DE102020105972A1 - Motor with a stator and a rotor - Google Patents

Abstract

A motor is characterized by a stator (10) with an axis of rotation (25) extending over a length and by a rotor (20) rotatable about the axis of rotation (25) in at least one direction of rotation. The stator (10) has one or more stator elements (11) each spanning a layer. The stator (10) also has a tubular housing (12). The stator elements (11) each spanning one layer are lined up one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the axis of rotation (25). The stator elements (11) are connected to the housing (12). Each of the stator elements (11) has one or more heating circuits (13) and one or more cooling circuits (14). Each circle occupies an angular range of the stator element (11) spanning a layer. The number of angular areas with cooling circuits (14) and the number of angular areas with heating circuits (13) are the same. All angular ranges are the same size. The angular ranges with the heating circuits (13) and the angular ranges with the cooling circuits (14) are arranged alternately with one another around the axis of rotation (25). The rotor (20) has one or more rotor elements (21) each spanning a layer. Each rotor element (21) is arranged symmetrically to the axis of rotation (25). Each rotor element (21) has one or more displacement elements (22). The displacement elements (22) are distributed over one or more angular areas which together occupy half of the cross-sectional area of the rotor (20) in relation to the axis of rotation (25). The displacement elements (22) are evenly distributed around the axis of rotation (25). The number of displacement elements (22) is as large as the number of angular areas with the heating circuits (13). The stator (10) and the rotor (20) are jointly enclosed by the housing (12). Empty spaces filled with a working gas are located between the housing (12) and the displacement elements (22). A possibility for the working gas to flow through the layers of the stator elements (21) is provided. At the end of the housing (12) there is a collecting space (17) for the working gas with an element which can be moved by the expanding and inflowing working gas.

Description

The invention relates to a motor with a stator and a rotor with an axis of rotation extending over a length, with a rotor that is rotatable about the axis of rotation in one direction of rotation.

Such motors are mainly used in the field of electric motors, but can also be used in other fields.

Engines are available in many forms, for example as piston engines or an interesting variant known for many years as a Stirling engine.

In a Stirling engine, a working gas is alternately heated and cooled. When heated, the working gas expands and the pressure rises. The pressure drops as it cools down. Mechanical work can be obtained from the pressure difference created by the supply of thermal energy.

Various variants are known for this, in order to convert this basic idea into a practicable motor. A displacement piston is usually used to heat and cool the working gas. This displacement piston is moved back and forth between a warm area of the engine and a cold area of the engine. This shifts the working gas and alternates between heating and cooling.

Problems with Stirling engines arise from the fact that the changing temperatures and also the changing pressures of the materials used and also the components have to be coped with. It should also be taken into account here that for many embodiments of known Stirling engines, very high pressures and high temperatures should also be provided, which then also have to be taken into account up to the design of the components and components of the engine.

In addition, a surface is required for heating and cooling, which carries out the necessary heat transfer to the gas. Of course, the basic idea is to transfer the heat as efficiently as possible. If the contact areas are enlarged, the overall size of the motor will increase, which is not very desirable.

If the effectiveness of the heat transfer is increased by reducing the wall thickness between the areas used for heat generation and the working gas, the maximum possible pressure that can be generated with the working gas also decreases, as the wall thickness of the components of the engine can of course withstand this got to.

The use of materials with high thermal conductivity also has disadvantages, because in addition to the high thermal conductivity, the other boundary conditions already mentioned above must of course also be taken into account. This increases the cost of the corresponding motors.

Despite the numerous alternative embodiments in which engines have been built according to the basic concept of the Stirling engine, many wishes remain unanswered in terms of effectiveness, size, reliability and also the cost of the engine being created.

