FR2928972A1 - THERMODYNAMIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MECHANICAL ENERGY FROM HEAT USING MULTIPLE FLUIDS, MIXED AND THEN SEPARATED, IN ONE OR MORE THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES. - Google Patents

Abstract

The device and method of the invention implements the mixing of a thermodynamic fluid with other fluids, incompressible and high volume heat at certain stages of a thermodynamic cycle. In these stages of the thermodynamic cycle, the incompressible fluid accompanies the thermodynamic fluid in transformations where it produces or receives work under quasi-isothermal conditions, and / or the incompressible fluid exchanges heat with the thermodynamic fluid in transformations where it does not produce or receive work with respect to the outside, and / or the two fluids are present in the very area where heat is generated at high temperature, called primary heat, for example from reactions with the oxygen contained in the thermodynamic fluid, and where the presence of the incompressible fluid makes it possible to control and control the reactions and the temperature. These provisions are likely to favor the reversibility of thermodynamic transformations, to allow high efficiency thermodynamic cycles, and to allow flexible use of various types of reagents, such as solids, generating primary heat, especially in combustion cycles. internal, or with more general chemical reactions than combustion. The qualitative and quantitative conditions of the mixture between a thermodynamic fluid and an incompressible fluid according to the present invention are defined therein. The expansion or compression devices are in particular volumetric or dynamic devices, modified and adapted according to the invention when a thermodynamic fluid and an incompressible fluid are present in a mixture. The device can implement different thermodynamic cycles, for example an Ericsson cycle or a Brayton cycle. The device is applicable to the fields of production and use of mechanical energy, including the propulsion of vehicles or the transformation of mechanical energy.

Description

THERMODYNAMIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MECHANICAL ENERGY FROM HEAT USING SEVERAL MULTIPLE FLUIDS, MIXED AND SEPARATED IN ONE OR MORE THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES DESCRIPTION TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a device and method for producing mechanical energy exchanging heat with the outside, where one or more thermodynamic fluids are mixed, in certain phases of their thermodynamic cycle, with other incompressible fluids. and having a heat density (product of the heat mass by the density) much higher than that of the thermodynamic fluid.

STATE OF THE PRIOR ART The principles of the production of mechanical energy by a physical system from the heat it receives and that it yields are governed by thermodynamics, the bases and developments of which are in the state. science and technology. We present here reminders useful for the description of the state of the art and necessary for the presentation of the invention, particularly as regards the expression of its specific qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The unit system used is the International System (SI), and the units and their symbols used in the text are presented in Table I. Size Work Power Mass Time Length Pressure Unit joule watt kilogram second _ meter pascal Symbol JW kg s Table I Mathematical expressions use the usual notation of operations with 25 functions on variables or numbers: + for addition, - for subtraction, / for division, the symbol of multiplication is usually omitted or sometimes denoted x, the power n of a number a is denoted a °, the natural logarithm of a positive number a is denoted Ln (a), the absolute value of a number a is denoted 1 to I, the expression in decimal form of a number uses the comma to separate the powers of 10 positive and 30 negative (for example 3,14 means three and fourteen hundredths), the summed multiple summations are preceded by the sign E, the parentheses () and / or square brackets indicate the grouping of numbers or variables to which the operations or fi nances relate. Throughout the text, the temperature T denotes the absolute temperature, expressed in degrees Kelvin, denoted by K. 35 A physical system (set of particles - molecules, atoms ... - which constitute it) immobile (without overall macroscopic movement) and in statistical equilibrium, has a total energy called internal energy which is a function of the parameters defining the system status (temperature, pressure, volume ...). In particular, in the case where the physical system is a mass m of perfect gas, the equation of state, that is to say the relation which relates the pressure P, the volume V and the absolute temperature T, is PV = mRT / M, where M is the molar mass of the gas (ie the mass of a molecule multiplied by the Avogadro number equal to 0.6022x1024) 5 and R the molar constant of the perfect gases, equal 8.314 J.mole R. (° K) -r, and the internal energy U of the physical system depends only on the temperature. When the system is macroscopically animated with a speed, the total energy of the system is the sum of the internal energy and the kinetic energy.

The physical system can receive from outside the mechanical energy, in the form of work (or provide it, and the work received is then algebraically negative) provided by the external macroscopic forces, especially the pressure forces. When a system subjected to a uniform external pressure P sees, in an elementary transformation, its volume becoming V + dV, the work of pressure forces, received by the system, is given by the formula dW = - PdV. In the context of the present description of the invention, it is considered that the reception of the work (positive or negative) by the physical system is done through the pressure forces. The system can also receive heat (or provide it, the amount of heat is then negative sign). A thermodynamic transformation of a physical system is a modification of the parameters defining the state of the system (P, V, T in the case of a gas), during which the system can exchange work and / or heat with the outside, or with him. When the thermodynamic fluid carries out a series of transformations which finally brings it back to its initial state, the transformation is cyclic and is said to carry out a thermodynamic cycle.

The first principle of thermodynamics expresses that when a system whose initial internal energy is Ur receives the work W and the heat Q (W and Q algebraic magnitudes), its internal energy becomes U2, and the variation of internal energy is Given by U2 - Ur = W + Q. Work and heat thus contribute in an equivalent way to the internal energy variation of the system.

On the other hand, the conditions under which a physical system can produce work when it is supplied with heat are governed by the second principle of thermodynamics which, according to Carnot's statement, expresses that to provide work during a period of time. cycle, a system must exchange heat with at least two heat sources at different temperatures.

In the remainder of the text, the term "thermodynamic fluid" means a physical system (given quantity of molecules or atoms of a gas or a mixture of gases, a given quantity of a substance or a mixture of not interacting chemically with each other, under several phases - gas, liquid, critical state or supercritical - which performs thermodynamic transformations. Note that the formula dW = - PdV indicates that, for a thermodynamic fluid, in the monophasic or diphasic state, to be able to supply or receive work by the effect of the pressure forces, it is necessary that it be in a compressible state. This is the case for gases and gas-liquid or solid-gas mixtures or fluids in the supercritical state. Generally speaking, a device for producing mechanical energy from these two heat sources at different temperatures typically comprises: a primary energy source producing heat, called primary heat (hot source), a heat source; evacuate heat to the outside (cold source), a thermodynamic fluid, performing a thermodynamic cycle in apparatuses 45 or zones where: it receives, via one or more mechanisms (conduction, convection, radiation, etc.) ) and / or transfer devices, the heat generated by the primary source of heat, * it provides work outside, * it evacuates heat to the outside (ambient air, water of a river, water) a lake or the sea), via one or more mechanisms (conduction, convection, radiation) and devices (wall exchangers, use of one or more coolants ...), * optionally it receives work, * optionally it exchanges heat with itself at different stages of the thermodynamic cycle, - optionally additional devices for circulating the thermodynamic fluid between the various devices mentioned above, and carries out a cycle or more generally a sequence of many cycles over time . The capacity of a machine to produce mechanical energy in terms of mechanical power, which is the quantity of mechanical energy (work) produced per unit of time, ie the product of the work supplied, is generally expressed. outside during a cycle by the number of cycles performed per unit of time. The mechanical power is generally delivered on a rotating shaft, which can be used in particular to drive the wheels of a vehicle, the propeller of a ship or an airplane, the alternator of a power plant, etc. It can also be delivered in the form of kinetic energy, as for example in the case of an airplane turbojet engine. Thermodynamics considers, in particular, the family of reversible transformations, that is to say, whose meaning can be reversed by an infinitely small modification of the parameters characterizing the action of the external medium., Or of the different parts of the system on each other. others (mechanical forces, temperature differences ...). These conditions are approached in particular when the thermodynamic fluid is continuously in a state of statistical equilibrium and the heat exchanges take place with small differences in temperature. Carnot's statement involves sources of heat that can be considered as systems with a uniform temperature and that can provide (hot source), or receive (cold source), heat without their temperature varying: one can imagine them as bodies of great heat capacity. When a thermodynamic fluid carries out a motor thermodynamic cycle with two heat sources, where it exchanges the quantity of heat Q1 with the hot source at the absolute temperature T1, and the quantity of heat Q2 with the heat source at an absolute temperature T2 less than T1, and that it provides the work û W = 1WI (the work W received by the fluid being negative), Q1 is positive (the system receives heat from a hot source) and Q2 is negative (the system transfers heat to the cold source), and the efficiency i of the cycle, i.e. the ratio of the IWI work supplied by the thermodynamic fluid to the amount of heat IQ supplied to the system by the hot source, is given bet = / Q1 = 1-IQ21 / Q1, where W, QI and Q2 are linked byW + Q1 + Q2 = 0, according to the first principle of thermodynamics, the transformation being cyclic. When the thermodynamic cycle is reversible (that is to say constituted of a series of reversible elementary transformations), the yield i is equal to i = 1 - (T2 / T1). When the transformation is irreversible, we have i <1 û (T2 / Tl). It can be seen that the efficiency of a thermodynamic cycle is always less than 1, and that the larger T1 is large and T2 is smaller, and the higher yield is obtained for the reversible cycles, that is to say, especially in the conditions where the heat sources behave like bodies with an almost uniform temperature, that is to say of great heat capacity and with a homogeneous temperature, and where the difference of temperature between the thermodynamic fluid and heat source is weak (very good heat exchange).

An elementary transformation of a thermodynamic fluid, whether or not exchanging work and heat with the outside, can for example be represented under the melting of a curve arc on the diagram (V, P) and the diagram (T , P), and a cycle by a set of contiguous curve arcs. In particular, the isochoric elementary transformations, which are carried out at constant volume, isobars, which are carried out at constant pressure, isotherms, which are carried out at a constant temperature, adiabatic, which are carried out without heat exchange with the outside, are defined. . In the case where the thermodynamic fluid is a mass m of a perfect gas of molar mass M, of constant volume constant heat C, and of constant pressure constant heat Cl), Cp and Ca being linked by the relation of Mayer Cp û C ,, = R / M: - in an isobaric transformation where the temperature varies from AT, P = (mRT) / (MV) remains constant, the work received by the thermodynamic fluid is AW = - (mRAT) / M and the received heat AQ = mCpAT, - in an isothermal transformation T = (MPV) / (mR) remains constant, and if the pressure goes from P to P + AP, the work received by the thermodynamic fluid is AW = ((mRT) / M) (Ln ((P + AP) / P)), the quantity of heat received is equal and of opposite sign to the quantity of work received, ie AQ = - AW, - in a reversible adiabatic transformation, P \ = ((mRT) / M) '/ PY -' = ((mRT) / M) V'- 'is constant, where y = Cp / CV, the received work is AW = m C ,, AT, and the quantity of received heat is zero. Certain cycles in which the thermodynamic fluid receives or provides work and / or heat can globally result in a net zero balance of work and heat exchanged with the outside, for example the monothermal cycle "adiabatic compression - heating / cooling". adiabatic expansion "illustrated in Figure 1, wherein the thermodynamic fluid performs an adiabatic compression D -i A, then an isobaric heating A -i B in a countercurrent regenerative heat exchanger, and isobaric cooling B - A where it restores the calories absorbed within the regenerative exchanger in the previous step, then adiabatic relaxation A ..> D, bringing it back to its initial state, and where the net quantities of work and heat exchanged with the outside are zero. Among the thermodynamic cycles with two sources of heat and with a balance of non-zero mechanical energy of the state of the sciences and techniques, there are in particular the two following reversible cycles, where the thermodynamic fluid is in particular a perfect gas: Carnot cycle (Figure 2) consisting of two isotherms (isothermal compression D - A at T2 temperature and isothermal expansion B-3 C at temperature Ti) and two adiabatic (compression A - * B and relaxation C -i D). The theoretical yield of a reversible Carnot cycle is r1 = 1 - (T2 / Tl). For example, for T2 = 300 ° K and T1 = 1200 ° K, r1 = 0.75. - The Ericsson cycle (Figure 3) consisting of two isotherms (isothermal compression D - A at T2 temperature and isothermal expansion B -C at temperature Ti) and two isobars (isobaric heating A-3B and isobaric cooling C'- D), and where the quantity this heat yielded during isobaric cooling CD is used integrally for isobaric heating A- * B (regenerative heat exchange). The only heat exchanges with the outside are those occurring during the isothermal AB and C- * D transformations. The theoretical yield of a reversible Ericsson cycle is r1 = 1 û (T2 / T1), identical to the theoretical yield of the Carnot cycle. It can thus be seen that in order to obtain high yields, close to the yield of Carnot r1 = T1t / T1, the thermodynamic fluid must cycle under conditions close to reversibility and where it can receive the most efficiently and continuously heat at the hot temperature T1 during an isothermal expansion where the thermodynamic fluid provides work, and similarly yield heat to the cold temperature T2, during an isothermal compression where the thermodynamic fluid receives work. In practice, these cycles, which have the maximum thermodynamic efficiency, have not been the subject of concrete industrial applications, especially in view of the difficulty of implementing the isothermal transformations (compression and relaxation) which would require, during the expansion or compression phases where the thermodynamic fluid is in contact with moving mechanical parts, a continuous and very efficient heat exchange with a very large mass-heat body. Nevertheless, it is of course possible to approach an isothermal transformation at a temperature T, for example an isothermal expansion from the pressure PB up to the pressure Pc, by a succession of adiabatic detents and then isobaric reheating (typically carried out in exchangers thermals with walls) up to the temperature T, as indicated in FIG. 4, but the number of necessary stages is high. In fact, on the basis of the preceding formulas, it can be established that for this purpose there are numerous heat exchangers between the adiabatic expansion stages. By way of illustration, for a relaxation where the ratio PB / Pc is equal to 10 (final pressure equal to one-tenth of the initial pressure), a succession of at least ten stages of adiabatic expansion and then isobaric reheating (and therefore ten wall exchangers) so that the work produced is equal to at least 90% of the work that would be produced by the isothermal expansion between the same pressures PB and Pc. Other cycles with two heat sources are at the basis of existing industrial applications implemented on a large scale. These are not cycles with two isothermal heat sources per se, because the thermal exchanges with the hot and cold springs are not done at a constant temperature, but they involve a heat input at a high temperature and a release of heat towards the outside at a lower temperature. These include the following cycles, where the thermodynamic fluid is in the gaseous state in all stages of the thermodynamic cycle: - The Brayton cycle (Figure 5) consists of two adiabatic (compression D 4 A and relaxation B - ~ C) and two isobars (heating A 4 B at pressure PA = PB and cooling C 4 D at pressure PD = Pc). The theoretical yield of a reversible Brayton cycle carried out by a perfect gas is given by R1 = 1 (PA / PD). - The cycle of Otto or Beau de Rochas consists of two adiabatic (compression and relaxation) and two isochores (heating and cooling). - Diesel cycle consisting of adiabatic compression, isobaric heating, adiabatic expansion and isochoric cooling.

These three cycles, where the thermodynamic fluid is a gas, comprise a compression phase and therefore their implementation requires a compression apparatus, where the thermodynamic fluid receives work. When a body in the liquid state at the low temperature of the cycle and the vapor at the high temperature is used as a thermodynamic fluid, it is not necessary to use a compression apparatus providing work for the thermodynamic fluid (the pressurization are carried out in the liquid phase, so almost without any external work). The typical cycle using a thermodynamic fluid with change of liquid phase to gas is generally called a Rankine cycle when the vapor remains in the saturated state and Hirn cycle when there is superheating of the steam. In the remainder of the text, a Rankine or Hirn steam cycle is referred to indifferently as the "Rankine-Hirn cycle". The liquid thermodynamic fluid, at the high pressure of the cycle, is vaporized, optionally superheated, by the heat coming from the primary heat source, then performs an adiabatic expansion, then condenses at the low pressure of the cycle by giving up heat to the cold source, and is then compressed in the liquid state to start a new cycle. The expansion devices may optionally include: - sub-runs to recover the thermodynamic fluid passing in the liquid state during relaxation, and which will then be re-mixed with the main flow, - steam heating in progress relaxing, by subtraction of hot steam. It should be noted that the direction of travel of the cycles presented above are those of a motor system generating mechanical energy, receiving heat at high temperature and yielding heat at low temperature. When traversed in the opposite direction, these same thermodynamic cycles can be used by systems, consuming mechanical energy, such as heat pumps or refrigeration systems, receiving heat at low temperature and yielding heat at high temperature. The Rankine - Hirn cycle is commonly used with water as a thermodynamic fluid to produce mechanical energy from heat. All these cycles (Brayton, Otto, Diesel, Rankine - Hirn) have a theoretical yield lower than that of a Carnot or Ericsson cycle evolving between the same minimum and maximum temperatures. It should be noted that the mixed isothermal compression cycle D û * A, isobaric heating A - + B, adiabatic expansion B - + C, isobaric cooling C - * D, illustrated in FIG. 6, generally has a lower yield than that of the Brayton cycle. between the same temperatures and minimum and maximum pressures, and such a cycle does not appear attractive compared to the Brayton cycle, from the point of view of thermodynamic efficiency.

The cycles of Beau de Rochas or Otto and Diesel are the theoretical basis of the combustion engines (triggered in the case of gasoline engines based on the Otto cycle, self - ignited in the case of diesel engines) consisting of diesel engines. reciprocating pistons, which equip a very large number of land vehicles. The Brayton cycle represents the basis of inter-combustion thermal turbomachines, in particular gas turbines for electricity production, and turbojets for the propulsion of aircraft. These machines, where the thermodynamic fluid is air, and operating in open cycle (the cooling stage at low pressure being effected outside the machine), are called internal combustion, because the primary heat is releases directly into the thermodynamic fluid. These systems are characterized by their simplicity, compactness and often lightness, making them particularly suitable for the propulsion of vehicles. They nevertheless have specificities and limitations: - The source of primary energy producing heat consists of chemical reactions of combustion of very specific fuels, liquid hydrocarbons (gasoline, diesel, ...) or gaseous (methane.) with the oxygen contained in the ambient air, which is both the thermodynamic fluid and the oxidant container, oxygen, which is generally only partially consumed. This is particularly related to the fact that the amount of heat Q, to be received by the thermodynamic fluid performing a thermodynamic cycle in a generally achievable temperature range (typically T1 less than 1300 ° K and T2 less than 320 ° K) is substantially less than the amount of heat that would be released by the complete combustion of oxygen in the air with the hydrocarbon (otherwise the temperature could be close to the flame temperature, generally above 2000 ° K). For example, in a Brayton cycle (Figure 5) with the following values TD = 300 ° K, TB = 1200 ° K, PD = 105 Pa (atmospheric pressure), PA == 7x105 Pa, and where the primary heat is produced by the combustion of methane in the oxygen of the air, only about a quarter of the oxygen is consumed by the combustion reactions. Thus, under the conditions in which the combustion of oxygen is incomplete, it is only the precise adjustment of the quantity of fuel introduced in admixture with the air which makes it possible to ensure a heat release QI exactly equal to the value required by the thermodynamic cycle. These hydrocarbons must thus have very precise, reproducible and stable characteristics, be able to be introduced in very precisely proportioned proportions, before or during combustion, to be intimately and very rapidly atomized and / or vaporized and / or mixed in the form of gaseous with the air taken from the ambient atmosphere, and consumed very efficiently and quickly, and this to ensure controlled combustion reactions and heat release and precisely equal to the amount of heat IQ required for each cycle to produce the mechanical work IWI asked the machine. This requires very precise adjustments, specific to the type of fuel used. Indeed all the primary heat is received by the air used in the thermodynamic cycle, and its volume heat, ie the product of its specific heat by its density, is weak, which makes a small variation the amount of fuel introduced, and the heat released, can induce a very important immediate change in temperature. This is important in order to avoid excessive temperatures of the combustion air, which would cause excessive temperatures of the materials of the machine components, which would lead to their deterioration, or undesirable side chemical reactions. In particular, if the temperature exceeds 1500 ° K at 1600 ° K, the oxidation of the nitrogen of the air would cause the formation of too large quantities of nitrogen oxides NOx, whose discharge into the ambient atmosphere has a negative impact on the environment. The control of combustion reactions is also necessary to avoid, especially in the case of internal combustion engines, reactions that are too detonating and damage the system components, or induce excessive sound levels. It is also necessary to ensure continuously, by constructive arrangements, the initiation or maintenance of combustion reactions. Overall, the internal combustion systems therefore have little or no flexibility with respect to the primary heat source, and can not be applied as is to other primary energy sources. In particular, such an operation can not be envisaged in the state with fragmented solid carbonaceous fuels (coarsely or finely), the discontinuous nature of which, the burning time, the dispersion of the characteristics and the inability to mix intimately with the air by vaporization, necessarily induce significant variations in the conditions of introduction and combustion in the reaction chamber. - The theoretical thermodynamic efficiency of the Brayton, Otto or Diesel cycles, on which the internal combustion machines are based, is lower than that of an Ericsson or Carnot cycle operating between the same minimum and maximum temperatures. - The actual performance of these machines is itself significantly lower than the theoretical yield of the cycle on which they are based (Otto, Diesel, Brayton). This is in particular due to the highly irreversible character of the transformations, in particular the heating phase where for example in a Brayton cycle (FIG. 5) the thermodynamic fluid moves extremely rapidly from the temperature TA to the temperature TB, to the quantities of energy lost. with the combustion air rejected, the friction of the mechanical parts, the fact that, in particular by the use of reciprocating piston apparatus in the implementation of the Otto and Diesel cycles, the actual cycle is not between the theoretical extreme points and the exact paths of the theoretical thermodynamic diagram. Overall internal combustion machines with thermodynamic cycle in the air 10 (combustion engines, gas turbines, etc.) have thermodynamic efficiencies of the order of 0.2 to 0.4. In addition to the internal combustion machines, another category of machines, industrially widespread, are external heat supply machines (so-called external combustion in the case where the source of energy generating the primary heat is based on chemical reactions oxygen combustion), where the primary heat is transferred to the thermodynamic fluid through the walls of a heat exchanger, allowing the use of various primary sources of energy. Most applications involve systems using steam turbines, based on a Rankine-Hirn cycle, where water is the thermodynamic fluid. These machines in turn have specificities and limitations, in particular: they use, for the high temperature transfer to the thermodynamic fluid of the heat coming from the hot source, one or more wall exchangers, generally having a difference in temperature. significant pressure on both sides of the walls, and 25 * which have an exchange surface, per unit volume, necessarily limited, and can therefore occupy a large volume if one wants to have a large exchange surface, where the heat exchanges are limited, besides by the exchange surface, by the nature and the physical state (liquid, gaseous, diphasic, etc.) of the fluids circulating on both sides of the walls, and the characteristics thermohydraulic flow, and can degrade over time, particularly because of fouling phenomena of the walls, * which can sometimes be large components, sometimes com This can limit or constrain the use of heavy and heavy plexes, since large parts of the circuit operate at pressures that can be high, which require large material thicknesses, and may be subject to stress. important, thermal, mechanical or physico-chemical (corrosion, deposits ...); they generally use the Rankine-Hirn cycle which has a yield lower than the yield of a cycle of Ericsson or Carnot. Overall, these systems generally have a thermodynamic efficiency of the order of 0.3 to 0.4.

