Resonant travelling wave heat engine

Patent · Tue Oct 26 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6735319

Ceperley, P H

This is an improvement to a travelling wave heat engine. The latter uses acoustical travelling waves to force a gas in a differentially heated regenerator to undergo a stirling thermodynamic cycle and thereby converts thermal energy into acoustical energy or vice versa, depending on the direction of the wave propagation. This patent concerns the addition of a resonant cavity around the regenerator to superimpose a standing wave to the travelling wave in order to augment the pressure component of the travelling wave without adding to the velocity component. This increases the level of acoustical power that can be put through the engine for a given level of regenerator viscous loss and so increases the engine's specific power which is limited by regenerator viscous losses.

• Assignee: EDB-83-017130
• Patent Number(s): US 4355517
• OSTI ID: 6735319
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330201* -- External Combustion Engines-- Stirling Cycle
ACOUSTICS
COMPRESSIBILITY
CONVERSION
DESIGN
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENGINES
FLUIDS
HEAT ENGINES
HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
RESONANCE
STANDING WAVES
STIRLING CYCLE
STIRLING ENGINES
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES
TRAVELLING WAVES
WAVE PROPAGATION