The object of the present invention is to propose a motor which here offers a further approach with additional options.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a motor in which the stator has one or more stator elements each spanning a layer,
wherein the stator has one or more stator elements each spanning a layer,
wherein the stator has one or more stator elements each spanning a layer,
wherein the stator also has a tubular housing,
whereby the stator elements each spanning one layer are lined up one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the axis of rotation,
wherein the stator elements are connected to the housing,
wherein each of the stator elements has one or more heating circuits and one or more cooling circuits, of which each circle occupies an angular range of the stator element spanning a layer,
whereby the number of angular areas with cooling circuits and the number of angular areas with heating circuits are the same, all angular areas are equal and the angular areas with the heating circuits and the angular areas with the cooling circuits are arranged alternately around the axis of rotation,
wherein the rotor has one or more rotor elements each spanning a layer,
wherein each rotor element is arranged symmetrically to the axis of rotation, wherein each rotor element has one or more displacement elements, wherein the displacement elements are distributed over one or more angular areas which together occupy half of the cross-sectional area of the rotor in relation to the axis of rotation,
The displacement elements are evenly distributed around the axis of rotation, the number of displacement elements being as large as the number of angular areas with the heating circuits,
wherein the stator and the rotor are jointly enclosed by the housing, with between the housing and the displacement elements there are empty spaces each filled with a working gas,
wherein a flow possibility for the working gas is provided through the layers of the stator elements, and
wherein at the end of the housing a collecting space for the working gas is arranged with an element which is movable by the expanding and inflowing working gas.

Such an engine according to the invention still uses the advantages offered by a concept in the manner of a Stirling engine, but avoids a number of disadvantages which conventional Stirling engines have, since it changes over to a completely different design. As a design, the design known from electric motors with a stator and a rotor rotating relative to the stator is used. This design has proven itself as such, but has not yet been put into practice in connection with the ideas of a Stirling engine.

In the engine of the present invention, a tubular or cylinder-like configuration is used. Rotor elements and stator elements are arranged in layers and always alternating along an axis of rotation. The stator elements are responsible for heating and cooling a used working gas in order to maintain a kind of Stirling process.

Between every two of these stator layers there is a rotating rotor layer. This takes on the task that a displacement piston normally does in a Stirling engine. Of the total of 360 ° which has a layer around the center point formed by the axis of rotation in the case of a tubular and therefore circular structure, two symmetrically opposite regions are preferably occupied by a displacement element. For the sake of simplicity, one can imagine that these displacement elements each occupy a quarter of the circular cross-section, while the other two quarters arranged exactly in between remain free and absorb the working gas.

It is preferably also provided that the number of angular regions that are formed by the heating circuits is also two, and the number of angular regions that are formed by the cooling circuits is also two.

This means that there are four angular areas in one layer of the stator, namely two with heating circuits and the two further quarters with cooling circuits in between, these different types alternating in each case.

Purely in principle, an arrangement would also be possible that works with six angular ranges, i.e. three angular ranges with heating circuits and three angular ranges with cooling circuits, each occupying 60 ° of the entire 360 ° angle. In that case one would also arrange three displacement elements in the rotor part, with an angular range of 60 ° with an empty space for the working gas being provided between these three displacement elements.

In principle, an arrangement is also conceivable which has only one angular range with heating circuits and one angular range with cooling circuits and a rotor with only one, matching displacement element. Such a motor will tend to run less "smoothly" and thus have disadvantages, but on the other hand only has a smaller number of components and can therefore also offer advantages in special applications.

Other numbers are also conceivable for special areas of application, but the mechanically simplest form, which is therefore explained in the following, works with two angular ranges for heating circuits, two angular ranges for cooling circuits and two displacement elements.

The two heating circuits or the two cooling circuits of each stator element therefore match exactly the two displacement elements or the intermediate space with the working gas of the rotor element.

In this way, the working gas can be heated or cooled while the rotor element rotates relative to the stator element. Since now alternating layers of rotor elements and layers of stator elements follow one another, with the rotor elements rotating relative to the stator elements, this process takes place several times in parallel. This allows the effect to be scaled. While the working gases are now circulating with the displacement elements, they are alternately led relatively past the heating and cooling circuits.

Accordingly, the working gas is alternately heated and cooled.

The working gas will alternately expand and contract due to the heating or cooling. As is known from a Stirling engine, the volume of the gas changes with the temperature.