Overall, to improve the performances and the yields of the state-of-the-art thermodynamic engine systems, in particular to approximate the basic principles of thermodynamics and Carnot efficiency, the routes can be in particular the following: reversible and quasi isothermal thermodynamic transformations at the high temperature and the low temperature of the cycle, that is to say under conditions where the. hot source and / or the cold source can be assimilated to bodies with a very high heat capacity, - avoid irreversible transformations, in particular with very fast kinetics, and in particular: * control the reactions generating the primary heat so that they occur with progressivity, * carry out heating and cooling in a progressive manner, with small temperature differences. On the other hand, to be able to implement thermodynamic cycles with internal combustion, or with chemical reactions generating the primary heat more general than the combustion of carbonaceous materials with oxygen, - where the thermodynamic fluid is air and is involved in the chemical reactions via the oxygen it contains, and where the amount of primary heat, which would be produced by the reactions during a complete consumption of the oxygen contained in the air, is greater than the quantity heat required for the thermodynamic cycle, and with reagents which can not be intimately and very quickly vaporized and / or mixed in gaseous form with air and / or not easily dosable in their mixing with air, by In the case of fragmented solids, it is necessary to implement special provisions, particularly concerning the generation and / or use of primary heat. These arrangements can be chosen in particular from the following: - effectively control and stabilize the reactions and the temperature in the reaction zone, where the oxygen is partially consumed, and significantly attenuate, by appropriate means or processes, the variations temporal variations of the temperature in the primary heat release zone, when the temporal variations of the thermal power released can be significant, in particular when the quantities of reagents introduced may exhibit variations over time, - recycle, in the thermodynamic cycle and upstream of the reaction chamber, a significant part of the air resulting from the reactions, and therefore depleted of oxygen, by regulating the amount in order to control the amount of heat released via the limitation of the amount of oxygen available at the inlet of the reaction chamber, where the usable oxygen is fully t consumed, - achieve the complete consumption of available oxygen, generating a greater amount of heat than that required for a single thermodynamic cycle, and use all of the primary heat generated in at least two distinct thermodynamic cycles. For these purposes, the device and method of the invention implements the mixing of a thermodynamic fluid with other fluids, incompressible and high volumetric heat, at certain stages of a thermodynamic cycle, and under conditions qualitative and quantitative, which will be presented later. The state of the art uses in some cases heat exchange by direct contact between a liquid and a gas in a thermodynamic system producing mechanical energy, but under conditions different from the scope and claims of the present invention. .

For example, in the case of cooling towers for atmospheric air - water from a cold source (river, lake, etc.) - of a power plant producing electricity from heat, the aim is to increase ability to evacuate heat from the thermodynamic cycle at the cold source, and to limit the rise in temperature of the water withdrawn and returned to the environment, by direct contact between the atmospheric air and the liquid water used as cold source fluid. It is therefore not a question of mixing with the thermodynamic fluid generating mechanical energy. A method of compressing or substantially isothermal expansion of a gas by contact with a liquid is described by NC Christensen in 1933 in US Patent 1,929,350 and by HF Parker in 1942 in US Patent 2,280,845. None of these patents has a thermodynamic device for producing mechanical energy from heat. The two patents US Patent 2007/0074533 and 4 984 432 describe the use of the mixture between a liquid and a gas used as a thermodynamic fluid to perform a thermodynamic cycle, in particular with a relaxation and compression close to the isothermal conditions, and thus achieve a cycle close to the Ericsson cycle. The descriptions of these two patents are positioned on thermodynamic systems working receivers, ie refrigeration machines, with the particular objective of replacing the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a thermodynamic fluid: in these machines, which operate at fairly low temperatures, as indicated by liquids (water, mineral or vegetable oils ...), the applications cited and the lack of description of the heat source. The quantitative conditions of introduction, placing in presence, and evacuation of the incompressible fluid with respect to a thermodynamic fluid, necessary for effecting an almost isothermal expansion or compression, are not established or presented in these patents. The patent US Pat. No. 4,984,432 is based on the implementation of the compression and the expansion of a gas accompanied by a liquid in a specific volumetric apparatus, called a liquid ring. This type of device conveys, at the same time as the gas to be compressed or expanded, very large quantities of liquid centrifuged at the periphery (and therefore not operative for heat exchange with the gas), requiring pumping powers which can be rerun. very important. In addition, this type of device can be limited compression ratio or relaxation, and gas flow. Liquid ring compressors or expansion valves are not considered in the device and method of the present invention. The patent US Patent 2007/0074533 supports the implementation of the compression and the expansion of a gas accompanied by a liquid in rotary volumetric apparatus with a single axis of rotation of particular type, called spiral (which do not include arrangements for recirculating and / or mixing the liquid separated from its mixture with the gas), by introducing, at once and at the inlet of the apparatus, a preformed mixture of fog of liquid in the gas. Our analysis is that, given the geometric configuration of compressors or expansions with a single axis of rotation, in particular with spirals, and their conditions of use in patent US Patent 2007/0074533, the centrifugal force quickly separates the two phases. and the surface and heat exchanges are considerably reduced as the transformation, compression or expansion, making them poorly adapted to the implementation of a compression or almost isothermal relaxation of a gas in contact with a liquid. The use of compression devices of a thermodynamic gas mixed with an incompressible liquid, with a single axis and direction of rotation, which does not include recirculation and / or mixing provisions of the liquid having separated of his mix with. the thermodynamic gas, by the effect of the centrifugal force, and in which the thermodynamic gas-incompressible liquid mixture would be introduced at once at the inlet and kept inside the compression device, is not considered for this purpose. function in the device and method of the present invention.

Overall, these patents correspond to devices that can operate at a low temperature, whereas the present invention mainly aims at high high temperatures, with a view to high thermodynamic efficiencies. US Patent Nos. 4,027,993, 4,041,708 and 5,641,273 disclose methods for substantially isothermally compressing a gas by mixing it with a liquid in the form of a closed cell foam, the gas being inside. cells whose walls would consist of a very particular foaming liquid (liquid solutions of stearates, palminates, laureate, metal oleate, oleic acid, glycerine, saponin, emulsifying agents, etc.). The present invention does not consider this type of very particular configuration of thermodynamic gas-liquid mixture, especially on the one hand because it does not seem us able to ensure sufficiently efficient heat exchange between the gas and the liquid, and on the other hand because the types of liquids mentioned are not adapted to the high temperatures targeted by the present invention for producing a thermodynamic system that generates mechanical energy.

US Patent Nos. 5,934,076, RE 37,603 E and 5,771,693 describe a device for compressing a gas, in a piston compressor, with simultaneous injection of a liquid in atomized form, with a view to achieving a quasi compression. isothermal, but without achieving a ctétente quasi isothermal by mixing with an incompressible liquid. The present invention does not hold the piston apparatus for compressing a thermodynamic fluid in admixture with an incompressible fluid. In addition, in the present invention, if the thermodynamic fluid is a gas throughout the cycle, and if it performs an almost isothermal compression in a mixture with an incompressible liquid and not reactive with it, then it also preferably performs a relaxation quasi isothermal mixture with an incompressible liquid.

None of these patents characterizes the volume fraction of liquid mixed with the thermodynamic gas during the transformations where it produces or receives work, whereas the present invention establishes that these parameters are essential and determining elements of the operating conditions of the apparatus where These transformations are carried out, and quantitatively define the conditions for using the gas-liquid mixture and controlling the associated parameters. Patent WO 91/02885 describes the use of the mixture between saturated vapor saturated liquid droplets which thus performs an almost isothermal expansion or compression, in order to achieve a cycle close to the Carnot cycle. These provisions, which are based on the contact of a single thermodynamic fluid in two forms, the liquid state. saturated and saturated vapor state, and where the limitation of the temperature variation is related to the latent heat, are different from those of the present invention, which uses the mixture between two different fluids and where the limitation of the temperature variation is related to the specific heat of the incompressible fluid in the presence of the thermodynamic fluid, and which remains monophasic during the elementary transformation. Certain forms of use of geothermal heat to produce mechanical energy, particularly to produce electricity, use a step of direct contact between the generally brackish water heated by geothermal energy and a specific organic thermodynamic fluid , such as isobutane, which vaporizes on contact and then performs a Rankine-Hirn cycle, in order to avoid the use of wall exchangers whose corrosion control would be problematic given the chemical characteristics of highly corrosive brackish water, as described for example in the patent US Pat. No. 4,167,099. In variants, the thermodynamic fluid, such as isobutane, is injected directly into the geological medium where the exchange takes place by direct contact. thermal with brackish water and the vaporization of isobutane, whose steam under pressure is recovered and feeds the turbine of the installation of power generation area. In addition to the very particular nature of these applications (brackish water geothermal vector of heat, limited hot source temperature, very specific thermodynamic fluid ...), none (these modes of implementation is part of the present invention, where in the case of geothermal applications, the device and method of the invention is implemented by performing at least one of the following conditions: during the thermodynamic cycle, the thermodynamic fluid is mixed with an incompressible fluid in the at least two distinct stages of the cycle, differing in temperature and / or pressure, the thermodynamic fluid is always in the compressible state during the thermodynamic cycle, and for example produces a cycle of Ericsson. coal-fired pressurized fluidized bed combustor (PFBC), where the air circulating in the combustion chamber The bustion is previously compressed and then expanded and thus carries out a Brayton cycle, which is the subject of a large number of patents, the combustion of the fuel, usually pulverized coal, is carried out within a mixture between the air and non-combustible solid particles consisting essentially of calcium carbonate and ashes resulting from combustion, these solid particles being in abundance in the mixture with the gas. According to the configurations, the heat generated by the combustion operates at least one gas turbine (where the combustion air is optionally accompanied by steam, if water is also introduced into the combustion chamber) according to a cycle of Brayton, and / or at least one steam turbine, according to a Rankine-Hirn cycle, the water circulating inside wall-mounted heat exchangers arranged in the combustion chamber and vaporizing therein. With sufficient air velocity introduced into the combustion chamber, the solid particles are suspended and the mixture of gas (air) and solid particles (coal and non-combustible materials) behaves like a fluid, hence its fluidized bed designation. This configuration is used in particular for the following main reasons: calcium carbonate makes it possible to capture in situ SOx sulfur oxides released during the combustion of coal, and to reduce gaseous pollutant emissions; comprises as a fluid having a very good coefficient of heat exchange with the tubes of the heat exchangers placed inside the combustion chamber and traversed internally by the water performing a Rankine-Hirn cycle, the fluidized bed behaving as a compressible fluid, it can be moved, and / or see its modulated density, inside the chamber, in order to vary the conditions of heat exchange with the tubes of the exchangers with walls, and can also be transferred out of the combustion chamber, - the fluidized bed is opaque to the heat radiation released during combustion, and thus protects against excessive heat cert As components within the combustion chamber, fluidized bed combustion facilitates the complete combustion of the coal, the time of which is increased in the combustion chamber, in particular the finest carbon particles are thus retained in the combustion chamber. the fluidized bed, while otherwise they would escape partially unburned from the combustion chamber with the outgoing flow rate.

If, on the other hand, in this particular case (combustion of coal for the production of electricity in a fixed power station specifically using dynamic expansion or compression devices: turbines, turbochargers), the quantity of solid particles and the associated heat capacity is As a thermodynamic gas capable of carrying out a Brayton cycle, this point is not explicit or quantitatively characterized in the relation between the quantity of particles and the time constant necessary to achieve a certain thermal inertia. satisfactorily the isobaric heating of the Brayton cycle. It is moreover generally without object, the combustion of the oxygen being generally complete, which makes it possible to control and stabilize the reactions, thanks to the disappearance of the oxygen, by acting on the flow of fresh air, this being possible because all the heat released during complete combustion is absorbed by at least two thermodynamic cycles (the Rankine-Hirn cycle carried out by the water circulating in the exchangers and the Brayton cycle carried out by the combustion air). On the contrary, the present invention has qualitatively and quantitatively the arrangements to be employed which make it possible to control and stabilize the reactions generating the primary heat and the temperature in the reaction chamber, in particular in a single thermodynamic cycle with internal combustion, such as a Brayton cycle, where air is the thermodynamic fluid and the oxygen it contains is one of the reagents in reactions, especially combustion, and where oxygen is only partially consumed, and where the reagents can especially be in solid form.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention seeks to extend the possibilities and increase the performance of the thermodynamic devices for producing mechanical energy of the state of the art, in particular with the objectives of: high thermodynamic efficiencies, having for advantages, for the same quantity of mechanical energy produced, to have a better economy (consumption of the primary energy source, investment ...), and in the case of systems using as primary energy source combustion of carbonaceous materials with oxygen, to emit less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and thus to reduce the corresponding impact on the environment, and to release less heat to the cold source, thus with less impact on the environment (reduction of thermal discharges); - flexibility vis-à-vis the primary energy source and vis-à-vis the types of applications (transport, electricity generation

.), the invention being applicable to any type of energy source producing the primary heat, including the following advantages: * economic, being able to use primary energy sources with attractive prices and / or availabilities on the market, * sustainable management of energy resources, for example: ° by being able to use different energy reactions from the combustion of carbonaceous materials with oxygen, ° in the case of the combustion of carbonaceous materials with oxygen, in may use a wide range of types and forms of solid state fuels (such as wood and cellulose-based materials, coke, coal, lignite, peat, etc.), liquid (such as oils, alcohols, liquid hydrocarbons - petrol, diesel, fuel oil, petroleum - .DTD: .-;), pasty (such as bitumens.) or gaseous hydrocarbons (such as gaseous hydrocarbons, for example methane, butane, propane, etc.), and optionally avoid some preliminary pre-treatment and refining steps, which are necessary to use the specific liquid fuels in the current internal combustion machines, * practical, especially in the case of the combustion of carbonaceous materials with oxygen, allowing in certain applications of the device , to switch from one fuel to another, or to use different fuels mixed, and in varying proportions. The provisions of the present invention may also allow technological simplifications, and in particular: * to be able to limit or avoid the use of wall exchangers, with thus greater compactness and lightness, * to be able to use more easily compression or expansion of thermodynamic fluid operating in rotation, which promotes the reversibility of thermodynamic transformations, especially where the industrial practice is in fact confined to reciprocating piston apparatus, 15 * to be able to get away from the systems and processes of ignition or auto ignition, such as those of state of the art spark engines. The following description presents the device and method of the invention, and is organized in four parts: basic principles of the device and method, elementary operations performed by the device and method, and types of associated apparatus; arrangement of the elementary operations in sub-systems characteristic of the device and method, arrangement of the characteristic subsystems of the device and method for carrying out the thermodynamic cycles considered ... DTD: We first present the basic principles of the device and method of the device. 'invention. The device and method consists of a thermodynamic system for producing mechanical energy in which at least one thermodynamic fluid 30 carries out a thermodynamic cycle producing mechanical energy where it is mixed, in at least one phase of its cycle, with an incompressible fluid which is immiscible with it and has a heat density, produces mass heat with a density which is much greater than its own, called a heat sink, and where: the phases of the cycle in which mixing is carried out make part of the following categories: * almost isothermal expansion, designated phase 1, during which the thermodynamic fluid, mixed with a calocontactor, produces mechanical energy with respect to the outside, * almost isothermal compression designated phase 2, during which the thermodynamic fluid 40, mixed with a calocontactor, receives mechanical energy from the outside. heat exchange between a calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid mixed, without generating or receiving work with respect to the outside, designated phase 3, * heat reception, designated phase 4, where the thermodynamic fluid and a 45 calocontactors are present in a mixture in the same zone where heat is generated at high temperature, clite primary heat, and where the presence of the calocontactor makes it possible to control and control the temperature and the reactions generating the primary heat in this zone, and is there introduced for this purpose in a necessary quantity defined below; a calocontactor is a fluid in the sense of its ability to be mixed with the thermodynamic fluid, to have a large contact surface with respect to it, and to perform with it very efficient heat exchanges, and in the sense of being able to optionally be circulated or moved; it is incompressible in the sense that it does not contribute, by its expansion, respectively its contraction, to the generation, respectively the reception, of mechanical energy; it has a high heat density, typically at least ten times greater than that of the thermodynamic fluid at the stage of the thermodynamic cycle. It is thanks to these properties, especially to this high heat density and efficient heat exchange, brought to the thermodynamic fluid by a calocontactor mixed with it at certain specific stages of the thermodynamic cycle, and under specific qualitative and quantitative conditions and characteristics of the thermodynamic fluid. The invention, which are described below, that the device and method can achieve thermodynamic cycles under conditions: - best promoting the reversibility of thermodynamic transformations (especially heat exchange with a small difference in temperature, absence of fast kinetic transformations or poorly controlled), - allowing quasi-isothermal transformations, - making it possible to easily achieve, in a limited space, heat exchanges, optionally multiple, - allowing control and stabilization of the generation of primary heat and temperature in the zone where they occur. is generated. The device and method can be applied to any field of use of mechanical energy, in particular the propulsion of vehicles (land, sea, air, etc.), and / or the transformation of mechanical energy (such as electricity production). It can be fixed, transportable or mobile. The mechanical energy produced can notably be embodied in the form of a mechanical power delivered on a rotating transmission shaft and / or a kinetic energy of fluids ejected by the device. The thermodynamic fluid or fluids can perform a thermodynamic cycle entirely. closed (integral recycling of the thermodynamic fluid which remains entirely confined within the device and process) or opened without recycling (sampling outside of the entire thermodynamic fluid, generally air, and discharge outside the totality of the thermodynamic fluid after having carried out a complete or partial cycle inside the device), or opened with recycling (partial recycling of the thermodynamic fluid, generally the air initially taken outside and whose composition has could be modified by the chemical reactions involved in the device). A thermodynamic fluid may be in particular: a fluid in a compressible state (gaseous or supercritical) at all stages of the cycle, for example a polyatomic gas such as nitrogen, mono or carbon dioxide, or a rare monoatomic gas (helium, neon argon, krypton, xenon) chemically inert to all other bodies, or a mixture of gases, such as air, a mineral or organic fluid changing state during the thermodynamic cycle, including passing from the liquid state to the gaseous state, or even supercritical.

A calocontactor is an incompressible fluid, adapted, by its physical properties and by the conditions of use of the mixture, to allow efficient heat exchanges with the thermodynamic fluid, with respect to which: it can be mixed practically without miscibility (optionally a small amount of thermodynamic fluid can dissolve in a calocontactor), - it can then be physically separated, in particular having a different density, which allows an easy and effective separation by gravity and / or centrifugation: 1, - it is generally chemically inert (except in the case where a calocontactor and a thermodynamic fluid are together involved in the mechanisms for generating the primary heat, in which case the reactions between this calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid are then limited to the zones dedicated to the disengagement primary heat). If necessary, a calocontactor has the same properties with respect to other fluids (other calocontactors, reagents and / or reaction residues producing the primary heat ...). When necessary, a calocontactor must be able to be circulated to areas of the device or process steps, other than those of contact with the thermodynamic fluid, by suitable transfer devices. Several calocontactors can be used in a thermodynamic cycle, and when a calocontactor is, with respect to the thermodynamic fluid, carrying heat from the primary heat source, it is designated hot calocontactor, when the calocontactor is, vis-à-vis the thermodynamic fluid, heat extractor to be transferred to the outside, it is designated cold calocontactor, when a calocontactor is used to perform regenerative heat exchange, that is to say ie to transfer heat from the thermodynamic fluid, at one phase of the cycle, to itself, at another phase of the cycle, the calocontactor is designated intermediary calocontactor. Except in the case where the highest temperature of the thermodynamic cycle is in fact limited by the nature of the heat source, which is particularly the case for the use of geothermal heat or low or medium temperature solar energy , the device and method for producing mechanical energy preferably operates with high high temperatures, typically greater than 600 ° K, or even much higher, of the order of 900 ° K to 1300 ° K, and this in order to obtain high thermodynamic yields. This affects in particular the choice of hot or intermediate calocontactors used in the device and process.

