating elements of triangular cross-section, giving a shock resistance of thousands of g's and thousands of degrees centigrade, a void space of about 97%, and an average thermal diffusion distance of about 100 microns. The preferred energy source is electrical resistance heating, but induction, electrostatic, or radiation-absorption heating may be used. For high power applications, a change-of-state liquid is preferred. For example, DuPont Freon 12 will produce a 160% volume change at constant pressure of 0.7 MPa (100 p.s.i.) for a 30.degree. C. temperature change. An example of the invention is a linear differential servomotor with two reticulated electrothermal motors connected to a common output shaft in expansion opposition. The ambient temperature effect cancels, with the output force, velocity, and direction being proportional to the sum of the input energies to the respective motors. Other applications of the inventive principles include hot jet gas emitters, stepping motors, latches, power jacks, printers, acoustical signalling devices, and pistons.