The flow of the working gas in the engine according to the invention is also clear: the working gas flows through the empty spaces between the displacement elements when it is due to the Expansion of the entire working gas flowing parallel to the axis of rotation expands.

It should be noted that the empty spaces between the displacement elements in the rotor layers are available for the working gas, as well as the spaces between the heating and cooling circuits of the stator layers. The displacement elements either cover all of the heating circuits or they cover all of the cooling circuits. Since the heating circuits and the cooling circuits with the stator layers stand while the displacement elements with the rotor layers move around the axis of rotation, the working gas will flow through channels either in the cooling circuits or in the heating circuits.

Various possibilities are conceivable here as to how this working gas can flow through the elements in the stator layers.

In this case, the stator layers and the rotor layers can be of the same thickness or can also be of the same thickness among one another or also have other, optimized sizes. From the basic point of view, one will first make an approach with rotor layers and stator layers of the same thickness and then determine experimentally whether one deviates from this concept.

When the working gas expands, the individual molecules of the working gas flow through the empty spaces between the displacement elements and through the spaces between the heating circuits approximately parallel to the axis of rotation and perpendicular to the rotor layers and stator layers in the direction of one end of the housing.

At this end of the housing a collecting space is provided, into which the expanding working gas flows and there moves an element which, through this movement, allows the thermal energy supplied in the heating circuits to be converted into other forms of energy. For example, a piston is moved in the cylinder formed. In principle, another possibility of transmitting the force or energy of the expanding working gas in this area is also conceivable. Moving a piston corresponds primarily to the basic idea of a Stirling engine.

If the rotor continues to rotate around the rotor axis relative to the stator, the working gas now comes into contact with the cooling circuits of the stator elements and the working gas, which has just been heated, now cools down and contracts. So it flows out of the collecting space again in the opposite direction parallel to the axis of rotation and flows through the cooling circuits and the empty spaces between the displacement elements. The piston that was just pressed can now relax again.

Overall, the rotational movement in the housing is now converted by the rotor relative to the stator in the collecting space, for example, into a movement of the piston arranged there in an associated cylinder.

Other arrangements are possible.

The use of the motors according to the invention is particularly advantageous, for example, in vehicle technology, for example in motor vehicles, but also in airplanes or ships. Especially with vehicles on land, in water and in the air, there is a desire to convert heat energy that is available in a small space into other forms of energy in a particularly effective manner. Another possible use is in space travel.

In addition to vehicles, mobile generators, for example, should also be considered. Similar problems and boundary conditions apply, for example, in areas with an unfavorable energy supply, in which there is no electrical power supply and, for example, no other energy supply is available in less technologically developed countries.

A possible area of application are, for example, combined heat and power plants and stationary or mobile power generators, compressors and pumps.

Another advantage of the invention is the low level of noise development, unlike in internal combustion engines, the disadvantages of which can be avoided or at least reduced here.

The motors according to the invention are also low in maintenance.

It is also possible to connect compressors and transfer energy through a movement not only via the piston shown in the collecting space, but also, for example, via membranes.

It is particularly advantageous that the rotational movement has significantly lower vibrations than a conventional piston movement. Implementation with connecting rods is also no longer automatically necessary, since the energy can also be extracted from the storage unit in other ways.

Because the stator is immobile, the supply of thermal energy via the heating circuits or the removal of thermal energy via the cooling circuits does not pose any special requirements this discharge or supply does not have to take into account any additional movement and can take place directly from a static component.

The stator elements can also be provided with specially designed passages and other elements that enable particularly good heat transfer to and from the working gas. Here, too, there are great advantages, since the resulting structure of the overall concept creates a great deal of freedom in the selection of materials and specific designs of the stator layers.

The engine according to the invention is particularly effective if thermal energy can be used for the supply of thermal energy into the heating circuits, which occurs as excess heat in other areas of the overall device driven by the engine. For example, one should think of motor vehicles in which there is excess heat energy available in many vehicle areas, which has to be dissipated and can now be used well by the engine according to the invention in order to be converted into the movement of the piston in the collecting space.