A calocontactor may in particular be a material in the liquid state under the conditions in which it is used in admixture with a thermodynamic fluid, at the relevant stage of the thermodynamic cycle, in particular: a metal, a mixture or an alloy of metals in the liquid state, in particular metals or alloys with low or medium melting temperature. The invention can in particular take advantage of the properties of very good thermal conductivity of these liquid metals used as a heat sink. Liquid metals or alloys can be used as hot, intermediate or even cold heat conductors. - A salt or a mixture of molten salts, such as chlorides, fluorides, nitrates, nitrites, carbonates, sulphates, etc., especially as hot or intermediate heat exchanger. - A mineral liquid, for example liquid water, used in particular as cold calocontactor, an oxide, a hydroxide, a base or a mineral acid, or a mixture of such compounds, in the liquid state, - A liquid or a mixture of organic liquids, such as oils, hydrocarbons, as intermediate calocontactor, cold, optionally hot.

A calocontactor may also be: - A finely divided solid material, such as in pulverulent form, in particular oxides, solid salts, ceramics, metals or alloys ..., or a mixture of these materials, - A liquid containing solids divided into suspension .

The same calocontactor type can perform one or more of the four phases 1, 2, 3 or 4. The same thermodynamic fluid can be brought into contact with several different calocontactors. We illustrate and characterize below the main modes of use of a calocontactor and implementation of phases 1, 2, 3 or 4 within the device and method of the invention. The quantitative developments presented there are intended to provide, in a comprehensible way, to the readers who are aware of the state of science and art of the field, the elements of description and demonstration necessary or useful.

To be implemented effectively, the mixture between a thermodynamic fluid and a calocontactor, optionally other materials, is carried out under conditions promoting very efficient heat exchange, especially where one or more of the constituents of the mixture is finely divided and / or has a large developed surface, where the mixture is homogeneous and without segregation, and preferably under conditions of mixing, deformation and mutual interpenetration of the constituents over the entire mixing volume, and with significant relative movements between the constituents of the mixture, and turbulence conditions. In phases 1 and 2 respectively, the calocontactor accompanies in a mixture and in a sufficient quantity the thermodynamic fluid in transformations associated with volume variations, where it provides, respectively receives, work, and where the calocontactor yields to it, respectively. It takes heat, so that the transformation performed, respectively relaxation compression, is almost isothermal, which is not practically feasible otherwise, especially with wall exchangers. Thus the calocontactor, a deformable fluid, continuously accompanies the thermodynamic fluid in the variable volumes of the expansion device, respectively compression, and having moving parts, being in near thermal equilibrium and exchanging heat with it during the thermodynamic transformation, the temperature variation being limited if the amount of calocontactor present is sufficient. A phase 1 or a phase 2 is carried out in apparatuses and conditions: a) providing very efficient heat exchange between the thermocouple and thermodynamic fluid in a mixture, where the calocontactor is finely divided and dispersed homogeneously in the thermodynamic fluid and without segregation , especially when a centrifugal force is applied to the constituents of the mixture, and in particular in brewing contions, deformations, mutual interpenetrations and significant relative movements between the constituents of the mixture, and where the turbulence is significant; b) performing in the mixture the minimization of the volume of the calocontactor relative to that of the thermodynamic fluid, and in a ratio r ,, which is made preferably lower or much less than 0.1; c) where the calocontactor is preferably introduced and / or discharged gradually or staggered, as the progress of the transformation, and optionally is recirculated internally, d) where when a phase 1 or 2 is carried out in rotary apparatus with a single axis of rotation, those having provisions for introduction and / or evacuation and / or internal recirculation of the calocontactor which perform the preceding conditions. Point b) has the following objectives: - To allow satisfactory operation of the apparatus under conditions where the flow of the mixture is close to that of the thermodynamic fluid alone, where the volume occupied by the heat sink is low compared to that of the fluid thermodynamics (typically a ratio r 1 is less than or substantially less than 0.1 corresponds to configurations of droplet type or calocontactor fog dispersed in the thermodynamic gas), and thus the geometry and the characteristic volumes of the expansion device, respectively compression, can be similar to those of an expansion device, respectively compression, thermodynamic gas alone. - Maintain the pumping power (ie the power consumed to propel the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor, and therefore lost for the net production of mechanical energy by the device) to realistic values. Indeed, the state of science and technology indicates that this pumping power, for a given geometry and flow velocities, is roughly proportional to the density of the fluid or mixture of fluids that moves in the components of the device and method. As the density: of the calocontactor is generally much greater than that of the thermodynamic fluid, the power lost by the pumping could become significant if the fraction of calocontactor and / or its flow became too important. It is necessary as well as the adjustment of the amount of calocontactor mixed with the thermodynamic fluid is correctly performed in the implementation of the device and method (conditions of introduction and / or evacuation of the calocontactor).

Correlatively to points a), b) and d): - Liquid ring compression or expansion devices, which use a large quantity of liquid to seal between the rotor and the stator, which are generally limited in compression ratio , and where a large quantity of liquid circulates at the same time as the thermodynamic fluid, are not adapted to the device and method of the invention, and are not considered for the implementation of compressions or relaxations of calocontactor mixture - thermodynamic fluid. - Compression or expansion devices with a single axis of rotation, for example a spiral, where the introduction of the two-phase thermodynamic gas-calocontactor mixture would take place at one time at the entrance of the device, and which would not include no specific provisions and adaptations (phased or stepped introduction in the central zone, internal recirculation of the centrifuged calocontactor, etc.), are not adapted to the implementation of the device and method, because the centrifugal force necessarily causes rapid separation of the constituents of the mixture, considerably reducing the efficiency of heat exchange between the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor, and this even if they were initially introduced as a homogeneous mixture. Particularly particular thermodynamic fluid-specific two-phase configurations of so-called closed-cell foams (as cited in US Pat. Nos. 4,027,993, 4,041,708, 5,641,273), where the conditions of relative movement, mutual interpenetration of constituents, and turbulence, are not assured, do not guarantee efficient heat exchange, and are not considered for the implementation of the device and method. We will establish below that it is possible, and under what qualitative and quantitative conditions, to realize a relaxation, respectively compression, of a thermodynamic fluid mixed with a calocontactor, in an almost isothermal way, which requires a quantity sufficient calocontactor in the mixture, all and minimizing the ratio r ,, of the calocontactor volume to the volume of the thermodynamic fluid in the mixture.

This point can be illustrated by determining the amount or quantities of calocontactor to be mixed with the thermodynamic fluid, according to whether the calocontactor is mixed and introduced then discharged at once, or is introduced and / or discharged gradually, or in a staged manner. during the thermodynamic transformation, while mixing a sufficient amount of calocontactor so that the temperature variation of the mixture is low throughout and after the transformation. The thermodynamic fluid is considered at this stage as a perfect gas, and continuously in near thermal equilibrium with the calocontactor when it is mixed with it. Let us consider an elementary part of thermodynamic transformation of a phase 1 or a phase 2, where the mixture of calocontactor and thermodynamic gas evolves, from an initial state to the thermal equilibrium, without contribution or evacuation of mass or heat. To determine the amount of heat exchange required for the transformation to be almost isothermal, the internal energy balance of the two-phase mixture constituted by thermodynamic gas and calocontactor, in thermal equilibrium, whose temperature T and the pressure P varies respectively from dT and dP, and receiving the work of W, by the formula (1) (mCa + mcCc) dT = dW where m is the mass of gas, Cv its constant volume constant heat, mc the mass of calocontactor mixed with the gas and Cc its specific heat. The work dW, received by the gas, is dW = - (m (R / M)) (dT - T (dP / P)), and the formula (1) is written (2) (mCp + mcCc) (dT / T) = ((mR) / M) (dP / P) given that Cp C ,, = R / M, and where Cp is the mass heat of the gas at constant pressure. The formula (2) makes it possible to establish the formula (3) (T / TB) k = P / Po 25 which relates the variation of the temperature of the mixture and the pressure P, from the initial state where T = T0 and P = Po, where k = (M (mCP + mcCc)) / (mR) was noted. The formula (3) is also written k = (Ln (P / Po)) / (Ln (T / To)). Thus, in an elementary part of thermodynamic transformation of a phase 1 or a phase 2, where the mixture of calocontactor and thermodynamic fluid, comparable to a perfect gas, evolves, from an initial temperature To, to the equilibrium thermal and without mass or heat supply or discharge, by passing from an initial pressure Po to a final pressure Pl, the minimum value of rm = mc / m, the ratio of the mass of the calocontactor to the mass of thermodynamic gas in the mixture, necessary for the final temperature to be T1, close to To so that the conditions are almost isothermal, can be determined by the formula: (4) rn, = (R / (MC,)) (((Ln (P1 Where (MCp) / R is a constant characteristic of the perfect gas ((MCP) / R is in particular 2.5 a perfect monoatomic gas and 3.5 for a perfect diatomic gas with indeformable molecules). In this same elementary part of the transformation, the ratio r 1 of the volume occupied by the calocontactor to the volume occupied by the thermodynamic gas, at a pressure P between P 1 and P 1, and the temperature T between T 0 and T 1, is given by the expression (5) r, = (P / (peCcT)) (((Ln (P1 / Po)) / (Ln (T1 / To))) û ((MCr) / R)), where pe is the density of the calocontactor. T1 being generally close to To, noting T1 = To + AT, (5) can generally be written (6) r, = (P / (pCcT)) ((To / AT) (Ln (P1 / Po)) where ((MCp) /)).

On these bases, it is possible to establish and illustrate the quantitative conditions according to the invention for implementing a calocontactor in its mixture with thermodynamic gas during compression or almost isothermal expansion. It should be emphasized that in order that the devices and components of the device and method can, when useful or necessary, have a limited volume or size, it is necessary for the thermodynamic fluid to be able to evolve in high pressure ranges ( typically up to a hundred times atmospheric pressure or even more). The following numerical examples take this bridge into account. By way of illustration, let us first consider the situation where the calocontactor would be mixed with the thermodynamic gas before the mixture is introduced all at once into an expansion device, with a view to an almost isothermal relaxation from the pressure Po. up to the pressure P1. For a preformed calocontactor hot-gas thermodynamic mixture, at the initial temperature To = 1200 ° K and the initial pressure Po, where the thermodynamic fluid is a perfect monoatomic gas where (CPM) / R = 5/2., Where the calocontactor has the heat values Cc = 1255 J.kg 1 (° K) -1 and p.Cc = 106 Jm 3 (° K) -1, and where the mixture relaxes to the pressure P1 where it reaches the temperature TI = 1100 ° K, Table II gives the maximum value r ,,, x of r ,,, for P = l0, as a function of Po and the expansion ratio PI / Po. PI / Po Po = 150 × 10 Pa Pa = 80 × 10 Pa Pa = 10 × 10 Pa 1/10 r max (Po) = 0.3 r max (Po) = 0.16 r max (Po) = 0.02 1/30 r max ( Po) = 0.46 rvmax (Po) = 0.24 rvmax (Po) = 0.03 Table II Similarly, in the case of a quasi-isothermal compression of a preformed cold calocontactor-thermodynamic fluid mixture, at the initial temperature To = 290 ° K and the pressure Po, where the thermodynamic fluid is a perfect monoatomic gas where (CpM) / R = 5/2, where the calocontactor has the heat values Cc = 950 J.kg-1 ( ° K) "1 and pcCc = 8x105 Jm3 (° K) '1, and where the mixture is compressed to the pressure PI, where it reaches the temperature TI = 314 ° K, the table] II gives the value of r ,,, t, ax for P = PI, as a function of the compression ratio PI / Po. P1 / P1 P1 = 150 x105 P1 P1 = 80 x105 Pa P1 = 10 x105 Pa 10 rvmax (P1) = 1.58 rvmax (PI) = 0.84-rvmax (P1) = 0.1 rm, ax (PI) = 2.4 rvmax (PI) = 1.28 rvmax (P1) = 0.16 Table III We see on these two examples that most of the rvnux values are higher or much higher than 0.1 which would correspond to configurations where the volume of the calocontactor in the mixture would become very significant and the configuration of the mixture very different from that of a fog or droplets of calocontactor dispersed in the thermodynamic fluid and where the operating conditions of the apparatus would depart significantly from those of an apparatus for relaxing or compressing the thermodynamic fluid alone, configurations which are not such as to allow satisfactory operation of these apparatuses, in particular all the values in Table III are greater than 0.1, which practically excludes perform an almost isothermal compression over 106 Pa of a thermodynamic fluid mixture - calocontactor that would be introduced at once to the inlet and kept inside the device performing the compression.

This method of mixing is therefore generally not suitable, and it is appropriate to carry out mixing in a progressive or stepped manner. This point can be illustrated by considering a progressive introduction of the calocontactor in order to be able to reduce the highest values of rvmax, by illustrating it on the case of a relaxation where the calocontactor is introduced gradually, since the value zero, as the almost isothermal transformation. The amount of calocontactor added so that the temperature of the gas-calocontactor mixture is established and maintained at the value T1 = To + 4T, when the pressure goes from P to P + dP is given by the energy balance: This 4T dme = dW = m (R / M) (To + 4T) (dP / P) and the value of me as a function of the final pressure P1 is given by the expression (7) me (P1) = (( mR (To + 4T)) (Ln (P1 / Po))) / (CCT) and rm = me / m, and the ratio r ,, (P) is given by (8) rä (P) = _ (PLn (PI / Po)) / (pcCc4T).

In the case of a relaxation the mass is zero at the beginning of the transformation and maximum at the end of the transformation. The ratio r ,, is maximum at the end of transformation. Table IV gives the value of r ,, max in the case of an almost isothermal expansion with the same characteristics as those used to establish Table H. P1 / Po Po = 150 × 10 5 Pa Po == 80 × 10 Pa Pa = 10 x105 Pa 1/10 rvmax (Po) = 0.03 rvmax (Po) = 0.02 rvmax (Po) = 0.002 1/30 rvmax (Po) = 0.02 rmax (Po) = 0.009-rvmax (Po) = 0.001 Table IV It can thus be seen that in all the cases considered, the values of rvmax are low and correspond to droplet type or calocontactor fog configurations dispersed in the thermodynamic fluid. On the other hand, in the case of a compression, with the same characteristics as those used for Table III, the maximum values rvmax obtained at the end of the transformation remain very close to the values of rvmax obtained in the case of the introduction of the calocontactor into only once at the beginning of the transformation, given in Table III, and therefore always have values much higher than 0.1. In order to further reduce the value of rvmax during processing, the calocontactor should be introduced and evacuated gradually or in stages, either within the same compression apparatus or by performing the staged compression in several apparatuses. placed in series, and in which the calocontactor is introduced to the temperature To at the inlet of each device, or floor, then separated after the outlet and discharged, and this will be illustrated hereinafter in the case of a compression. The compression is thus carried out in a stepped manner, in which the mass mC1 of the calocontactor is introduced at the temperature To and mixed and put at thermal equilibrium with the thermodynamic gas at the pressure Pi, just before entering the compression stage. Pi - * P then separated and discharged at the pressure Pi + 1, and then a mass mC1 +, calocontactor at the temperature To is again introduced and mixed with the thermodynamic gas, and so on until the nth and last compression stage, from which the thermodynamic gas and the calocontactor go out at the temperature T'ä and the pressure P ,,. The evolution of the temperature of the thermodynamic gas and the calocontactor with which it is in thermal equilibrium is illustrated in FIG. 7. At the level of the ith level, the formula (3) is written ki == Ln (Pi / Pi_1) / Ln (Ti / Ti4), with ki = (mCp + me1Ce) / ((1nR) / M). If the compression ratio is the same at each stage, and we introduce at the inlet and evacuate after output the same mass nk of calocontactor at each floor, Pi / P1_1 = (P./Po)1~° where Ln (Pi / Pi..1) = (1 / n) Ln (P ,, / Po), ki = k = (M (meCe + niCp)) / (mR), and therefore Ln (T'i / T1_1) ) = (1 / (kn)) Ln (Pa / Po) = (((mR) / M) / (mCp + mcC)) (1 / n) (Ln (Pn / Po)). If the mass is sufficient, Ln (T'1 / Ti_1) is very close to the value Ln (T 1 / Ti_1) = (T'1-T1_1) / Ti_1 which is close to the value Ln (T'1 / Ti_1) = (T'i - Ti_1) / T *, where T * is a mean value of the temperature, between the temperature To and the temperature T'n, itself close enough to To, and Ti and T1_1 are connected by formula (9) T ', where T, _1 = (mRT * Ln (Pnrn0)) / (nM (meCe + mCp)). The internal energy balance when a new mixture of a mass of calocontactor, at the initial temperature To, is effected between the first and the third stage (i + Dth), with the thermodynamic gas leaving the ith stage (and separated of the calocontactor with which it had been previously mixed) is given by the formula mCpT'1 + meCeTo = (rnCp + meCe) Ti and (10) Ti = ((mCpT 1) / (mCp + meCe)) + ( (MeCeTo) / (mCp + meCe)) By expressing the recurrence of the formulas (9) and (10), we obtain the expression of T'i, given by (11) T'i = To + (RT * Ln (Pn / Po) b (1-b ')) / (MCrn (1-b)) with (12) b = (mCp) / (mCp + meCe) For i = n, the expression (11) s (13) T'n û To = (RT * Ln (Pn / P0) b (l-bn)) / (MCpn (1-b)) The expressions (12) and (13) make it possible to determine the minimum amount of calocontactor mej at the initial temperature To, to be introduced before each compression step, so that the temperature variation of the thermodynamic gas, between the inlet of the first stage and the outlet of the last shelf e be limited to a given value of T'n - T0. The ratio rvi of the volume of the calocontactor to the volume of thermodynamic gas, in the ith compression stage, is maximum in the nth and last stage and is equal to r ,, n ax = (Mm ~ n) / (pernRT'n), where m is determined by the formulas (12) and (13), T * taking a mean value between T0 and T'n. Table V gives the value of r ,,, äax in the case of an almost isothermal compression with the same characteristics as those used for Table III, and T * taken equal to 300 ° K. All values of r, n, ax are less than or much less than 0.1 and correspond to fog or droplet type configurations. P1 / Po P1 = 150 x105 Pa P1 == 80x105 Pa P1 = 10xI05Pa 10 rrnax = 0.03 if n = 4 rvmax = 0.01 if n = 8 r ,, n, ax = 0.1 if n = 16 rr , nax = 0.06 if n = 16 r ~ n, ax = 0.007 if n = 16 rvmax = 0.006 if n = 20 rvmax = 0.09 if n = 20 rvmax = 0.05 if n = 20 _ 30 rvma x = 0.04 if n = 4 rvn, ax = 0.02 if n = 8 r, nnax = 0.09 if n = 16 r ,, max = 0.01 if n = 16 rvmax = 0.07 if n = R = 0.009 if n = 20 rvmax = 0.1 if n = 26 rvmax = 0.05 if n = 26 r = nax = 0.006 if n = 26 Table V We can see that, depending on the transformation, compression or expansion, and the pressure ladle, it is possible to implement a mode of introduction and / or evacuation of the calocontactor which makes it possible to limit the fraction of volume occupied by the calocontactor to configurations of fog or droplet type of calocontactor dispersed in the thermodynamic fluid. On the basis of the qualitative and quantitative principles of implementation of a relaxation, respectively compression, quasi isothermal of a thermodynamic fluid mixed with a calocontactor, the determination of the number of elementary parts of the transformation, their characteristics of input (P, T) and output (P ', T'), the minimum flow of calocontactor to introduce, and / or to evacuate, can be determined by the methods of the state of the art and mathematical and physical sciences, particularly as a function of the upstream (Po, To) and downstream (P1, T1) conditions of the whole of the transformation, of the characteristics of the calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid and the r ,, values chosen.