The possibility of reprocessing thermal energy created by the invention is generally advantageous. Heat given off by the engine to its surroundings can also be used, among other things, to heat fuels and air or oxygen used for combustion by means of heat exchangers. The processing of heat when using hydrogen or natural gas as fuel is particularly interesting. These gases cool down when they exit the pressure vessel. So it creates colder gas. This colder gas itself or the coldness carried along by this gas can now be used to extract heat from the gas used as the cooling medium or from the motor liquid used as the cooling medium.

• In einem ersten Wärmetauscher kühlt Wasserstoff das Kühlmedium vor dem Wiedereintritt in den Motor ab.
• In einem zweiten Wärmetauscher kühlt Wasserstoff das Kühlmedium nach dem Austritt aus dem Motor ab.
• In einem dritten Wärmetauscher werden Wasserstoff und Luft oder Sauerstoff mittels erwärmter Abgase auf eine Arbeitstemperatur erhitzt.

In particularly preferred embodiments, for example, three heat exchangers connected in series could be used:

• In a first heat exchanger, hydrogen cools the cooling medium before it re-enters the engine.
• In a second heat exchanger, hydrogen cools the cooling medium after it leaves the engine.
• In a third heat exchanger, hydrogen and air or oxygen are heated to a working temperature by means of heated exhaust gases.

The motor according to the invention also works, in particular, at comparatively low revolutions with which the individual processes can run comparatively slowly and thus with little friction and without vibrations.

The rotor layers, in turn, are movable, but have a particularly simple structure, since they essentially only have to carry the displacement elements. The working gas is completely closed off from the outside by the housing wall; The displacement elements are located between the warm and cold areas and any desired thermal insulation can be provided between the heating and cooling circuits.

In preferred embodiments it is provided that the rotor elements rotate together with a shaft or shaft elements running coaxially to the rotor axis of the various rotor layers and are arranged on them.

Alternatively, instead of the rotating shaft element, it is also possible to use a stationary element arranged coaxially to the rotor axis, around which the rotor elements then rotate with as little friction as possible with a recess close to the axis.

The embodiments with the co-rotating shaft element have the advantage that the rotation of the shaft element can be driven out of the collecting space particularly expediently. A part of the converted energy can therefore be used to drive the motor in rotation, whereby the conversion can be used due to the spatial configuration when the shaft element exits into the collecting space.

Further advantages and variants become clear from the attached figures and the associated description as well as the subclaims.

• 1 eine Draufsicht in Richtung einer Rotationsachse auf eine Statorschicht einer Ausführungsform eines erfindungsgemäßen Motors;
• 2 eine Draufsicht senkrecht zur Darstellung in 1 auf einen Stator für den Motor aus 1;
• 3 eine Draufsicht in Richtung der Rotationsachse auf eine Rotorschicht des Motors aus 1; und
• 4 eine Seitenansicht auf einen Rotor des Motors aus den 1 bis 3; und
• 5 Eine schematische Darstellung einer Abbildung ähnlich in 1 für eine andere Ausführungsform der Erfindung.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is described in more detail below with reference to the drawings. Show it:

• 1 a plan view in the direction of an axis of rotation of a stator layer of an embodiment of a motor according to the invention;
• 2 a plan view perpendicular to the illustration in FIG 1 on a stator for the motor 1 ;
• 3 a plan view in the direction of the axis of rotation of a rotor layer of the motor 1 ; and
• 4th a side view of a rotor of the motor from FIG 1 until 3 ; and
• 5 A schematic representation of a figure similar to in 1 for another embodiment of the invention.

the 1 until 5 represent a schematic overview of the engine according to the invention. The same exemplary embodiment is shown in different schematic views in each case.

The motor consists entirely of a stator 10 and a rotor 20th built up. Both the stator 10 as well as the rotor 20th consist of several components.

The stator 10 consists of a row-like arrangement of stator elements, each of which forms layers in layers. Each of these layered disc-shaped stator elements 11 has the same diameter, the same thickness and also the same dimensions otherwise and also essentially the same internal structure.

Here are the disk-shaped stator elements 11 in a tubular housing 12th arranged and with the tubular housing 12th also connected. The tubular housing 12th also represents the outer end of this essential part of the engine.

In every stator element 11 there are radiators 13th and heat sink 14th . The radiators 13th and heat sink 14th are separated from each other by thermal insulation.

Here is the arrangement of each stator element 11 made so that the disk-shaped layer with the approximately circular circumference consists of two approximately 90 ° angle forming areas with radiators 13th and two other areas with heat sinks 14th are provided. The four approximately right angles occupying sections are then each through the thermal insulation 15th separated from each other to the radiator 13th and the heat sinks 14th to prevent any significant heat exchange directly between each other.

The multitude of stator elements 11 is inside the tubular housing 12th also by a shaft element 16 carried around an axis of rotation 25th is provided. While the stator elements 11 and the case 12th do not move, it is provided in preferred embodiments that the shaft element 16 together with the rotor elements described below 21 turns together. But there are embodiments in which this shaft element 16 unlike in the aforementioned exemplary embodiment, does not rotate and is a stationary element. Also the wave element 16 can with thermal insulation 15th be provided.

While the stator 10 with its various components does not move, is the second fundamental element, the rotor 20th , overall opposite the stator 10 movable with all its elements.

Also the rotor 20th consists of a large number of disc-shaped rotor elements 21 Mistake. Each of these rotor elements 21 has two displacement bodies 22nd on, which is also approximately 90 ° of the total circular disk-shaped rotor element 21 claim. Between the two displacement bodies 22nd of each rotor element 21 there is a free space that is occupied by a (not specially marked) working gas. With the rotating rotor 20th and the rotor elements rotating with it 21 So the working gas also rotates between the displacement bodies 22nd around the axis of rotation 25th that the stator 10 and the rotor 20th is common.

The free space with the working gas is to the outside of the housing 12th , parallel to the axis from the walls to the adjacent stator element 11 on one side and the other, within the layer of the rotor element 21 from the wall of the adjacent displacer 22nd and inwardly opposite the axis of rotation 25th from the shaft element 16 shielded and thus a closed space.

Especially in the 2 you can still imagine that at the end of the case 12th a containment area 17th is provided for the working gas (in the 2 on the left) which is parallel to the axis of rotation 25th through the layers of the stator elements 11 and the rotor elements 12th can move and when heated by the heating devices 13th expands accordingly. Because the housing 12th which closes off the empty spaces to the outside is made possible by the expansion of the working gases in this collecting space 17th move a working piston shown schematically there against a spring also shown schematically. This representation is to be understood purely schematically. The supplied thermal energy is converted into spring energy in the schematic consideration shown and tensions this spring. Of course, the kinetic energy of the gas and the energy that can be used due to the increased volume can also be given off in a different form.

From this catchment area 17th at the end of the case 12th around the axis of rotation 25th around, the working gas can escape again during the subsequent cooling process and through the empty spaces between the displacement bodies 22nd flow through it again to contract in the voids in the rotor. The spring in the catchment area 17th from the schematic example would relax and release the spring energy again in kinetic energy or in another form. The implementation can be done in part by rotating the shaft 16 by means of the additional motor 18th take place, which is also purely schematically on the other side of the cylindrical housing 12th is shown.

By the rotation of the rotor 20th relative to the stator 10 the working gas comes alternately next to the radiators 13th and the heat sinks 14th to lie. The working gas is therefore alternately cooled and heated. The resulting changing temperatures in the working gas can be converted into movements in the manner of a Stirling concept, on the one hand the rotational movement of the rotor 20th around the axis of rotation 25th enable and on the other hand also tap a force or energy outside.

Energy is fed into the system by adding thermal energy to the radiators 13th .

This thermal energy can be made available in various forms.

Fuel cells, for example, come into consideration as embodiments. The use of solid oxide fuel cells is particularly interesting, since particularly high temperatures can be achieved with them, which are possible precisely with a concept according to the invention, since ultimately only the layers of each individual stator element 11 are exposed to the high temperature, so immovable parts.