When the thermodynamic fluid is not comparable to a perfect gas, by expressing its mass enthalpy h in the form h = CpT + KP + B and the product of its pressure P by its mass volume v in the form Pv = ((RT ) / M) (l + (EN; 1A; P ')), known as the state of the sciences of the domain, where N is the appropriate degree of polynomial expression in P to correctly represent the real value of the product Pv by the preceding expression, and where Cp, constant pressure constant heat of the thermodynamic fluid, K, B and the coefficients Ai are constant and average values over the range of temperature and pressure traversed by the thermodynamic fluid during phase 1 or 2, by the same approach as that presented in the establishment and the sequence of formulas (1) to (6), and that can be verified by those skilled in the art, and we can then notably determine rm by the expression rm = (E (F û G + H)) û L, where E = 1 / (Cc (Ln (T '/ T))), F = (R / M) (Ln (P' / P)), G = (K / 2) (P 'û P) ((1 / T') + (1 / T)), H = (R / M) (EN 1 ((A '/ i) (P' 'û P') )), L = CP / Ce, and the ratio r., Can be determined by the expression r ,, = rm / (pcv). The elements presented above, especially the expressions giving rm and r ,,, depending on whether the thermodynamic fluid is assimilable or not to a perfect gas, when a step of expansion with production of mechanical energy, respectively compression with reception of mechanical energy, quasi isothermal is carried out according to the invention in a thermodynamic cycle, and carried out in the form of one or more sub-stages comprising a phase 1, respectively 2, may, according to the known methods of science and art: * to determine the values of rm and r ,, at each phase 1, respectively 2, where the calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid are mixed during each phase 1, respectively phase 2, then the cooled calocontactor, respectively heated, to the outcome of the aforesaid phase 1, phase 2 respectively, is separated from the thermodynamic fluid which is again mixed with hotter or colder calocontactor, and Phase I and following are respectively mixed in the same way, as a basis for determining the distribution of the values of rm and r ,, as a function of the position in the zones occupied by the thermodynamic fluid-calocontactor mixture within the devices of the device and method, when the calocontactor is introduced and / or discharged continuously and / or progressively during the transformation, during a phase 1, respectively phase 2, and this can allow to define qualitative conditions, such as the number of successions of phase 1, respectively 2, followed by a separation, then a new introduction of calocontactor, and quantitative, such as the quantities of calocontactor introduced at once during a sub-step, or introduced and / or evacuated, gradually and / or staggered, during a phase 1, respectively 2,] during a relaxation step, respectively compression, quasi isothermal, d e such that the variation of the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid during the expansion step, respectively compression, is limited and less than a given value, and the maximum value of the ratio r ,, is less than a given value. Concerning the conditions of implementation of a phase 3, the calocontactor is mixed with the thermodynamic fluid in a transformation where it exchanges heat with the calocontactor, without receiving or producing work. Thanks in particular to the large exchange surface between the heat sink, especially finely divided, and conditions favoring heat exchange, this allows for very efficient heat exchange, and this in a limited space • and without resorting to heat exchangers. walls, this is likely to allow to easily implement multiple heat exchanges and / or against the current, such as regenerative, and allow applications to mobile systems.

To illustrate the particularly important exchange surface per unit volume of a phase 3, for comparison, let us first consider a typical wall exchanger whose basic geometry is a square grid of pitch p (distance between two axes of neighboring tubes) of outside diameter tubes 0 and of thickness e, inside which circulates a liquid and outside of which circulates a gas (thermodynamic fluid). F, n using such a wall exchanger to perform the isobaric heating of the gas, the exchange surface per unit of total volume is (Ir 0) / p 2, with the typical values 0 = 10 -2 m, p = 1.62 x 10 -2 m, e = 10-3 m, (7 C 0) / p 2 = 120 m2 per cubic meter. If now we consider that the heat exchange is done by mixing with the thermodynamic fluid a calocontactor finely dispersed form, typically in the form of droplets of average diameter equal to 2x104 mi, with the same typical values, and the same proportions of gas and of liquid, the exchange surface per unit volume is nearly fifty times greater than in the case of the wall exchanger. In addition, the phenomena of mixing, interpenetration and mutual deformations, of turbulence at different scales ..., are of a nature to make the exchange of the thermal equilibrium between the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor very efficient. If in addition the calocontactor has a high thermal conductivity, especially if the calocontactor is a liquid metal, the heat exchange can be particularly effective. The implementation of phases 3 in the device and method makes it possible to carry out very efficient thermal exchanges with the thermodynamic fluid or fluids, optionally multiple, and allows in particular: a) To promote the progressivity and the reversibility of thermodynamic transformations. In particular, it is possible to perform a counter-current heat exchanger function between thermodynamic fluid and calocontactor, where, thanks in particular to very good heat exchanges, the temperature differences between them are low and they are in a situation of statistical equilibrium. It is thus possible to perform the heating A - B of a Brayton cycle (FIG. 5) in a reversible manner, which is not ensured in the thermodynamic systems of the state of the art using the combustion of hydrocarbons in the oxygen of the air, because of the rapidity of the combustion reactions. b) to easily implement multiple countercurrent exchanges and thus: b1) to be able to perform a regenerative heat exchanger function of the thermodynamic fluid on itself; it is thus possible, for example, to easily realize the heating A ù> B and the cooling C ù> D of an Ericsson cycle (FIG. 3) reversibly and regeneratively; b2) to be able to easily implement at least two thermodynamic cycles fed by the same primary heat source, the excess heat not used by the first thermodynamic cycle being able to be transmitted to at least one other thermodynamic cycle by heat exchange, in particular against the current, implementing phases 3 with a calocontactor; b3) for example in the case of a Brayton cycle where air is the thermodynamic fluid and whose oxygen is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat, to be able to easily cool the air at the end of the cycle. almost adiabatic relaxation and able to recirculate largely in the cycle, regulating the amount of fresh air introduced, and thus the amount of oxygen present in the gas introduced into the reaction chamber. Provisions b2) and b3) make it possible to implement one or more thermodynamic cycles of which at least one uses air as a thermodynamic fluid and whose oxygen is involved as a reactant in the reactions generating the primary heat, and to be able to perform an almost complete consumption of oxygen in the reaction chamber, which makes it possible to use, and flexibly, a wide range of fuels or oxygen reactants, solid or pasty, fragmented, optionally coarsely, and / or liquid and / or gaseous. Concerning the implementation of a phase 4, a calocontactor is present in the same medium where the primary heat is generated, in particular a reaction chamber, being in a mixture with the reactants and the residues of the reactions generating the primary heat, and at least one thermodynamic fluid in a compressible state, especially gaseous, and involved in these reactions. Thanks to its specific heat and to the increase of the thermal inertia provided by the calocontactor, if necessary of its capacity to absorb directly a part of the primary heat, and to the efficiency of the thermal exchanges between the calocontactor and the others it is thus possible to achieve the primary heat generation in a controlled, stable and robust manner, in the sense that the conditions of this generation can accommodate variations in the characteristics of the introduced reactants and / or conditions of their introduction into the reaction chamber. It is thus possible to ensure the control and the stability of the reactions and the temperature reached in the reaction chamber, and thus: to avoid excessive temperatures of the thermodynamic fluid, other materials and materials, and to promote the resistance of the materials of the components, to avoid undesirable chemical reactions ...; - avoid the instability, or even the impossibility, of the system functioning, by maintaining a stable and sufficient temperature so that the reactions generating the primary heat take place and maintain spontaneously in the suitable conditions, in particular by continuously maintaining the temperature at a value greater than the temperature at which the reactions are triggered. In order to establish and illustrate the quantitative conditions for implementing a phase .4 in the device and method, consider the case where the primary heat source comes from chemical reactions of oxygen reactants, for example the combustion of carbonaceous materials, where the thermodynamic fluid is air and where the consumption of oxygen is incomplete, which implies that any variation in the amount of reactants introduced induces a variation of the primary heat released. In the pressurized reaction chamber, the air enters the temperature Te with a mass flow rate De, and the air, whose oxygen composition has been modified, leaves at the mixing temperature T prevailing in the chamber with a mass flow D. The calocontactor, for example a liquid resistant to the conditions of the reaction chamber or a refractory solid, such as silica in powder form, enters the chamber at the same temperature Te as the air and with a flow rate mass DCe and the outgoing calocontactor is at the mixing temperature T prevailing in the chamber with the flow Des (in the case where the calocontactor is resident, Dœ = Des = 0). The reagent or reagents (in particular solid, pasty or liquid) are introduced into the chamber in which they mix and react with oxygen, producing the thermal power. It is considered that around a stable operating regime, the system operates under conditions in which DCe = DeS = Dcmoy and Ds = Dmoy, Dcmoy and Dmoy designating the mean value of the mass flow rate respectively of the calocontactor and the thermodynamic gas entering and leaving the reaction chamber, around the operating regime considered, and that the inlet temperature Te remains constant and equal to the value Temoy. Thermodynamic gas is considered a perfect gas. Thermal exchanges with the walls and the heat capacity of the latter are not taken into account. The state of the art makes it possible to express the enthalpy balance of the thermodynamic gas-calocontactor mixture, by the formula (14) (mCp + meCe) (dT / dt) + (DmoyCp + DcmoyCc) (Te). where m and tic respectively denote the mass of gas and calocontactor present in the reaction chamber, and dT / dt the derivative of the temperature with respect to time. At the stable operating regime dT / dt is equal to zero and the temperature T is equal to the average value Tmoy, with (15) (DmoyCp + DcmoyCc) (ATmoy) = ~ average Pmoy being the average thermal power generated by the chemical reactions around the stable operating regime considered, and ATmoy = Tmoy - Te. The power P can nevertheless have, over time, variations with respect to the average value Wmoy, especially if the kinetics of the chemical reactions and / or the conditions for introducing the reagents exhibit variations over time, around average values. . These variations of the power C_P induce variations of the temperature T, and by noting Pr = (W ù JPmoy) / `Pmoy and Tr = (T ù Tmoy) / ATmo. ,, the expression (14) expresses , taking into account (15) (16) (dTr / dt) + (1 / ti) Tr = (1h) Pr with (17) Z = (LTmoy / Pmoy) (mCp + min Cc) 40 where t is the time constant in the dynamic relation of equation (16), which relates the relative variations of temperature to those of power. For example, if Pr passes instantaneously from the zero value (stable state) to the instantaneous 0.1 (increase) value of the thermal power by 10%, Tr varies more slowly and reaches a value of 0.095 only after a time equal to 3'r (to reach asymptotically the value 45 0.1). These elements are well known from the state of science and the art of dynamical systems.

The formula (17) shows that the presence of a calocontactor in the reaction chamber considerably increases the time constant T. When the mass of the calocontactor is large compared with that of the gas, the formula (17) is written ( 18) t = (ATmoy / IPmoy) (mcCc).

This allows to illustrate the benefit of the presence of a calocontactor in terms of control and stabilization of reactions. By taking for example a reaction chamber of volume] [, 4x 10-3 m 3, where the air is the thermodynamic gas, at the pressure 7 × 105 Pa and at the average temperature of 1100 ° K, where the average thermal power generated by the combustion reactions is 75x103 watts and where the air temperature rise is 600 ° K between the inlet and the outlet, in the absence of calocontactor, the time constant given by the formula (17 ) is = = 0.025 s With such a low value, it is necessary to use only reagents with highly reproducible characteristics, in the gaseous state, or initially in the liquid state and very rapidly passing to the state gaseous inside the chamber, in order to partly adjust and regulate very precisely their rate of introduction into the reaction chamber and secondly that their mixing with the air is very fast, homogeneous and reproducible By adding for example a mass m, = 0.57 kg of a calo contactor, for example a powdery refractory solid, having a specific heat C, = 1100 J.kg 1. (° Kf 1, the time constant is t = 5 s (ie 200 times greater than to) and this makes it possible to using solid reagents sprayed, while being able to regulate and stabilize the average temperature, and maintain it always below undesirable maximum values, and above the trigger temperature of reactions, and self-maintenance of reactions is ensured. Indeed, a fragmented or pulverized solid reagent can not be practically introduced continuously, unlike a gaseous or liquid reagent. By way of illustration, let us consider for example as reagent a pulverized solid fuel, having a heating value x in its combustion with oxygen, and an average combustion time 8, which is introduced into the reaction chamber, for example by a endless screw opening at the level of the chamber by an opening device occultation, rotating at a given frequency fo, and inducing a fuel flow q (t) = q average (1+ sin2it fot), where gG'bmoy is the average value of the fuel flow, and oxygen is only partially consumed in the reactions. The average thermal power released is Pmoy = x q'bmoy and the relative variation of the thermal power over time 9r (t) is given by: (t) _ (1 / (1 + (2nt foe) 2)) ( sin (27t fot) û (2it fob) cos (2it fot)). The relative variation of the temperature of the air in the combustion chamber is given, via the expression (16), by: Tr (t) = (1 / (1+ (2itfot) 2)) (1 / (1 + (271 fo8) 2)) (((1- (2it f,) 2t8) sin (2itfot)) - (2itfo (t + 8) cos (2nfot)) i. 40 Under the given conditions and numerical values above, for a frequency fo = 1 Hz, and an average combustion time δ = 0, ls - if the calocontactor mass is zero, t = to = 0.025 s, the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid in the reaction chamber varies. between a maximum value of 1604 ° K, inducing significant formation of NOx, and a minimum value of 596 ° K: 45, making the self-maintenance of combustion problematic, ie a considerable total amplitude, equal to 1008 ° K; -if the calocontactor mass is 0.57 kg, t = 5 s and the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid in the combustion chamber varies between a maximum value of 1116 ° K and a minimum value of 1084 ° K, ie a total amplitude 32 ° K, more than 30 f lower than in the absence of calocontactor, and allowing satisfactory operating conditions. In general, fluctuations in the athermic power generated by a fuel or fragmented solid reagent reacting with oxygen are linked, for given conditions of the reaction chamber (oxygen content in the air, temperature, pressure, etc. ), the characteristics of the reagent, in particular the size of the fragments and the developed surface, their statistical distribution, and its mode of introduction into the reaction chamber. In order to characterize the relation between the fluctuations of the thermal power and those of the temperature, the state of the sciences and the art of the domain of the random processes and the signal processing, as presented for example in the references [1] , [2], [3], makes it possible to represent the characteristics of the fluctuations by the distribution of their energy as a function of frequency, which is represented by the power spectral density (PSD) which is a function of the frequency, and if the spectral power density of the fluctuations of (r,), which is related to the characteristics of the reagent and its introduction device in the reaction chamber, is DSP gr (f), the expression (16) relates these fluctuations to that of, through the transfer function H (f), and where (19) IH (f) 12 = 1 / (1+ (2 rcfti) 2) and (20) DSPTr (f) = IH (f) 12DSP9r (f). Note that for the low values of f, IH (f) 12 is close to 1 and as H (f) increases (2 begins to decrease significantly from the value f = (0,1) / ti and then tends to 0 being equivalent to 1 / (2 rrfr) 2. Thus, for a given power spectral density, related to the characteristics of the fragmented reagent and to its mode of introduction, it is possible, with a sufficient value of i, thanks to the presence of a calocontactor in sufficient quantity, reduce considerably: lt DSPTr (f) compared to what would be the situation without a calocontactor, and thus the variance of the fluctuations of Tr (t), which is given by the expression: + oo ( 21) 62 (Tr) = J DSPTr (f) df = JIH (f) 12DSF'gr (f) df In the illustration given above, DSP9r (f) e = 6 (f-fo) / (2 ( 1+ (2ir fo8) 2)), where S denotes the Dirac distribution Thanks to the presence of the calocontactor, it is even optionally possible to introduce into the reaction chamber, continuously or internally. ermittente, a flow of a second thermodynamic fluid, in the liquid state, for example water, and which vaporizes, without changing the rate of air introduced, and of course increasing the rate of reagents. The presence of the calocontactor makes it possible to damp the temperature variations that can be induced by the introduction of this second thermodynamic fluid. It should also be noted that, during the exothermic reactions, radiation-carrying photons (as well as the high-temperature bodies present in the reaction chamber) are emitted and that a part of these photons is directly absorbed by the calocontactor dispersed in the reaction chamber. the reaction chamber, which thus acts as a screen absorber of the radiation energy. Part of the primary heat is thus directly absorbed by the hot calocontactor. Thus, by the implementation of phases 1, 2, 3 or 4 where a thermodynamic fluid 45 and a calocontactor are mixed, according to the principles and provisions presented above, it is possible: to carry out thermodynamic cycles in conditions approaching the reversibility, and / or thermodynamic efficiency approaching the yield of Carnot, in particular by the realization of relaxation or almost isothermal compressions, implementing in particular phases 1, 2 and 3, - to perform internal combustion cycles, and more generally with a wider range of chemical reactions, where the thermodynamic fluid contains oxygen taken from or with outside air and where this oxygen is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat , especially using solid reagents, * in an open cycle without recycling, for example Brayton, where the oxygen is only partially consumed during the reactions. tions, using a phase 4 with a hot calocontactor, where the solid reactants are finely divided, especially in pulverized form, and consumed as they are introduced into the chamber (the reaction where oxygen is superabundant, * in a open cycle with recycling, for example Brayton, where the thermodynamic fluid is cooled after the almost adiabatic expansion, effectively and in a reduced volume, by the implementation of one or more phases 3 using a cold calocontactor, and the thermodynamic fluid is partially recycled, the amount of air and / or oxygen removed outside, and replacing the thermodynamic fluid rejected to the outside, being adjusted so that is introduced into the reaction chamber the amount of oxygen just needed to generate the primary heat demanded by the thermodynamic cycle, and where the solid reactants can be in fragmented form, optionally coarsely and in the reaction chamber, where all the oxygen usable by the reactions is consumed, in an open cycle, where the usable oxygen is entirely consumed in the reactions generating the primary heat in a chamber. a circulating calocontactor reaction, which can easily transmit heat, by the implementation of phases 3, at least one other thermodynamic cycle, the entire primary heat being thus used in at least two thermodynamic cycles. The device and method of the present invention is thus a thermodynamic system with several heat sources producing mechanical energy (motor system), comprising at least one source or a mode of primary heat transfer at a high temperature to a thermodynamic fluid. and / or a calocontactor, which receives this primary heat, and at least one means by which a thermodynamic fluid can yield heat to the outside at a low temperature, lower than the high temperature. The primary heat-generating reactions may be of a varied nature, and generally come from manifestations of one or more of the four fundamental interactions of physics: electromagnetic interaction, weak interaction, fission interaction, or gravitational interaction. The electromagnetic interaction is involved in the chemical reactions between molecules and / or atoms, the strong and weak interactions occur in particular in the reactions between the sub-constituents of the atoms, in particular the nucleus and its sub-constituents. The phenomena at the origin of solar radiation occurring in a star such as the sun involve all four interactions. In the case of chemical reactions, these may especially be reactions with oxygen, in particular contained in the air: - such as the combustion of carbonaceous materials of general composition CHON, ie consisting of carbon, optionally accompanied by hydrogen, and / or oxygen, and / or nitrogen, optionally comprising fractions of other bodies (such as sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc.), or other reactions, comprising at least one reaction with oxygen, of substances or materials of a composition other than CHON, such as the reactions H2 + y2 02 -> H2O, or XII + 02 - + XOH, or 2X + H2O + Where X is an alkali metal (lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium), and wherein the XOH hydroxide may optionally be recovered and then converted back into the XH hydride or the alkali metal X, especially by electrolysis, which can be used again. Substances or substances whose reactions generate the primary heat, or which are the products or residues of reactions, or a mixture of these substances together and / or with a calocontactor inert with respect to the reactions, may in certain cases be used as calocontactors in the device and method. The device and method represents a system which itself consists of subsystems. It can have several configurations and characteristic conditions of implementation, in particular according to the nature and the mode of generation of the primary heat, the nature of the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactors used, the thermodynamic cycles carried out and the parameters characterizing them (pressures and temperatures at the edges of elementary thermodynamic transformations ...).

We now present the basic operations performed by the device and method., And the associated device types.

These elementary operations comprise in particular the following operations, characteristic of the implementation of phases 1, 2, 3 or 4: - expansion, respectively compression, quasi isothermal of the thermodynamic fluid, in one or a set of apparatus, with production, respectively receiving, working, - heat exchange by mixing between a thermodynamic fluid and a calocontactor, without generating or receiving work vis-à-vis. from the outside, - primary heat receiving by one or more thermodynamic fluid and / or one or more calocontactors, mixed in a reaction chamber. The expansion, respectively the compression, of a thermodynamic fluid in an apparatus producing, respectively receiving, work, without external heat supply, and under quasi-isothermal conditions, is performed under the following conditions: it implements the mixture with a calocontactor, whose quantities, the conditions for introduction, mixing and evacuation, are adapted to limit the decrease, respectively the increase, in temperature of the thermodynamic fluid, and to minimize the fraction and the volume flow rate of calocontacteur; this step of expansion, respectively compression, consists of one or more phases 1, respectively 2, or of a succession of phases 1, respectively 2, each of which may optionally be followed by a phase 3, and where between two phases t, respectively 2, a part or all of the calocontactor may be discharged from the apparatus performing phases 1, 2 or 3, and / or the new calocontactor to higher, respectively low, temperature, can be introduced, and the calocontactor evacuated during or at the end of the aforesaid phases may in particular be collected, re-mixed and circulated to a subassembly or an area of the device and method for receiving therein or giving up heat, respectively; - Optionally, in this relaxation step, respectively compression, certain: ;, or all, phases 1, respectively 2, may be replaced by detents, compressions respectively adiabatic thermodynamic fluid alone; - The device and method of the invention implements a phase 1, respectively 2, in expansion devices, respectively compression, rotary, volumetric or dynamic, noting that the mixing with a calocontactor may concern all of variable or fixed volumes of the apparatus and components in which the thermodynamic fluid is subjected to expansion, respectively compression, to be carried out under quasi-isothermal conditions. Phases 1 and 2 respectively can be realized in expansion devices, respectively compression, rotary single-axis rotary, volumetric, especially rotary vane, or rotary piston, such as quasi-triangular rotor with fixed faces and chamber trochoidal (for example the Wankel engine was based on this principle) or rotor with articulated faces and quasi-oval chamber (the concept of quasi-turbine is based on this principle), or dynamic, notably axial, radial, centrifugal, tangential or helical - axial, with the necessary adaptations allowing the good functioning of the apparatus and its performances. The operating principles and reference technology of these devices are known from the state of the art. They are implemented under the following conditions, specific to the device and method of the present invention: * these devices comprise adaptations, and include, in particular at the central part near the axis of rotation, introducing devices of the calocontactor in finely divided form, in particular atomized form, arranged on the fixed and / or mobile parts of the apparatus, and / or they comprise devices allowing the internal recirculation of the collocator collected at the periphery, recirculated towards the central zone and reintroduced in the form finely divided, especially atomized, the apparatus may optionally comprise orifices or collector devices 25 of the calocontactor, arranged in particular peripherally, on the fixed parts, optionally movable, of an apparatus, the calocontactor is introduced, and / or evacuated, in a gradual or phased manner, as the transformation takes place. Indeed, given the significant difference in their densities and the centrifugal force which tends to separate the calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid, without there is a process inherent in the device ensuring the recirculation of the calocontactor of the periphery towards the central part, this would lead to greatly degrade the heat exchange, while they are necessary for carrying out an almost isothermal transformation, and the adaptations and arrangements according to the invention make it possible to ensure the satisfactory conditions of the mixing and heat exchange by allowing: - to introduce the calocontactor into and / or project it towards the central zone of the apparatus. collecting the centrally centrifuged calocontactor to evacuate it and / or to reintroduce it into and / or project it towards the central zone. FIG. 8 illustrates, in radial sectional view, the principle of an axial expansion turbine engine having a single axis of rotation (10) provided with vanes, not shown in FIG. Devices (15) allow the introduction of the hot calocontactor (1C) in finely divided form. At least some of the fixed vanes (11) integral with the stator (16), like a state-of-the-art monophasic axial turbine, may be hollow and provided with a channel (14), in order to allow the hot circulating calocontactor (W) 45 centrifuged towards the periphery, can be collected via the orifices or devices (12) (located in particular upstream of the plane of the blades), flow in peripheral channels (13) internal to the stator body and being recirculated via the channel (14) inside the fixed vanes (II) and reinjected into the central zone especially downstream (and therefore where there is a lower pressure, thus facilitating the flow of the calocontactor), via devices (15) . The calocontactor and recirculated in the central zone may optionally be accompanied by a fraction of thermodynamic gas, taken in particular upstream, and may contribute to the fine division of the calocontactor. Discharge devices (17) of the centrifuged calocontactor, and not recirculated in the channels (13) and (14), can also be arranged in the stator (16). A single fixed blade and a single associated peripheral collecting orifice (12) and a single evacuation device (17) are shown in FIG. 8, but the turbomachine adapted to perform a relaxation of a thermodynamic gas mixed with a calocontactor can have many, distributed radially and longitudinally, and introduction devices (15). Thus the introduction of the calocontactor at the temperature To in finely divided form is done in a progressive manner or staged with the relaxation, via devices (15) located on the axis of rotation or on the vanes or on the fixed inner wall of the stator body (16) of the apparatus, and it is also possible to stably evacuate a fraction of the calocontactor through peripheral orifices or devices (17). Similar provisions apply to the case of a compression (but the samples for recirculation of the calocontactor are in particular downstream). FIG. 9 illustrates similar principles in the case of a vane, or volumetric compression apparatus, shown here in a configuration with two diametrically opposite vanes (18), but the apparatus may comprise more than one. The cold calocontactor (1F) is introduced in particular in finely divided form into the variable volume where the compression takes place via the orifices or introducer devices (15) located on the rotor (19) carrying the pallets (18) and / or on the pallets, and / or on the fixed outer wall of the stator body (16) of the apparatus, which optionally comprises orifices or devices (17) for partially or completely collecting the centrally centrifuged calocontactor. The rate of introduction of the calocontactor via each of the devices (15) may in particular be modulated so that, on the one hand, the calocontactor is introduced only during the compression or expansion phase and on the other hand the principles of introduction described above (introduction gradually or staged), and therefore vary during the progress of the transformation, and depending on the position of the rotor relative to the stator, in particular defined by the angle that characterizes the periodic advancement of rotation in the rotary motion effected by the stator. Similarly optionally the evacuation flow of the calocontactor can be modulated to perform a gradual evacuation or staged, during the compression phase or relaxation. The calocontactor introduced through the orifices or devices (15) may optionally be already mixed and introduced simultaneously with a certain amount of thermodynamic fluid that can contribute to the fine division of the calocontactor. Optionally, flows of thermodynamic fluid and / or calocontactor can flow through orifices or collecting devices and circulation paths arranged for this purpose in the fixed or moving parts, a volume at a given pressure to a zone to another pressure, in order to contribute to strengthening the mixing conditions, and / or division and / or turbulence. The velocity of the calocontactor introduced by the introduction devices (15) located on the inner wall of the stator (16) must be sufficient so that it is projected towards the center and comes into contact, mixing, exchange and thermal equilibrium with a part important thermodynamic gas during its compression. In FIG. 9, the thermodynamic fluid (2) is sucked in (20) and discharged at (21), generally accompanied by a part, or all, of the introduced calocontactor.

The calocontactor may be used to effect, or contribute to, the lubrication of moving parts with relative movement, in particular to the contacts of the ends of the vanes-inner wall of the stator (22), outer wall of the rotor, and the inner wall of the stator ( 23), outer wall of the rotor pallets (24), bearings supporting the axis of rotation of the rotor.

Calocontactor injections into these areas may be made for this purpose. The calocontactor injected at the contact areas between the moving parts can also contribute to the sealing between expansion volumes, respectively compression, at different pressures. These same principles apply in particular to the case of an expansion device, or compression, rotary piston including triangular shape and trochoidal chamber, or rotor with hinged faces and quasi-oval stator. Phases 1 and 2 respectively can be realized in expansion devices, respectively compression, rotary with several axes of rotation, in particular one or more pairs of axes rotating in opposite directions, volumetric, especially vi s or lobes 15 (such as compressors or root regulators), or dynamic, especially axial, or other volumetric devices with multiple axes of rotation. The principles of operation and reference technology of these devices are known from the state of the art, and they are implemented under the characteristic conditions of the device and method of the present invention. The configuration of these devices may be such as to limit the separation between the calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid, and even to promote the mixing and dispersion of the calocontactor in the thermodynamic fluid, given that the calocontactor tending to be centrifuged at the periphery is generally continuously brought back into the central portion, and mixed again with the thermodynamic fluid. They can likewise be adapted to allow the introduction and / or the evacuation of the calocontactor, in particular under the following conditions: the apparatuses may comprise devices for introducing the calocontactor in finely divided form placed on the fixed parts and or mobile of the apparatus, they also optionally include orifices or collector devices of the calocontactor, arranged in particular peripherally on the optionally movable fixed parts, - the calocontactor is introduced and / or evacuated, gradually or staged, or only once. FIG. 10 illustrates the case of a lobed compression device, also called a right lobe, with two axes each comprising two lobes (25), but which may comprise more of them. The introduction and / or the evacuation of the calocontactor are carried out according to the same principles as described above for a vane apparatus, and / or, mixed with the thermodynamic fluid, by the inlet manifold (20), respectively output (21), and the expansion or compression can be performed in a set of devices 40 in series, optionally with separation and evacuation of all or part of the calocontactor at the output of a device, then introduction of new calocontactor before entering the next device. These same principles also apply to an expansion device, respectively compression, screw, also called helical lobes, including two screws 45 meshing with one in the other and rotating in opposite directions. The passage of the thermodynamic fluid, mixed with the calocontactor, is effected parallel to the axes of the two screws, and the thermodynamic fluid is expanded, respectively compressed, through larger and smaller capacities, respectively, to the tubing discharge (the relaxation chambers, respectively compression, fate formed by the walls of the body of the device and the threads of the two screws). The finely divided calocontactor may be introduced through the inlet manifold, and / or progressively via orifices or introducing devices located on the wall of the body of the apparatus and / or on the axes or surfaces of the screws. Orifices or evacuation devices on the body of the apparatus can collect the centrally centrifuged calocontactor. These orifices or introduction or evacuation devices may be distributed radially and longitudinally in several locations. The two-axis devices may have attractive characteristics for the implementation of phases 1 and / or 2. Optionally, they can be arranged and segmented to perform the relaxation, respectively compression, stepped, with intermediate stages of phases 3 and / or introduction and / or evacuation of this calocontactor, within the same integrated component. The same principles can be transposed to a dynamic compression or expansion device having two axes of rotation rotating in opposite directions.

The operation of relaxing, respectively compression, quasi isothermal of a thermodynamic fluid in direct contact and mixing with a calocontactor can be carried out in several steps, putting in series several devices, optionally of different technology and / or characteristics, in order to that they are adapted to the conditions prevailing at the relevant step of the thermodynamic transformation, under the conditions described above. Optionally, one intermesh between the expansion devices, respectively compression, - one or more mixing devices - exchangers, in which is introduced * on the one hand the thermodynamic fluid leaving the expansion device, respectively compression, * and other part or all of the calocontactor that accompanied the thermodynamic fluid during expansion or compression respectively (this operation then having the effect of restoring the thermodynamic fluid thermodynamic equilibration-calocontactor, if a temperature difference between them s' was created during the relaxation, respectively compression), * and / or calocontactor at high temperature, respectively low, the quasi-isothermal transformation (this operation then having the effect of bringing the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid of the high temperature, respectively low , almost isothermal transformation), - one or more separating apparatus between the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor. These devices can be assembled in an integrated component. It is optionally possible to promote or reinforce the division of the calocontactor mixed with the thermodynamic fluid and their heat exchange, in particular by: * propagating ultrasound or pressure waves in the volume ranges of the apparatus where calocontactor and thermodynamic fluid are mixed and / or by imparting vibrations or mechanical shocks to the fixed or moving components which abut or are contained therein, * and / or by injecting fractions of thermodynamic gas flow and / or calocontactor into the calocontactor mixture - thermodynamic gas, * and / or causing a modulation or pulsation of thermodynamic gas flow rates and / or calocontactor and / or creating pressure waves. Alternative devices, in particular piston or membrane, are poorly suited to be implemented for the relaxation, respectively compression, of a thermodynamic fluid mixture - calocontactor, and are not retained for this function in the device and method of the the present invention, but by cons they are part of the apparatus used to perform a relaxation or almost adiabatic compression in the device and method of the invention.

The exchange of heat between the thermodynamic fluid and a calocontactor, by contact between them, without exchange of work with the outside comprises one or more phases 3. A phase 3 can be carried out in particular in a device called "mixer-exchanger", which comprises at least one thermodynamic fluid inlet, at least one calocontactor inlet, and one or more outlets: thermodynamic fluid mixture - calocontactor, calocontactor alone, or partially accompanied by thermodynamic fluid, thermodynamic fluid alone or partially accompanied by calocontactor. Phase 3 can in particular be carried out in apparatus using the difference in density between the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor, and gravity and / or centrifugal force, these devices may comprise fixed parts, in particular having a divided geometry and / or a large developed surface, or mobile, in particular in rotation, in order to create the conditions favoring efficient heat exchange, while minimizing the energy consumed to achieve mixing and heat exchange, and to create an exchange surface and high turbulence. The transformation can be carried out in particular at constant pressure.

The apparatus may be of the liquid spray chamber or column type or the introduction of gas, with or without lining, with or without perforated trays, with baffles, with or without stirrers, or of the pipeline contactor type, centrifugal mixer provided with agitators, centrifugal mixer, such as cyclone type, with one or more vortices ..., known from the state of the art.

These configurations can generally make it possible to perform within the mixer-exchanger both the mixture and thermodynamic fluid thermal exchange-calocontactor and, partially or totally, the separation between these two fluids before their release. When the separation is not complete, the still mixed fluids can be introduced into one or more separation devices or devices, using in particular centrifugal force and / or gravity, known from the state of the art, from which the two separate fluids. These configurations are not exhaustive, and are based on engineering techniques of industrial processes, from which other mixer-exchanger configurations can be derived.

By putting a mixer-exchanger and a separator in series, a separator-exchanger mixer is thus produced in which the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor respectively enter. Several mixer-exchanger-separators can be put in series to provide a heat exchange function against thermodynamic fluid flow - calocontactor, the assembly being designated "mixer - exchanger - divider against current", to obtain a final output temperature of the thermodynamic fluid very close to the inlet temperature of the calocontactor, and which may optionally be an integrated component. The principle of such a countercurrent exchanger / exchanger mixer is illustrated, for example, in FIG. 11, which shows a radial sectional view of a vortex centrifugal apparatus, where thermodynamic fluid (2) is introduced at the periphery. by two inlet pipes (20), but there may be more or only one, and discharged via the central part, and the calocontactor (1) is introduced in central part in divided form by introduction devices (15). ) and collected at the periphery by collecting devices (17) and / or from the bottom of the device, through which the calocontactor leaves.

Optionally, several operations of this type can be put in series in a mixer - exchanger - countercurrent separator, especially in the form of an integrated component. The reception of primary heat, by one or more thermodynamic fluids and / or one or more heat exchangers comprises among other things the elementary operation of direct reception of the primary heat by the calocontactor-thermodynamic fluid mixture within the zone of generation of the primary heat, by performing a phase 4, in a reaction chamber where there are present and in mixture the thermodynamic fluid, a calocontactor, reagents, and optionally other materials. Note that in a reaction chamber within the device and method of the invention may also be generated primary heat without it being a phase 4, including: - when there is no calocontactor in admixture with the thermodynamic fluid in the reaction chamber, for example if it is a combustion with oxygen of coarsely fragmented solid CHON materials, and where the oxygen available for the reactions is entirely consumed when there is no thermodynamic fluid in the reaction chamber, and where it can for example be a calocontactor, circulating in the reaction chamber, which receives the primary heat released by the reactions, and then transfers it to a thermodynamic fluid, in particular by one or more phases 3. The progressivity of the thermodynamic transformations associated with the three main elementary operations described above, thanks to the use (the calocontactors and rotary expansion or compression machines, is likely to favor their reversibility. The other elementary operations are in particular the following ones, and can be implemented in devices, devices and / or by processes coming under the state of the techniques: - reception of primary heat, by one or more thermodynamic fluids and / or a several calocontactors, by other methods and / or in other types of apparatus than the implementation of phases 4 in a reaction chamber; - Relaxation or compression, respectively, of the thermodynamic fluid alone, in a device producing, respectively receiving, work, and thus representing a quasi-adiabatic transformation if there is no external heat input, in volumetric type devices reciprocating, in particular piston or diaphragm, rotary, particularly rotary vane, screw, lobe, spiral, rotary piston, or dynamic, in particular axial, radial, helico - axial, tangential or centrifugal turbomachines, the state of the techniques; a relaxation, respectively compression, of the thermodynamic fluid alone can be carried out in a plurality of technological devices and / or (the different characteristics, and in particular put in series, so that they are adapted to the conditions, in particular temperature and / or pressure and / or volume flow, prevailing at the stage of relaxation, respectively compression, where they intervene; -exchange of heat by a calocontactor and / or a thermodynamic fluid and / or a coolant (fluid carrying the heat, and which is not put in a mixture and / or direct contant with a thermodynamic fluid), via a heat flux transmitted through one or more walls, - preparation (such as fragmentation, drying, reheating, thermolysis, etc.) and delivery of chemical reagents and their introduction in adjustable quantities, in a chamber or a reaction zone where primary heat is generated; - fine division and dispersion of the calocontactor in a thermo-fluid; dynamic - heat exchange between several different calocontactors chosen as being mutually immiscible liquids, or certain liquids and other powdery solids, which can be achieved by direct contact and mixing, the associated apparatuses can integrate a separation function in situ between calocontactors, and in particular be implemented according to the same principles and functionalities as for the implementation of phases 3, with mixers - exchangers., and / or mixers - exchangers - separators, and, by placing in series constituting a countercurrent separator / exchanger mixer, optionally in the form of an integrated component; for the choice of calocontactor materials, it is possible to take advantage of their ability to be mixed, without mutual chemical interaction, and then to be effectively separated (this is for example the case where one calocontactor is a liquid metal and the other a solid powder, such as silica, carbon, carbide ..., thanks to both the non-wetting of the solid by the liquid metal, and the difference in density); this separation can in particular be carried out or completed by the introduction of solids, accompanied by all or part of the liquid, in a flow of thermodynamic fluid, in order to eliminate residual droplets of liquid calocontact possibly still present with the pulverulent solids; mixing and thermally equilibrating portions of the same calocontactor or the same thermodynamic fluid; separation between the materials and / or fluids placed in direct contact, which concerns, in particular, the separation of the thermocouple or the thermocouple fluid, or the separation between two calocontactors, or the separation between products or reaction residues - thermocyclic fluid-type collocators, especially in apparatus utilizing the difference in density between the different components to be separated using in particular gravity and / or centrifugal force, and / or interaction with solid walls; - Exchanging heat between fluids via wall exchangers, single or multiple, in particular against the current, or co-current, or mixed, where circulates on either side a liquid fluid, gaseous or diphasic liquid gas; 30 - transfer of fluids in the liquid state, either with increase, respectively reduction, significant pressure, which can be achieved in particular by devices, such as pumps, volumetric type or without increase, respectively reduction, (the pressure In particular, in devices such as volumetric or dynamic pumps, the use of pumps with significant increase or reduction (the pressure applicable to calocontactors can be implemented in the device and method of the invention in particular: because heat exchange between calocontactor and thermodynamic fluid takes place without wall exchangers, and therefore at the same pressure, especially during a phase 3, and that when the calocontactor must then exchange heat with the same 40 thermodynamic fluid , or with another, at a different pressure, it is necessary to modify the pressure of the calocontactor during its tra between these different zones of heat exchange, * to be able by design to operate certain areas of the device and method of the invention at selected pressures, for example: 45 ° to reduce the operating pressures and mechanical stresses of components where circulates a calocontactor, such as a reaction chamber or a wall exchanger, to adjust the absolute pressure in an area where a calocontactor evolves, in order to keep it above the boiling pressure of the calocontactor at the maximum temperature encountered in this area; - solid transfer in fragmented or divided form; transfer of fluids in the compressible state, in particular by fans or blowers; - Channeling of fluids, without modifying their parameters, in particular their pressure and their temperature, via pipes or pipes; - actions on the passage of fluids, in particular via valves, valves, check valves, and associated devices, such as fluid switching devices, enabling them to be sampled and / or evacuated and / or directed to several destinations, and in adjustable proportions; storage of material and / or energy, in particular via tanks or capacities; - pressure regulation; -protection against overpressure, especially via devices or components such as safety valves, disks or rupture membranes; - physico-chemical treatment, including thermodynamic fluids and calocontactors; - Measurements and control to control, via in particular measuring sensors, 20 members of information processing, actuator controls.

We now present hereinafter the arrangement of the elementary operations, and associated apparatuses, in subsystems characteristic of the device and method, which are the following: - Under Hot Source System, designated SSSC, in which one or more thermodynamic fluids and / or one or more hot calocontactors receive, directly or indirectly, the primary heat, - Under Cold Source System, designated SSSF, by which a thermodynamic fluid and / or one or more cold calocontactors yield heat to the outside. 30 - Under Hot Melt Pressure Relief System, designated SSDC, in which the thermodynamic fluid performs a relaxation where it produces work, being in mixture with a hot calocontactor, under the conditions described above, and the SSDC consists of one or more thermodynamic fluid expansion devices mixed with the hot calocontactor (optionally substantially adiabatic expansion of the thermodynamic fluid alone), in particular arranged in series, optionally with stages of passage in one or more mixers-exchangers, optionally separators, which can further heat the thermodynamic fluid, and / or separate the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor, after a relaxation phase. The thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor leave separated at the end of the expansion performed in the SSDC. - Under Thermodynamic Fluid Relaxation System Only, designated SSDS, in which it produces work without being in contact with a calocontactor, and can achieve such a relaxation almost adiabatic, in state of the art devices. 45 - Under Compression System with Cold Calibrator, designated SSCC, in which the thermodynamic fluid performs a compression where it receives work, being mixed with a cold calocontactor, under the conditions described above, and the SSCC consists of one or more compressors of the thermodynamic fluid mixed with the cold calocontactor (optionally quasi-adiabatic compression of the thermodynamic fluid alone), in particular arranged in series, optionally with stages of passage in one or more mixers-exchangers, optionally separators, which can to further cool the thermodynamic fluid, and / or to separate the thermodynamic fluid and calocontactor, after a compression phase. The thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor leave separate after the compression performed in the SSCC. - Under Thermodynamic Fluid Compression System Only, designated SSCS, whose configuration can be of two types. In type 1, the thermodynamic fluid is always in the compressible state during the cycle and receives work without being in contact with a calocontactor, and can thus achieve in particular a quasi-adiabatic compression. Type 2 corresponds to the case where the thermodynamic fluid has at least two different physical states during the thermodynamic cycle, liquid on the one hand, gaseous or supercritical on the other hand, and when the thermodynamic fluid is in the liquid state in the SSCS, it performs a function of pressurizing this liquid, performed by one or more transfer devices with increased liquid pressure, as described above. - Under Regenerator Exchanger System of the thermodynamic fluid, designated SSER, which performs a function of thermal exchange against the current of the thermodynamic fluid on itself. The thermodynamic fluid, at a stage of its cycle, enters the SSER and leaves it cooled, by yielding heat to the same thermodynamic fluid, to another stage of its cycle, which enters the SSER and comes out warmed up. We specify below the configurations of subsystems SSSC, SSSF, and SSER.