Incompletely burned exhaust gases can also be fed into one or more of the heating devices 13th or in a separate one to the heating device 13th connected combustion chamber are conducted in order to use the thermal energy from the fuel used as completely as possible.

The resulting exhaust gases or those that leave the engine for other reasons outside of the system described can also be used in the heat exchangers. Every conceivable technology can be used here to heat the air or oxygen or possibly also fuel and thus further increase the efficiency.

Another embodiment is intended, among other things, for the automotive sector, for which it is desirable if the motor can be made ready for use from a standstill in the shortest possible time. In this case, the motor according to the invention can be quickly heated up to the operating temperature by additionally heating it up electrically by means of heating wires. The energy required for this can be temporarily stored in the system itself in supercapacitors or batteries; the energy could come from other batteries, capacitors or even from fuel cells. The energy stored in this way can also be used to start the motor vehicle more quickly.

In the 5 Another embodiment of the invention is shown schematically. The figure from the 5 would be supplemented with representations similar to those in the 2 , 3 and 4th to form another embodiment.

The cooling device can again be seen in a cross section through a stator element 14th and the rotor axis 25th with a shaft element 16 on average.

The shape of the indicated heating device has been changed 13th . In the embodiment shown, this is a heating device 13th specified using a fuel cell, which after appropriate almond-shaped guidance with an exhaust pipe in turn out of the housing 12th is led out.

The advantage of this embodiment is that the exhaust gases from the fuel cell for the supply of thermal energy in the heating device 13th can be used, whereby the fuel cell itself retains its full functionality.

List of reference symbols

10

stator

11

Stator element

12th

tubular housing

13th

radiator

14th

Heat sink

15th

Thermal insulation

16

Wave element

17th

Containment area

18th

Auxiliary motor

20th

rotor

21

Rotor element

22nd

Displacer

25th

Axis of rotation

Claims (5)

Motor, characterized by a stator (10) with an axis of rotation (25) extending over a length, by a rotor (20) rotatable about the axis of rotation (25) in at least one direction of rotation, the stator (10) having one or more layers each having spanning stator elements (11), the stator (10) also having a tubular housing (12), the stator elements (11) each spanning one layer being lined up one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the axis of rotation (25), the stator elements (11) being connected to the housing (12) , wherein each of the stator elements (11) has one or more heating circuits (13) and one or more cooling circuits (14), of which each circle occupies an angular range of the stator element (11) spanning a layer, the number of angular ranges with cooling circuits (14 ) and the number of angular ranges with heating circuits (13) are the same, all angular ranges are the same and the angular ranges with the heating circuits (13) and the angular ranges with the cooling circuits (14) are arranged alternately around the axis of rotation (25), with the rotor (20) has one or more rotor elements (21) each spanning a layer, each rotor element (21) being arranged symmetrically to the axis of rotation (25), w whether each rotor element (21) has one or more displacement elements (22), the displacement elements (22) being distributed over one or more angular regions which together occupy half of the cross-sectional area of the rotor (20) in relation to the axis of rotation (25), whereby the displacement elements (22) are evenly distributed around the axis of rotation (25), the number of displacement elements (22) being as large as the number of angular areas with the heating circuits (13), the stator (10) and the rotor (20 ) are jointly enclosed by the housing (12), with empty spaces filled with a working gas being located between the housing (12) and the displacement elements (22), with the possibility of the working gas flowing through the layers of the stator elements (21), and wherein at the end of the housing (12) a collecting space (17) for the working gas is arranged with an element, which be by the expanding and inflowing working gas is moveable. Engine after Claim 1 , characterized in that the layers of the stator elements (11) viewed in the direction of the axis of rotation (25) are each of the same thickness. Engine after Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the layers of the rotor elements (21) are of the same thickness in the direction of the axis of rotation (25). Motor according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the number of angular areas with heating circuits (13) and the number of angular areas with cooling circuits (14) and the number of displacement elements (22) are each two. Motor according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rotor (20) always rotates in the same direction of rotation relative to the stator (10).

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