The SSSC may have different configurations, depending on the modes of reception or generation of the primary heat and the modes of heat transmission, and performs in particular all or part of the following operations: - a hot calocontactor and / or a thermodynamic fluid receive the primary heat transmitted in the form of a heat flow, especially through one or more walls, - a thermodynamic fluid can receive heat by direct contact and mixing with a heat sink, in one or a combination of mixing devices ù exchangers-separators, performing in particular a countercurrent heat exchange, - two different mutually nonreactive and immiscible calocontactors can exchange heat by direct contact and mixing, in a set of mixing devices - exchangers - separators, which can optionally perform a countercurrent heat exchange, - an intermediate heat transfer medium t receive or transfer heat through one or more walls, - the thermodynamic fluid can optionally pass through the SSSC without significant modification of its thermodynamic parameters, - a thermodynamic fluid and / or a calocontactor receive the primary heat within a chamber of reaction. Generally, in a reaction chamber, the reactants involved in the generation of the primary heat, as well as the resulting products, optionally one or more calocontactors and / or one or more thermodynamic fluids, are present in a reaction chamber where is generated primary heat. A thermodynamic fluid is introduced into the reaction chamber from which it emerges at a temperature above cu equal to its inlet temperature. A calocontactor is either resident (mainly, and otherwise recirculated immediately in the reaction chamber) or is introduced into the reaction chamber from which it emerges at a temperature greater than or equal to 5a inlet temperature. The materials at the origin of the primary heat generation are converted into their products or reaction residues either completely in the reaction chamber or partially and they are then removed from the reaction chamber, to generally be subsequently recirculated. The gaseous reaction products emerge from the chamber in admixture with the thermodynamic fluid. The solid and / or liquid reaction products, and optionally the solid or liquid reactants that are not consumed, are discharged continuously or intermittently. According to the modes of implementation: - constituents of the thermodynamic fluid can be involved in the primary heat generating reactions (in particular the oxygen of the air, when the air is the thermodynamic fluid), - one or more materials to the The origin of the primary heat generation and / or one or more products resulting from these reactions can play a calocontactor role.

The arrangement and the conditions for introducing and evacuating the materials and for operating the reaction chamber can in particular be organized, for example in the case where a phase 4 is used therein, in order to achieve mixing conditions. , of division and dispersion of the present materials, and a calocontactor plays the characteristic role of providing thermal inertia with respect to the thermodynamic fluid. A reaction chamber can thus be of rotary flow, such as cyclone type, with one or more vortices, where the introduction of the thermodynamic fluid is at the periphery of the vortex or vortex, and prints an overall rotational movement to the materials. contained in the chamber, optionally and a vertical component to compensate for the effect of gravity on dense materials, and where the evacuation of the thermodynamic fluid is preferentially made from the central zone of a vortex, optionally via a device that avoids or minimizes in situ the possible entrainment of other materials. When there are several vortices, the chamber preferably comprises an even number of vortices, against mutual rotation of two adjacent vortices. The chamber may also include moving parts, promoting mixing and the homogeneous presence of materials in the chamber. Optionally, a closed-loop recirculation circuit of a fraction of the thermodynamic fluid, taken at the outlet of the reaction chamber and reintroduced into it by being propelled by a gaseous fluid transfer apparatus, can make it possible to reinforce the movement and the mixing of materials in the reaction chamber.

Optionally, the reaction chamber may comprise wall exchangers, internally traversed by a fluid, in particular a heat-exchange or heat transfer fluid or thermodynamic fluid, and receiving a portion of the primary heat released in the reaction chamber and being transmitted through the walls. Optionally additional reagents to those involved in the primary heat generation can be introduced into the chamber, and their products or reaction residues evacuated, in particular to achieve in situ physicochemical treatment functions. The reaction products can be solid, liquid or gaseous. A calocontactor may in particular play the role of thermal inertia in the reaction chamber and / or, when circulating, that of heat transfer vis-à-vis another thermodynamic fluid, optionally via a heat exchange with another calocontactor. The chamber may also be without vortex, and for example implement a flow against the current, or co-current, or fluidized bed.

It can also be static combustion bed type static, for example grid, where the solid fuels are fragmented, optionally coarsely. The chemical reactions in a reaction chamber may be combustion reactions with oxygen of carbonaceous materials of composition CHON, solid, pasty, liquid or gaseous, or in a mixture of these forms. They can also be different reactions such as: the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen H2 + H2O-I H2O, characterized in particular by a high energy release, a very rapid reaction kinetics, explosive type, and a very high flame temperature, of the order of 2500 ° K, at which temperature significant amounts of undesirable NOx can form, and the provisions of a phase 4 are likely to overcome these difficulties; the reaction of an alkali metal hydride X (lithium, sodium, potassium, etc.) with oxygen XII + 2/2-XOH (in fact generally the hydride decomposes with temperature and then the following reactions XII - X + '/ 2 H2, 112 +' / 2 02 -> H2O, X + H2O - * XOH + '/ 2 H2), and the calocontactor may be the XOH hydroxide product of the reaction, generally liquid under the operating conditions of the reaction chamber, where a sufficient amount of XOH is maintained to act as a heat exchange, the excess being discharged .; the reaction of an alkali metal X with the oxygen of the air and the water 2X + H 2 O + 2 O 2 -> 2XOH (in fact generally via the following reactions X + H2O - XOH + '/ 2 112 In the same way, the calocontactor may be XOH hydroxide, the reaction chamber may also be free of thermodynamic fluid, and then there will be mixed with the thermocouple. reagents, the reaction products not yet evacuated.The primary heat may in particular be transmitted through the walls of exchangers to a hot circulating collector which circulates in. The medium in which the primary heat is released can be totally or partially In the liquid state, for example, using the 2X + H2O2 - + 2XOH reaction, the medium is the alkali metal X, which transmits its heat to a calocontactor through the walls (taking into account the very good thermal conductivity liquid metals, heat exchange can thus be very efficient) and the XOH hydroxide, generally denser than the liquid metal X itself, can be removed from the reaction chamber where an extra metal X can be introduced to compensate for the disappearance of the metal X converted into its hydroxide. The SSSC may comprise devices, devices or sub-systems - fluid transfer, compressible and / or in the form of solid in the powder state, and / or in the liquid state, optionally with increase or reduction of pressure, allowing in particular to delimit parts of the SSSC operating at pressures selected by design, - separation between different fluids in the liquid state and / or compressible and / or solid powder, - physicochemical treatment, - pressure regulation. Fig. 12 shows a configuration of the SSSC where primary heat generation occurs in a reaction chamber (34-1) having wall heat exchangers (35), and wherein the SSSC (3) implements three thermodynamic fluids (2-1), (2-2), (2-3), three hot air conditioners (1C-1), (1C-2), (1C-3), and the direct contact between the heat sink 1 and the calocontactor 2, and illustrates in this example the possibility of transferring the primary heat to several thermodynamic cycles. The hot calocontactor 1 (1C-1) is circulating, but internal to the SSSC, where a first thermodynamic fluid (2-1), for example air, whose oxygen is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat, is introduced. in (20) in the reaction chamber (34-1). The reagents (38) are introduced into the reaction chamber by one or more introducing devices (39). The residues of the reactions (40) are evacuated by an evacuation device (41). The thermodynamic fluid 1 (2-1) leaves the chamber (the reaction at (21), optionally accompanied by a fraction of calocontactor 1 and / or reagents and / or residues, these materials being separated from the thermodynamic fluid 1 in a or a set of liquid (optional) solids (30) and globally or selectively recirculated in the reaction chamber, or discharged, in the case of residues (recirculation and / or disposal of these materials). 12) .Optionally, a fraction of the thermodynamic fluid 1, directed by the switching device (57), circulates in the pipe (55) and makes a bypass of the reaction chamber (34-1). ) and is introduced to be mixed with the main flow of thermodynamic fluid 1 (2-1) exiting from (30), for example in a second reaction chamber (34-2), which can contain a resident calocontactor, or in a module of treatment physico-chemical (52) or directly out of (30). The thermodynamic fluid 1 can then undergo a physicochemical treatment in the apparatus (52) and continues its thermodynamic cycle outside the SSSC (3). The hot calocontactor 1 (1C-1) leaves the reaction chamber at (28), optionally with a fraction of thermodynamic fluid and other materials present in the chamber, and which are separated from the calocontactor and recirculated in the reaction chamber, optionally discharged, in the case of residues (the separation and recirculation of the thermodynamic fluid and the materials possibly accompanying the hot calocontactor 1 exiting at (28) are not shown in Figure 12), and it is circulated by a transfer apparatus ( 42-1), enters a mixing unit - exchanger - separator in particular liquid tale-liquid or liquid liquid-solid (43) where it is in mixture with the hot calocontactor 2 (1C-2), which is in particular a liquid, and recirculated via a transfer apparatus (42-2) into the reaction chamber. The calocontactor 2 (1C-2) coming from the outside of the SSSC (3) is circulated by a pump, for example a pressure reduction pump (44-1), runs through the mixer / exchanger / countercurrent separator assembly (43). ) from where it leaves reheated, then is circulated for example by a pressure increase pump (45-1) and enters a mixing unit - exchanger - separator gas - liquid in particular against the current (46-1) where it transfers heat to the thermodynamic fluid 2 (2-2), and leaves the SSSC (3) while being transferred by a pump (the liquid circulation (31-1) .The thermodynamic fluid 2 enters the SSSC (3) propelled by the gaseous fluid transfer apparatus (47-1), heats up in (46-1) and leaves the SSSC, optionally propelled by the gaseous fluid transfer apparatus (47-2). thermodynamic fluid 3 (2-3) enters the SSSC propelled by the apparatus (47-3), warms up by mixing with the hot calocontactor 3 (1C-3), which is in particular a liquid, within the mixing unit - exchanger - liquid gas counterflow separator (46-2) and leaves the SSSC, optionally propelled by the transfer apparatus (47-4). The hot calocontactor 3 (1C-3) enters the SSSC, is propelled for example by a pressure reduction pump (44-2), circulates inside the wall exchangers (35), undergoes for example an increase of pressure in (45-2), between dlans all (46-2) where it leaves and leaves the SSSC powered by the pump (31-2).

Optionally, another thermodynamic fluid (for example liquid water which vaporizes) can be introduced into the reaction chamber, continuously or intermittently. The advantage of using in this configuration two different calocontactors 1 and 2 is to be able to use as second calocontactor a liquid (for example a liquid metal) unreactive vis-à-vis the thermodynamic fluid 2 (which may be for example a gas or a mixture of non-oxidizing gases, such as rare gas, nitrogen, dioxide (carbon ...) and calocontactor 1, but which would be reactive at the temperatures considered with the thermodynamic fluid 1, especially if it is air and if the calocontactor 2 is reactive with the oxygen (for example oxidation of the calocontactor 2 if it is a liquid metal, a situation that is to be avoided), provision is then made for the calocontactor 2 to be always in non-oxidizing conditions in the various apparatuses where it circulates, in particular the assembly (43) From this description, various variants can be envisaged Some apparatus, in particular when redundant or unnecessary, may be omitted. For example, there may be no calocontactor 2 or thermodynamic fluid 2, in which case the calocontactor 2 (1C-2), the thermodynamic fluid 2 (2-2) and the devices (44-1), (43-1). ), (45-1), (46-1), (47-1), (47-2), (31-1) disappear from FIG. 12. The chamber (the reaction may not comprise a heat exchanger walls, in which case there is neither calocontactor 3 nor thermodynamic fluid 3, and the components (47-3), (46-2), (31-2), (47-4), (44-2), (35), (45-2) disappear from FIG. 12. The Cold Source Sub System, by which one or more thermodynamic fluids and / or one or more cold calocontactors yield heat to the outside, transferring it to a or a plurality of so-called cold source fluids, such as water from a river or body of water, or atmospheric air, and / or radiation to the outside via one or more radiators having a radiative surface, can present different configurations, where: * thermal exchanges s can be carried out via one or more wall exchangers, with or without intermediate heat transfer and / or by mixing with a heat-exchange device, * the SSSF may comprise devices or devices for transferring fluids in the compressible state, and / or fluids in the liquid state with or without increase, respectively reduction, of pressure, optionally fluids in the form of solids in the powder state, * when the thermodynamic fluid contains at least. a stage of its thermodynamic cycle, of the oxygen taken from or with outside air, and that this oxygen acts as a reagent in the reactions generating primary heat, a part or the totality of the thermodynamic fluid can be rejected at the outside via the SSSF and the new thermodynamic fluid can be taken outside, via a c, u several fluid referral devices, allowing when necessary a precise adjustment of the quantities of thermodynamic fluid discharged and removed from the outside , * the SSSF can optionally be reduced to the evacuation of all or part of the thermodynamic fluid to the outside and the introduction of new thermodynamic fluid from outside, or stored in the device or near him, * the fluid thermodynamics can optionally cross the SSSF without significant modification of its thermodynamic parameters, * the SSSF can optionally be reduced re introduction and evacuation of cold source fluid, especially water, and which can play the role of calocontactor in other subsystems. We present below some illustrations.

As shown diagrammatically, in FIGS. 13, 14, 15 and 16, the thermodynamic fluid (2) enters the SSSF (4) to leave it cooled, and a so-called cold source fluid (48) (water from a river or d 'an expanse of water, atmospheric air ...) enters the SSSF and comes out warmed up. The heat exchange between the thermodynamic fluid and the cold source fluid is via a wall exchanger, in particular against the current (49) (in FIG. 13), or several (in FIG. 14) wall exchangers (49-1). ), (49-2) with intermediate heat transfer medium (50) circulated by a pump (31-2), the cold source fluid being circulated by a pump (31-1), and / or by direct contact between thermodynamic fluid and a heat sink cold (IF), circulated by circulating pumps (31-1) and / or (31-2), in a mixing unit - exchanger - countercurrent separator (46), itself exchanging heat with the source fluid cold via a wall exchanger (49) (FIG. 15) or by direct contact in a mixer-exchanger / separator (46-2) (FIG. 16, where the cold source fluid is, for example, from the outside, circulated in ( 46-2) by compressible fluid transfer devices (47-1) and / or (47-2)). FIG. 16 also illustrates that a switching device (57) can make it possible to discharge a portion of the thermodynamic fluid (2), in particular air originating from the reactions releasing the primary heat into the SSSC, ( 2 "), and introducing fresh external air (2 '), circulated by a compressible fluid transfer apparatus (47-3), in adjustable proportions, optionally as illustrated in FIGS. where the cold source fluid (48) is circulated by a pump (31-3)) and 16, the cold calocontactor 1F can flow parallel to the outside of the SSSF, in particular in an SSCC, via pipes (55-1) and (55-2) As schematized in FIGS. 17 and 18, a cold calocontactor (1F) enters [e SSSF to exit cooled and the cold source fluid (48) enters the SSSF to exit warmed. heat exchange between the heat exchange valve and the cold source fluid can be via one or more wall exchangers (49-1), (49-2), With intermediate coolant (50), circulated by the pump (31-1), in FIG. 17, and / or by direct contact in a mixing unit - exchanger - separator with a liquid countercurrent - liquid when the cold source fluid ( 48) and the cold calocontactor (1F) are mutually non-reactive and immiscible liquids, or liquid-gas (46) as shown in FIG. 18, where the thermodynamic fluid is, for example, outside air circulated in (46). ) by compressible fluid transfer devices (47-1) and / or (47-2). As shown schematically in FIG. 19, the SSSF is reduced to evacuating all or part of the thermodynamic fluid outwards and introducing new thermodynamic fluid, typically air, coming from outside, where the thermodynamic fluid (2), coming from the remainder of the device and method of the invention, enters (20-1) in the SSSF (4), a fraction (or all) of the thermodynamic fluid (2) is rejected at the outside (21-1) and a fraction (or all) of new thermodynamic fluid coming from the outside is introduced in (20-2) in the SSSF, is optionally propelled by (47), and leaves in (21) -2). As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 20, the SSSF is reduced to the introduction and the evacuation of the cold source fluid (then generally water, and which acts as a heat sink in other subsystems, in particular the SSCC ), where the cold source fluid (48) coming from the outside enters (27-1) in the SSSF (4) which directs the cold source fluid, via for example a pressure increase pump (45), to inside the device, and where the cold source fluid from inside the device and method where it has received calories, returns to the SSSF, where it enters (27-2), which directs this cold source fluid to the outside, via for example a pressure reduction pump (44).

The Regenerator Heat Exchanger System acts as a countercurrent heat exchanger. It performs a counter-current heat exchange function of the thermodynamic fluid on itself, where the thermodynamic fluid, at a stage 1 of its cycle, enters the SSER and comes out cooled, yielding heat to the same thermodynamic fluid, at another stage 2 of its cycle, which enters the SSER and comes out warmed. Figure 21 depicts a typical arrangement of the SSER. The thermodynamic fluid (2-1) in stage 1 evolves in the SSER at a pressure P1 and the thermodynamic fluid in stage 2 evolves at a pressure P2. The SSER (9) comprises one or more modules, three of which are illustrated in FIG. 21 (51-1), (51-2), (51-3), through which the thermodynamic fluid flows in stage 1 and stage 2 , and each module comprises at least one mixer - exchanger - separator operating against the current on the line at the pressure P1, designated (46-1-1), (46-2-1), (46-3-1) on 21, and at least one reverse exchanger / heat exchanger (method heat exchanger) mixer on the pressure line P2, designated (46-1-2), (46-2-2), (46- 3-2) in FIG. 21, and in each module, for example the module (51-2), the intermediate calocontactor (11-2) flows against the current of the thermodynamic fluid, a pressure increase pump (45-2 ) passing the pressure switch P2 to the pressure P1 (in the case where P1 is greater than P2) and a pressure reduction pump (44-2) passing the pressure switch P1 to the pressure P2 , the axes of rotation of these two pumps can optionally be coupled. Gaseous fluid transfer apparatuses (47) may optionally provide, or contribute to, the flow of thermodynamic fluid into the SSER. In each module, the calocontactor carries out a closed cycle and provides a heat transfer function between the thermodynamic fluid at stage 1 and the thermodynamic fluid at stage 2, the temperature evolution of the thermodynamic fluid at stage 1 and at stage 2 being able to perform in near isobaric conditions. The calocontactor flow rates in each module are notably adjusted so that the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid at stage 2 at the outlet of the SSER is equal to or very close to its temperature at stage 1 at the inlet of the SSER, and the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid at the stage 1 at the exit of the SSER is equal to or very close to its stage 2 temperature at the entrance of the SSER. Each module can use a different calocontactor, in particular according to the temperature range prevailing in each module. One or more modules may optionally be replaced by a compressible fluid wall exchanger - compressible fluid against the current. The pressures Pr and P2 may in some cases be equal, and the pumps for increasing and reducing pressure are then replaced by incompressible fluid transfer devices, including liquid circulation pumps.

We now present the arrangement of the subsystems characteristic of the device and method of the invention for carrying out the thermodynamic cycles under consideration, under conditions in which at least one thermodynamic fluid converts the heat energy received at high temperature into mechanical energy, by carrying out a thermodynamic cycle, where it gives off heat to the outside at low temperature, and comprising at least one step of expansion at high initial temperature and with production of mechanical energy, and at least one compression step at low initial temperature. The implementation of a thermodynamic cycle is: notably possible by suitably configuring the device and method, and comprising at least one SSSC, a SSSF, an expansion sub-system with work generation, SSDC or SSDS, and a sub-system Compression system with working reception (or without working reception if the thermodynamic fluid is in the liquid state) SSCC or SSCS. In particular, it is possible to carry out a cycle with two heat sources (hot source and cold source) producing mechanical energy. The mechanical energy is available in particular on the rotating axes of the SSDC and / or SSDS devices, which can drive the axes of rotation of the SSCC and / or the SSCS. The device and method may in particular be configured so that a single thermodynamic fluid performs a quasi-Ericsson cycle, where the thermodynamic fluid is in the compressible state throughout the cycle. Taking into account the decrease, respectively the increase, the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid during the expansion step, respectively compression, even if they are limited, and possibly because the regenerative heat exchange can make appear deviations, preferably low, between its temperatures of entry to stage 1, respectively 2, and output stage 2, respectively 1, the device and method of the invention does not exactly implement a cycle of Ericsson, d where the Ericsson quasi-cycle designation, where the thermodynamic fluid performs a quasi-isothermal compression, then an isobaric heating of which a part is regenerative, then an almost isothermal relaxation, then an isobaric cooling, of which a part is regenerative, then begins a new cycle. The implementation of such a quasi-Ericsson cycle may notably be as follows, and the corresponding configuration, shown in FIG. 22, connects, as regards the thermodynamic fluid (2) and in its direction of circulation: SSCC (7) where it carries out an almost isothermal compression from the lowest temperature TD of the cycle and up to the temperature TA, and from which it leaves separated from the calocontactor, * the heating line of the SSER (9), where it carries out a regenerative isobaric reheating at the high pressure of the cycle from the temperature TA and up to the temperature TB., * a SSSC (3), where it receives at the high pressure of the cycle a supplement of isobaric heat of the hot calocontactor, in one or more mixing devices - exchangers - separators in particular against the current, from which it leaves at the temperature TB, * an SSDC (5) where it carries out an almost isothermal relaxation from the temperature TB and from the high pressure and up to at l at low pressure and up to the temperature Tc, and from which it leaves separated from the calocontactor, * a SSER (9), traveled on the cooling line, where it performs Ln regenerative cooling at the low pressure of the cycle since the temperature Tc and up to the temperature TD., * A SSSF (4), where it receives additional isobaric cooling at the low pressure from the temperature TD, and up to the temperature TB, by mixing (and heat exchange , in particular against the current, with the cold calocontactor at its lowest temperature, this step being optionally combined with the beginning of the quasi-isothermal compression, and again the SSCC (7), for a new cycle. The hot calocontactor (1C), which accompanies the thermodynamic fluid in its almost isothermal expansion in the SSDC (5), leaves the SSSC (3) at a temperature equal to or close to TB, to enter the SSDC (5). wherein it exits cooled and separated from the thermodynamic fluid, at a temperature equal to or close to Tc, to enter the SSSC: -, '(3) and reheating it, performing a cycle. The cold calocontactor (1F), which accompanies the thermodynamic fluid in its almost isothermal compression, performs a cycle, where it leaves the SSSF (4) at a temperature equal to or close to TD, enters the SSCC (7) where it is heated and separated from the thermodynamic fluid, to return to the SSSF (4) at a temperature equal to or close to TA. The characteristic temperatures of the thermodynamic fluid are such that TB, equal to or very close to Tc (in particular being lower), TD 'equal to or very close to TA (in particular being higher), and Tc less than and enough close to TB, (TB ù Tc) / TB being the absolute value of the relative temperature variation during the almost isothermal expansion, and TA greater than and close to TD, (TA - TD) / TD being the value absolute of the relative temperature variation during the quasi-isothermal compression. Liquid transfer devices (31), optionally with an increase or reduction of pressure, ensure the circulation of the hot and cold calocontactors, and that of the cold source fluid, some of which can be omitted if the propulsion, optionally the increase or reduction of pressure, is provided by an equivalent apparatus within any one of the five subsystems. Optionally, when the thermodynamic fluid contains, at least at a stage of its thermodynamic cycle, oxygen taken from or with outside air, and that oxygen is involved as a reactant in the reactions generating the primary heat, a part or the totality of the thermodynamic fluid can be rejected externally by the SSSF (4), and be replaced by externally collected air and / or oxygen, with optionally adjustable proportions, and where, in the case where the low pressure of the cycle is greater than the atmospheric pressure, the rejected thermodynamic fluid is released from the low pressure of the cycle to the atmospheric pressure with or without mixing with a calocontactor, and the air and / or the Oxygen taken outside is compressed from atmospheric pressure to the low pressure of the cycle, with no mixing with a calocontactor, for example by performing the steps (D ù> E) e t (E - D) shown in Figure 3 (as isotherms in this example). The device can also be configured for a thermodynamic fluid to perform a quasi Carnot cycle, where the thermodynamic fluid is in the compressible state throughout the cycle. The corresponding configuration, shown in FIG. 23, connects, with respect to the thermodynamic fluid (2), in its direction of circulation, an SSDC (5) where it performs an almost isothermal expansion from the pressure PB and the temperature TB, the highest of the cycle, and up to the pressure Pc and the temperature Tc, an SSDS (6) where it performs a quasi-adiabatic expansion from the pressure Pc and the temperature Tc and up to the pressure PD and the temperature TD, the lowest of the cycle, a SSSF (4) that the thermodynamic fluid (2) passes through a significant modification of its thermodynamic parameters, an SSCC (7) where it performs an almost isothermal compression from the pressure PD and the temperature TD and up to at the pressure PA and the temperature TA, a SSCS type 1 (8) where it performs a quasi-adiabatic compression from the pressure PA and the temperature TA and up to the pressure PB and the temperature TB, and a SSSC (3) that the thermodynamic fluid e (2) passes without significant modification of its thermodynamic parameters. The pressures and temperatures characteristic of the thermodynamic cycle are such that TA is greater than and quite close to TD, (TA ù TD) / TD being the absolute value of the relative temperature variation during the quasi-isothermal compression, and Tc is less at and close to TB, (TB ù Tc) / TB being the absolute value of the relative temperature variation during the almost isothermal expansion, and where PB '"' / TBr is equal to or close to PAS" '/ TAA and where Pc'l / Tcr is equal to or close to PDY "'/ TDr The hot calocontactor (1C), which accompanies the thermodynamic fluid (2) in its almost isothermal expansion, is circulated by pumps (31), optionally with reduction or increase of pressure, and cycle when it leaves the SSDC (5) cooled to enter the SSSC (3) and recover heat there.The cold calocontactor (1F) is circulated by pumps (31) , optionally with reduction or increase of pressure, and carries out a cycle fe rmé, where it comes warmed from the SSCC (7) to enter the SSSF (4) and give it heat. Optionally, when the thermodynamic fluid contains, at least at a stage of its thermodynamic cycle, oxygen taken from or with outside air, and this oxygen acts as a reactant in reactions generating primary heat, a part or the totality of the thermodynamic fluid can be rejected externally and replaced by air and / or oxygen removed externally, and in optionally adjustable proportions, and where, in the case where the low pressure of the cycle is greater than the atmospheric pressure, the rejected thermodynamic fluid is released from the low pressure of the cycle up to the atmospheric pressure with or without a mixture with a calocontactor, and the air and / cu the oxygen taken outside is compressed from atmospheric pressure to low cycle pressure, with or without mixing with a calocontactor.

The device can also be configured in particular for a single thermodynamic fluid to perform a Brayton cycle, where the thermodynamic fluid is always in the compressible state. The corresponding configuration shown in FIG. 24 connects, as regards the thermodynamic fluid and in its direction of circulation, a SSSC (3), an SSDS (6), a SSSF (4) and a SSCS type 1 (8). ). When this fluid contains oxygen taken from or with outside air, and this oxygen is involved in the primary heat-generating reactions, some or all of the thermodynamic fluid is released externally via the SSSF (4), optionally after yielding heat in a wall exchanger to a second thermodynamic fluid in order to perform a combined cycle, and wherein, in the case where the low cycle pressure is greater than the atmospheric pressure, the rejected thermodynamic fluid is relieved from the low pressure of the cycle to atmospheric pressure with or without mixing with a calocontactor, and the air and / or the oxygen taken from the outside is compressed from the atmospheric pressure to the low pressure of the cycle, with or without mixing with a calocontactor. Optionally, the SSSE (4) is reduced to evacuation to the outside of the entire air and the introduction of fresh air collected outside. It is also optionally possible to introduce in the liquid state a second thermodynamic fluid, for example water, into the reaction chamber of the SSSC (3), and which vaporizes therein. The thermodynamic fluid can optionally perform a regenerative Brayton cycle, where the thermodynamic fluid exiting the SSDS (6) then enters a SSER cooling line, exits to enter the SSSF (4), and upon its exit from the SSCS ( 8), enters the SSER reheat line, before entering the SSSC (3). The device can in particular be configured to perform a Rankine-Hirn cycle, in which the thermodynamic fluid is in the compressible state at the high temperature and pressure of the cycle, and in the liquid state at the low temperature and pressure of the cycle. . The corresponding configuration, shown in FIG. 25, connects, as regards the thermodynamic fluid (2), in its direction of circulation: a SSSC (3), an SSDS (6), a SSSF (4), in which circulates a cold source fluid (48), and a type 2 SSCS (8). The thermodynamic fluid (2) introduced in the liquid state into the SSSC (3) at high pressure via one or more SSCS pressure increase pumps type 2 (8), vaporizes therein, optionally with overheating, then relaxes in the SSDS (6), then condenses in the SSSF (4), at low pressure, and is then compressed in the liquid state in the SSCS type 2 (8). The expansion device (s) of the SSDS (6) may optionally include sub-prints for recovering the thermodynamic fluid which passes to the liquid state during the expansion, and these condensed thermodynamic fluid flows, the temperature of which is greater than the low temperature of the cycle, can be re-mixed with the thermodynamic fluid leaving the SSSF (4), the mixtures being able to be made in several zones, between the output of the SSSF (4) and the input of the SSSC (3). It is also possible that, within the SSDS, and / or from the SSSC, sub-draws of steam are carried out in particular to carry out reheating of the steam during relaxation. Optionally, via the SSSF (4), there may be rejection outside part or all of the thermodynamic fluid and replacement with thermodynamic fluid from outside, or stored in the device or from him . It is also possible to carry out a cycle in which the thermodynamic fluid passes from the liquid state to the compressible state during the cycle, and where, with respect to the Rankine-Hirn cycle, the adiabatic expansion is preceded by a relaxation almost isothermal, and wherein the corresponding configuration, shown in FIG. 26, connects in particular a SSSC (3), an SSDC (5), an SSDS (6), a SSSF (4), in which a cold source fluid circulates (48) , and a type 2 SSCS (8). The thermodynamic fluid (2) introduced in the liquid state into the SSSC (3), at high pressure, vaporizes and overheats, expands in the presence of a hot calocontactor (1C) in the SSDC (5), in out of which the hot calocontactor (1C) is separated, then relaxes in the SSDS (6), condenses in the SSSF (4) at low pressure, and is then compressed in the liquid state in the SSCS type 2 (8). ). The hot calocontactor (1C) which accompanies the thermodynamic fluid (2) in its almost isothermal expansion, carries out a closed cycle, where it leaves cooled of the SSDC (5) to enter the SSSC (3), from where it leaves reheated for to be introduced in the SSDC (5). The hot calocontactor (1C) is circulated by pumps (31), optionally with increase or reduction of pressure. The apparatuses of the SSDS (6) may optionally include sub-prints to recover the thermodynamic fluid which passes to the liquid state during the expansion, and these flows of condensed thermodynamic fluid, whose temperature is higher than the low temperature of the cycle, can be re-mixed with the thermodynamic fluid leaving the SSSF (4), the mixtures being able to be made in several zones, between the output of the SSSF (4) and the input of the SSSC (3). Optionally, via the SSSF (4), there may be rejection outside part or all of the thermodynamic fluid and replacement with thermodynamic fluid from outside, or stored in the device or with him . The device can also implement several thermodynamic cycles, which can use certain same calocontactors and / or subsystems, in particular SSSC, with the use of several thermodynamic fluids, and in particular where: a first thermodynamic fluid, such as air, is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat within a reaction chamber, and can notably perform a cycle of Ericsson, Brayton or an adiabatic compression cycle - regenerative heating - regenerative cooling - adiabatic expansion, net balance no work and heat exchanged with the outside; the SSSC is common to the various thermodynamic cycles, the calocontactor present in the reaction chamber can be used directly to provide heat to a second thermodynamic fluid, in particular by mixing and isobaric heat exchange and / or during a relaxation almost isotherm, or heat exchanging, by mixing or heat exchange through one or more walls, with a second calocontactor which is then mixed with the second thermodynamic fluid; the second thermodynamic fluid can in particular carry out an Ericsson cycle, or a Brayton cycle, or a Rankine-Hirn cycle, or a cycle where, with respect to the Rankine-Hirn cycle, the adiabatic expansion is preceded by a quasi-relaxation isothermal; - Optionally, the reaction chamber may also comprise a wall exchanger traversed by a third thermodynamic fluid or part of a calocontactor which then gives heat to the third thermodynamic fluid, which can perform the same types of cycle as the second thermodynamic fluid. This is not limiting the nature and the number of thermodynamic fluids and thermodynamic cycles that can implement the device and method according to the invention, nor its configurations. Figure 27 illustrates two thermodynamic cycles, the one performed by air, and the one performed by the thermodynamic fluid performing the Ericsson cycle. The air can in particular perform a cycle with almost zero energy balance, as described in FIG. 1 (no work produced or consumed, all the heat generated by the reactions used by the second thermodynamic fluid performing the Ericsson cycle). the air circuit is then in particular: suction of the outside fresh air (2-1), which enters the SSCS (8-1) from which it comes warmed up and compressed at 1.a pressure prevailing in the chamber reaction of the SSSC, to enter the reheating line of a SSER (9-1) of the air circuit and then into the reaction chamber of the SSSC 20 (3) common to the two circuits, from which it comes out in the state of combustion air (nitrogen and carbon dioxide ...) to enter the cooling line of the SSER (9-1) of the air circuit, from which it emerges to perform adiabatic expansion in an SSDS (6-1 ), from where it appears at a pressure and a temperature close to the atmospheric conditions. Propulsion members (47) provide air circulation. The SSSC is common to both circuits. The other provisions relating to the second circuit are identical to those of FIG. 22. The axes of rotation of the adiabatic compression and adiabatic expansion devices can in particular be coupled. A special case is where neither the SSCS nor the SSDS produce a significant variation in pressure. The devices constituting the SSCS and the SSDS are then gaseous fluid transfer devices (fans or blowers), the SSSC reaction chamber operates at atmospheric pressure, and the SSDS may disappear. The air can also perform other thermodynamic cycles, generating or not working, including an open Brayton cycle without recirculation, the SSER of the air circuit is then deleted. The air may also cycle without compression or expansion or reheat, where it is drawn in by a fan or blower, introduced into the reaction chamber, and discharged hot. In addition to and / or variants of the configurations for implementing the device and method of the invention, the following provisions can be implemented: the materials, solid or in coating, of the components of the device and method are chosen in particular and developed to be compatible with the materials with which they are in contact and to withstand operating conditions, including corrosion by said materials and high temperatures; 45 - some of the components may be lined, especially outside, with a thermal insulating material to prevent heat exchanges with the outside, as well as excessive temperatures outside the circuit; it is also possible to implement mutual thermal insulation arrangements between different zones of the same apparatus or between different related apparatuses; - Some components can be cooled, to maintain them in a range of temperature ensuring their performance and / or integrity; the cooling of certain components may optionally be carried out by thermodynamic fluid and / or calocontactor, which is heated during this operation; - Zones operating at a desired pressure can be defined within the device by reducing and increasing pressure pumps acting on a calocontactor, or a coolant; the different devices acting on the flow rate and / or the pressure of a fluid or a mixture of fluids may optionally have a variable speed, and / or be equipped with braking devices and / or preventing rotation in the opposite direction, and / or the axes of rotation of several of these devices can be the subject of a fixed coupling c, disengageable, in a fixed or variable coupling ratio; thermodynamic cycles, comprising at least one step of expansion at high initial temperature and producing mechanical energy and at least one compression step at low initial temperature, and / or configurations, different from those described above. can be implemented by the device and method, according to the basic principles of the invention presented above; the configurations of the sub-systems characteristic of the device and method of the invention and / or their arrangements presented above may have variants, in particular by: the embodiment of configurations, notably implementing several thermodynamic cycles, according to the principles of the invention; and may be different from those explicitly described above by constituting further arrangements from the SSSC, SSSF, SSER, SSDC, SSDS, SSCC, SSCS subsystems, as discussed above, * the fact that steps of a thermodynamic cycle and / or operations performed by or on a thermodynamic fluid and / or a calocontactor presented above as performed in a given subsystem may optionally be performed in a subsystem connected thereto, thermodynamic parameters, such as pressures and temperatures, may be slightly different of those described above, in particular due to pressure losses, efficiency of expansion and / or compression devices, and energy losses, parallel and / or in series, within the configurations of device and method explicitly presented above, of similar subsystems, among the subsystems presented above, * the parallel and / or series in the same subsystem among the seven subsystems mentioned above, of devices components or functions constituting the sub system, * the optional implementation in the SSSF of provisions and apparatuses for optionally recovering the residual kinetic energy of a thermodynamic fluid when the latter is rejected externally, in particular to transfer it to the air taken outside to replace the quantity rejected, 45 * the realization by a calocontactor of one or more functions complementary s, for example a physico-chemical treatment of the thermodynamic fluid, * the integration of devices, functions or sub-systems within the same component or under systems, * the insertion of apparatus, functions and / or under complementary systems, and not mentioned in the description of the seven sub-systems mentioned above, or in the configurations explicitly presented above, and / or: o complementary heat inputs, ° circuits for thermolysis and / or gasification of reagents CHON, o circuits and / or arrangements for cold start and shutdown, and in particular for: - reheating the circuits where calocontactors have solidified, or before their introduction, - initial rotation of the devices including compression and / or expansion, - bring a reaction chamber to the trigger temperatures of the reactions, and trigger them, - drain calocontactors, or coolants, so that they can be stored and / or solidify under suitable conditions, * arrangements to regulate the quantities and levels of heat-shock in the various apparatuses and zones in which phases 1, 2, 3 or 4 are carried out, in particular by adjusting the flow rates of transfer of calocontactor, * mixtures of thermodynamic fluids of the same nature and the common use of certain apparatus or sub-systems, * sub-prints and mixtures of calocontactor and / or thermodynamic fluid, within the same subsystem, * circulation of calocontactor and / or thermodynamic fluid from one subsystem to another and not previously described, * the existence of components, devices or sub-systems performing operations not directly related to the characteristics specific to the invention, such as associated with provisions relating to safety, security, surveillance or maintenance, * the pooling of a function, a subsystem or a fluid, such as that of the SSSC, and a hot calocontactor feeding several thermodynamic cycles, * the switching of a function or operation of a subsystem or a wax on another, * coupling, fixed, disengageable or adjustable, axes of rotation between devices including expansion, fluid transfer, with or without pressure increase or reduction, * the implementation of a cycle may differ from the Brayton cycle as presented above, such as, but not exclusively: ° when the cycle is an adiabatic expansion cycle, cooling to adiabatic compression, heating, where heating and / or cooling, may not be isobaric, for example if apparatus or apparatuses of compression and / or expansion are of reciprocating type, such as piston, or optionally, when a second thermodynamic fluid initially liquid, such as water, can be introduced and mixed with With the thermodynamic fluid during the heating step, continuously or discontinuously, and the mixture then performs the almost adiabatic expansion, such an introduction, when intermittent, may for example be used to promote an increase in speed and / or or high pressure of the device and method, * the implementation of combined cycles, including recovering heat from a thermodynamic cycle to transfer it to another thermodynamic cycle, * cogeneration, being able to use in parallel, for (1) other uses than the production of mechanical energy, the heat available in the device and / or at the level of the primary heat source and / or at the level of the heat discharges to the outside; the same given application of the device and method can be the subject of reconfigurations or variations of operating modes such that, and not limited to: the combination or alternation of reaction control modes in a reaction chamber traversed by a thermodynamic fluid, especially if it contains oxygen taken from or with outside air and that this oxygen is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat in the reaction chamber, and where this control and control can alternatively perform the thermal inert provided by a calocontactor in the chamber, that is to say by the implementation of a phase 4, and alternatively by limiting the amount of oxygen introduced into the chamber, by acting on the rate of recirculation of the thermodynamic fluid at the level of the SSSF, * the change at the level of the SSSF of a cold source fluid, such as water, on another fluid source fr oide, such as air, * switching from one primary heat source to another within a SSSC; the device and method can operate at different power levels, and achieve regime variations, and this can in particular be implemented: by modifying the number of cycles carried out per unit of time, that is to say generally by modifying the rotational speed of the devices acting on the flow rate of a thermodynamic fluid, and / or by modifying the mass of thermodynamic fluid performing a cycle, and / or by modifying the parameters characterizing quantitatively the thermodynamic cycle, in particular the pressures and temperatures at the terminals (Di cycle diagram, optionally by introducing discontinuously another thermodynamic fluid, * while adjusting the amount of primary heat received by a thermodynamic fluid, to ensure the operation of the device at the mechanical power level requested; -in some case, as a variant with respect to the properties of a calocontactor presented above, a part of a ca liquid locontactor can vaporize, but practically without participating in the generation of mechanical energy in the thermodynamic cycle (for example a cold calocontactor which vaporizes partially during a phase 3 in a SSSF); the device and method can optionally be implemented by reusing and / or reconfiguring components, subsystems or systems of the state of the art and already implemented in existing production systems, and optionally transforming, energy mechanical.

The qualitative and quantitative principles according to the invention for producing a relaxation, respectively compression, quasi isothermal of a compressible fluid, where it is mixed with a calocontactor during the thermodynamic transformation which have been presented above. , concerning the implementation of an expansion, respectively compression, quasi-isothermal, and phases 1, 2, or 3, according to the invention, can also be used in particular: - to constitute a system receiving mechanical energy, such as a refrigeration system or heat pump, in particular under the following conditions: * the device and process can implement a reverse thermodynamic cycle of Ericsson, or Carnot, or Rankine-Hirn, or Brayton, or a similar cycle to a reverse cycle of Brayton, but where the heating and / or cooling may not be isobaric, * the device and process may constitute a refrigeration system and to implement a thermodynamic cycle using air as a thermodynamic fluid and a liquid calocontactor, for example water, where: o air, initially at the high temperature and at the low pressure of its cycle, which is particularly the atmospheric pressure, performs an almost isothermal compression by being mixed with the liquid calocontactor, according to the provisions of the invention concerning the realization of phases 2, optionally 3, described above, then is separated from the calocontactor at the end of the almost isothermal compression, where the air then performs an adiabatic expansion, after which it reaches the low temperature and the low pressure of the cycle, and is made available for the cooling of the zones and / or components to be refrigerated, and even warms, at the low pressure of the cycle, ° it is then partially or totally rejected outside or recirculated in the thermodynamic cycle, some or all externally withdrawable air, for effecting the quasi-isothermal compression and the other stages of the cycle, the outgoing calocontactor reheated at the end of the quasi-isothermal compression stage, may: - either be cooled by direct contact with outside air, or by any other means of cooling, and be recirculated to accompany the air performing the almost isothermal compression step, - or, in particular in the case where the calocontactor is water, being released externally or in a circuit or volume related to the device and method, the new low-temperature calocontactor being taken externally to accompany the air in its quasi-isothermal compression step; or to perform a function of storage and restitution of the mechanical energy, in particular under the following conditions: the thermodynamic fluid is air which carries out a zero net energy balance cycle, where: the air, initially at the low pressure of its cycle, performs an almost isothermal compression where it receives, to store it, mechanical energy, being put in mixture with a liquid calocontactor according to the provisions of] the invention concerning the realization of phases 2, optionally 3, the compressed air can then be stored in one or more pressure tanks, optionally transferred to other tanks, and maintained for example at room temperature, where the air then carries out, apart from the preceding steps, a isothermal expansion, where it provides mechanical energy, restoring the previously received, being mixed with a liquid calocontactor, according to the provisions of the invention concerning the realization of phases 1, optionally 3, after which it is rejected externally; the thermodynamic cycle can be implemented by one and the same device, in particular fixed, performing an integrated storage function for the return of mechanical energy, and the calocontactor can be: either in a closed circuit preferably thermally isolated from outside, especially with two capacities, the colder one, where the calocontactor is taken to accompany the quasi-isothermal compression and where is rejected the calocontactor having the almost isothermal relaxation, and the other warmer, where is taken the calocontactor to accompany the almost isothermal expansion and where the calocontactor which accompanied the quasi-isothermal compression is rejected, either in an open circuit or partially open to the outside, the thermodynamic cycle can also be implemented by two disjoint devices , one performing quasi-isothermal compression, the other performing the almost isothermal expansion, the latter being able to nt be a mobile device carrying with it the stored compressed air, * the calocontactor used is in particular a liquid with melting temperature low enough not to solidify during the relaxation, and which, leaving cooled after the almost isothermal expansion, can be heated by direct contact with the outside air, or by any other means of heating * optionally the devices performing the quasi-isothermal compression can be the same as those performing the almost isothermal expansion, adapting and configuring them a suitable way for this purpose; or for other implementations and applications of a relaxation and / or quasi-isothermal compression of a compressible fluid.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODS OF IMPLEMENTING THE DEVICE AND METHOD ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION

Examples of applications are presented below, in which the device and method uses: a thermodynamic cycle of Ericsson, and optionally another cycle, one or two thermodynamic cycles of Brayt: on, or an intermediate configuration, using air as a thermodynamic fluid.

Examples of applications where the device implements an Ericsson cycle include the following four. EXAMPLE 1 The device can be inter alia configured in the following application, in which the device uses a thermodynamic cycle of Ericsson, where the thermodynamic fluid and the calocontactor are totally isolated from the outside, by sealed walls. which makes it possible to use a wide range of thermodynamic fluids and calocontactors. The configuration is that of FIG. 22. The thermodynamic fluid is a rare gas or a mixture of gases. rare, such as helium and / or argon. Hot, intermediate and cold calocontactors are a low melting point metal or metal alloy, such as an alkali metal or alloy in the liquid state, especially sodium or a sodium-potassium mixture. The SSER is configured according to FIG. 21 and implements in all its modules the mixture and the heat exchange against the current between the thermodynamic fluid and an intermediate calocontactor, and comprises several modules, or one and only uses this case only one intermediate calocontactor, such as the alkaline potassium (78%) / sodium (22%), where the percentages relate to the mass of the elements. The SSSF is in particular in the configuration of FIG. 13 or 14 and implements the mixing and the countercurrent heat exchange between the thermodynamic fluid and a cold calocontactor, which transfers heat to one or more cold source fluids in wall exchangers, optionally via one or more intermediate heat exchangers and wall exchangers, as illustrated in FIG. 14, and the cold calocontactor may also be an alkaline mixture such as potassium (78%) / sodiurn (22%) , and the cold source fluid is in particular the water of a river or a body of water or atmospheric air. The SSDC expansion and SSCC compression devices are rotary, dynamic or volumetric, adapted according to the principles presented above. The axes of rotation of the SSDC and SSCC machines can in particular be coupled, optionally by a ratio coupling * stable and / or disengageable. The primary heat is transmitted to the hot heat exchanger through the walls of one or more wall exchangers in the SSSC, where the nature and / or modes of generation of the primary heat may notably be as follows: generating the primary heat, which may be of varied nature, can be in particular a material whose molecules, atoms or their sub-constituents are at the origin of this generation, transferring the heat, in particular by conduction and / or convection, to the hot calocontactor circulating along the walls separating it from said seat medium from the generation of the primary heat, said medium possibly being in the solid, liquid or gaseous state, or partially in the liquid and / or solid and / or gaseous state, and the substances giving rise to the reactions and / or the products or residues resulting therefrom may be introduced or renewed and / or discharged continuously or discontinuously, or the primary heat can come from solar radiation, for example concentrated, by mirror systems to the walls of a receiving zone inside which the hot heat circulator circulates, - or the primary heat can also be generated in a reaction chamber by combustion of CHON materials, for example coal, with the oxygen of the air, which is in particular entirely consumed by the reactions of: combustion, and: 25 * it may be a particular combustion at atmospheric pressure in bed (solid fuel fragmented, the heat is transmitted to the surface of the walls. I the other side of which circulates the hot calocontactor, including conduction through the fragmented material, for example coal given its conductivity high thermal, it can also be a combustion in a fluidized bed combustion chamber, or rotary, such as a vortex, the walls of the exchangers placed in the combustion chamber being traversed internally by the hot calocontactor, * the reaction chamber can be pressurized and the atmospheric air can in particular achieve a net zero cycle cycle of work and heat exchanged with the outside 35 consisting of adiabatic compression, then a regenerative heating, then enter and exit the reaction chamber, then a regenerative cooling, then an adiabatic expansion, and the air circuit comprises an SSCS, a SSER and an SSDS, and passes through the SSSC, * or an open Brayton cycle, and the air circuit includes SSCS, SSSC and 40 SSDS, * the reaction chamber can also operate at atmospheric pressure, in which case the SSCS is replaced by a transfer device gaseous fluids, and the SSDS may disappear, * the SSSC and / or other subsystems of the air circuit may comprise devices 45 performing physico-chemical treatments, such as DeSOx, DeNOx operations capture carbon dioxide, filter dust and fumes, before rejecting combustion air outside. The mechanical energy produced by the device can in particular be used for the propulsion of vehicles and / or transformed into electrical energy via an alternator. The low pressure of the cycle can be of the order of 105 to some 106 Pa, the high pressure of the order of 106 to 2x107 Pa, and the compression ratio of 5 to 30. The theoretical thermodynamic efficiency of the device is r1 = 1 - (TD / TB). With typically TD = -320 ° K and TB = 1000 ° K at 1200 ° K, rl is equal to 0.68 to 0.73.

Example 2. The thermodynamic fluid carries out an Ericsson cycle and evolves while being isolated from the outside, but the hot calocontactor can be brought into contact with the outside. This configuration is applicable for example to a geothermal power plant. The underground geothermal heat source zone can be spontaneously active, with the existence of hot geothermal water or brines under pressure. These can be captured by keeping them under pressure and introduced into the device and method of the invention. It is also possible to activate the geothermal zone by injecting water, which can also be captured under pressure and introduced into the device (at the SSSC). It is also possible to activate the geothermal zone by injecting, for example, an organic liquid remaining in the liquid state at the maximum temperature encountered in the geothermal zone. Hot calocontactor is an organic liquid immiscible with water. In any case, a cycle of Ericsson can be carried out: either by introducing water or hot geothermal brine under pressure into a liquid-liquid mixer-exchanger, where the second liquid is an organic fluid in the liquid state, or by recovering in the SSSC this hot organic fluid if it has been injected into a geothermal zone. The two configurations of the SSSC are given in FIGS. 28 and 29. In FIG. 28, the geothermal water (50) entering the SSSC (3) circulates in a mixing unit 25 - exchanger - separator with liquid-liquid counterflow ( 43) and transfers heat to the hot contact sensor (1C) from the SSDC, introduced, in particular via a pressure reduction pump (44), into (43) from which it exits heated and is transferred via, in particular, a heat pump. increasing pressure (45) in a countercurrent-gas-liquid separator-exchanger mixer (46) where it transfers additional heat to the thermodynamic fluid (2), and leaves the SSSC either from (46) as shown in FIG. 28, preferably from (43) and via a pressure increase pump (the calocontactor exiting from (46) being then recirculated in (43)), to accompany the thermodynamic fluid in its almost isothermal expansion in the SSDC. In FIG. 29, the hot calocontactor (1C), originating from the SSDC and transferred by a pump, in particular a pressure reducing pump (44), is directly introduced into the geothermal subterranean zone, where it remains in the liquid state, and , thus heated, is introduced into the SSSC (3) via a pump (31), optionally undergoes a physicochemical treatment (separation of other solids and liquids, etc.) in the apparatus (52), is transferred via a pump in particular for increasing the pressure (45), 40 in a mixer - countercurrent separator - liquid-to-gas (46), where it transfers additional heat to the thermodynamic fluid (2), and leaves the SSSC either from (46) as shown in FIG. 29, preferably from (43) and via a pressure increase pump (the calocontactor exiting from (46) being then recirculated in (43)), to accompany the thermodynamic fluid in his relaxation 45 almost isothermal in the SS DC. An organic fluid can also be used as an intermediate heat sink in the SSER, for example consisting of a single module. The thermodynamic fluid may be, for example, nitrogen. The cold calocontactor can be in particular the water of the cold source.

The compression ratio can be of the order of 5 to 10. The low pressure can be of the order of 105 to 10 Pa. The theoretical yield depends on the temperature of the geothermal zone. With TD = 310 ° K and TB = 500 ° K, the theoretical yield ri is equal to 0.38. Example 3. The thermodynamic fluid carries out a cycle of Ericsson and is not isolated from the outside and exchange of the material with the ambient air. The primary heat is generated in a reaction chamber by the reactions between the oxygen, taken with the outside air, an alkali metal X, and water, in proportions of one mole of alkali metal for 0.5 mole of water and 0.25 mole of oxygen, according to the following reactions X + H2O - * XOH + '/ 2 112,' / 2 H2 +02 - * 'h H2O, and materializing by the overall balance X + H2O + '/ 402 - * XOH. Alternatively, the primary heat is generated by the reaction of an alkali metal hydride with the oxygen of the air. XOH hydroxide in the liquid state, the device operating at a temperature significantly higher than the melting temperature of the hydroxide, acts as a kaocontactor in the reaction chamber for the control and stabilization of reactions and temperature, and to accompany the thermodynamic fluid in its relaxation in the SSDC. The excess hydroxide evacuated from the reaction chamber may be used to heat the alkali metal, optionally water, prior to introduction into the reaction chamber. The thermodynamic fluid is nitrogen (with possibly small amounts of water vapor and hydrogen or oxygen) in the portions of the thermodynamic fluid circuit between the output of the SSSC reaction chamber and the partial discharge to the the outside of the thermodynamic fluid within the SSSF, and where then a fraction of fresh air is taken out brings the necessary oxygen to the reactions and replaces the nitrogen fraction released. The SSER can in particular be configured according to FIG. 21 with two modules, the first using, for example, as the first intermediate calocontactor XOH hydroxide in the liquid state, the second using a calocontactor remaining liquid on the complementary range of temperature, up to at the low temperature of the cycle, or else consists of a gas-to-gas regeneration exchanger with walls (the SSER may optionally also consist solely of such an exchanger). The SSDC and SSCC compression devices are rotary, volumetric or dynamic. The compression ratio can be of the order of 5 to 10. The device can thus be a propulsion engine including massive vehicles (trains, boats) emitting no CO2. It can also be coupled to an alternator and constitute a power station or an electric generator that emits no CO2. XOH hydroxide may in particular be recovered and retransfibrmé alkali metal X, including electrolysis, in suitable facilities, and the recycled alkali metal, to be used again by devices in this configuration. With typically TB = 320 ° K and TB = 900 ° K at 1100 ° K, the theoretical yield r1 is 0.64 to 0.71. Example 4 The device carries out two thermodynamic cycles: an open Brayton cycle or that described in FIG. 1, carried out by air whose oxygen is used in combustion reactions of CHON materials generating the primary heat, and a closed and externally isolated Ericsson cycle, carried out by nitrogen, or a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, as a second thermodynamic fluid. The general scheme of this arrangement is given in Fig. 27, in the case where the air carries out the cycle of Fig. 1. When the air performs an open Brayton cycle, the air SSER (9-1) is suppressed. In this application, CHON materials are especially pulverized coal.

In the case where the air carries out the cycle of FIG. 1, as described in FIG. 27, the air (2-1) taken from the atmosphere at pressure and ambient temperature performs adiabatic compression in the SSCS. (8-1) then enters the regenerator exchanger of the air circuit (9-1) operating against the current where it performs isobaric heating and is introduced into the reaction chamber of the SSSC (3). The operation of the reaction chamber is that described in FIG. 12. In the reaction chamber (34-1) there is, in a dispersed mixture: the materials of composition CHON, in particular pulverized coal (38) introduced by a device of introduction (39), - air (2-1) whose oxygen is entirely consumed in the reactions, and converted into carbon dioxide, so as to have a maximum primary heat release in the volume of the chamber reaction, and non-oxidizing downstream conditions, - the hot calocontactor 1 (1C-1) which is here a powdered solid refractory and resistant to the conditions prevailing inside the reaction chamber (at high temperature, at the oxidation by oxygen still present ...), for example silica, -the residues (ashes) of the combustion of coal (40). The combustion air mixture, unconsumed coal particles, hot calocontactor 1 and residues exiting the reaction chamber (34-1) enter a separating device (30) for separating the spent non-consumed pulverized coal which is recycled into the combustion chamber. chamber (34-1), the residues, which are evacuated, the hot calocontactor 1 (1C-1), and the combustion air (2-1). This may contain, in addition to nitrogen and carbon dioxide resulting from the consumption of oxygen, SOx due to the possible presence of sulfur in the coal. In order to avoid the release of SOx into the atmosphere, which would be harmful to the environment, the combustion air (2-1) leaving (34-1) enters a DeSOx treatment apparatus (152), consisting of in a treatment chamber, in which pulverized calcium carbonate is introduced. The combustion air, free of SOx, comes out, as well as the calcium sulphate that has formed and optionally some of the unused calcium carbonate, from the DeSOx apparatus (52) to enter a separator (not shown). 12), from which the calcium sulphate is discharged, via a transfer device, the calcium carbonate, which is recycled from the DeSOx apparatus, the combustion air (FIG. 1). The hot calocontactor 1 (1C-1), propelled by the transfer apparatus (42-1), enters the powdered solid-liquid countercurrent mixer (43) where it transfers its calories to the hot calocontactor. 2 (1C-2) which is for example a liquid metal, in particular tin (with respect to which the thermodynamic fluid 2 - nitrogen or nitrogen and CO2 - and the hot calocontactor 1, in particular pulverulent silica, are chemically inert ). The heated hot air convector 2 (1C-2) will act as a hot air switch against the thermodynamic fluid 2 (2-2) which is nitrogen or a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, and which carries out a cycle of Ericsson La Following the process is identical to the description of the rest of Figure 12, which disappears the circuit portion of the calocontactor 3 and the thermodynamic fluid 3. The entire interior walls of the apparatus in contact with the hot calocontactor 2 and the transfer piping , are coated with a material resistant to liquid tin. The choice of two different hot airconductors is to allow the extraction of heat by the calocontactor 1, pulverulent silica, in the reaction chamber, the silica resistant to these conditions, including in the presence of oxygen, while avoiding that the heat sink hot 2, tin, does not oxidize too much, which would be the case if it was introduced directly into the room. The axis of rotation of the SSDC devices can be coupled with that of an electric alternator, and the device thus constitutes a coal-fired power plant based on an Ericsson cycle. By way of illustration, for T1 = 1200 ° K and T2 = 300 ° K, the theoretical yield of the device is ri = 1-T2 / T1 = 0.75. The low pressure can be between 105 and 106 Pa, the compression ratio of the SSCC, and the expansion of the SSDC, can be of the order of 5 to 30, the pressure in the combustion chamber can be of the order of 105 and 106 Pa.

When it is equal to 105 Pa, that is to say at atmospheric pressure, the thermodynamic cycle carried out by the air is reduced to a cooling heating in the designated air SSER (9-1) in FIG. 27 (the points D and A of FIG. 1 are then combined) and the apparatus of the SSCS (8-1) and SSDS (6-1) are reduced to gaseous fluid transfer devices and the device only realizes one Ericsson's only cycle of thermodynamic mechanical energy generator. In the configuration where the combustion air carries out a Brayton cycle, the axis of rotation of the SSDS (6-1) is coupled to that of an alternator which thus produces the electricity complementary to that delivered by the alternator. principal coupled to the SSDC (5).

Examples of applications where the device uses one or two open Brayton cycles, or an intermediate configuration, use air as a thermodynamic fluid. Example 5 The device carries out an externally open internal combustion Brayton cycle and notably constitutes an engine, in particular for the propulsion of vehicles, and flexibly using CHON fuels consumed with the oxygen of the air, especially fragmented solids, in particular finely divided solids, such as materials of vegetable origin - wood, biomass, charcoal -, coke, coal preferably with a low body content other than CHON, and / or pasty CHON fuels liquids - such as oils, greases, alcohols, hydrocarbons or gases, or mixtures of these different fuels, possibly containing a fraction of water. The configuration is illustrated in Figure 30. The air is the thermodynamic fluid (2). The oxygen in the air is partially consumed during combustion reactions. Compared to Figure 29, the SSSF is reduced to the total evacuation of the reaction air and the suction of fresh air, the propulsion of the fluid is provided by the SSCS (8) and the SSDS (6). ), the fresh air is sucked at the inlet of the SSCS (8) and the combustion air is rejected at the exit of the SSDS (6), optionally after a physicochemical treatment. The SSCS (8) consists of one or more volumetric type compression devices, in particular piston, vane, spiral, lobe or screw type, or dynamic, in particular axial turbocharger type, the apparatus being in particular arranged in series if there are more than one. The SSSC (3) comprises a combustion chamber (34) into which are introduced on the one hand the fuels, the quantities introduced being adjusted to release the amount of heat necessary for the thermodynamic cycle, (38-1) and (38-2 ) in an example where the device separately uses two types of fuel, and secondly the compressed fresh air, optionally a fraction of the hot calocontactor which could have been driven by the combustion air leaving the chamber, and so recycled, and the combustion chamber is in particular one or more vortex, as shown in Figure 31, or non-circulating fluidized bed, the combustion residues can be discharged continuously or discontinuously. The calocontactor is resident in the combustion chamber, or is recirculated continuously in the combustion chamber, it is non-reactive with respect to the various bodies or materials present in the chamber, and is in particular either a liquid or a solid spray, such as silica in the finely powdered state, and present in the combustion chamber in an amount adapted to ensure the control of combustion and temperature in a phase 4, optionally mixed with the residues, such as ash, combustion accumulated in the chamber and / or chemical or chemical treatment additives optionally introduced into the chamber. Optionally, a closed-loop recirculation circuit of a fraction of the thermodynamic fluid, possibly accompanied by a calocontactor, taken at the outlet of the combustion chamber and reintroduced therein by being propelled by a fluid transfer apparatus in the gaseous state. (47), can enhance the movement and mixing of materials in the combustion chamber. Optionally the chamber has moving parts that can enhance the movement and mixing of materials in the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber of the device may optionally be provided with a water introduction device, optionally preheated by the heat of the combustion air leaving the SSDS (6), this may promote an increase in speed and / or high pressure device and method. Optionally, one or more devices or devices can separate the calocontactor possibly driven by the thermodynamic fluid leaving the combustion chamber before the latter enters the SSDS, and the calocontactor thus recovered can be recycled into the combustion chamber, via in particular one or more fluid transfer apparatus in the liquid state or in the form of solids in divided form.

The SSDS (6) consists of one or more expansion devices, of volumetric type, including piston, vane, spiral, lobe or screw, or dynamic, in particular axial, type gas turbine, the devices being in particular arranged in series if there are several. The device may in particular comprise members (not shown in FIG. 30) acting on the passage of the thermodynamic fluid, nonreturn valves, valves or valves, in particular located between the exit of the SSDS (6) and the inlet of the chamber. combustion of the SSSC (3), and between the SSSC combustion chamber outlet (3) and the SSDS inlet (6). The device may optionally comprise intermediate capacities containing pressurized thermodynamic fluid, which may in particular constitute a stock of releasable mechanical energy and / or contribute to stabilizing the high pressure of the cycle. The axes of rotation of the SSCS (8) and SSDS (6) devices may be mechanically adjustable and / or disengageable coupling, they may be provided with braking devices and / or devices preventing the rotation in rotation. in the opposite direction, and the axis of rotation of the SSDS (6) drives the system transmitting the mechanical power, in particular via an adjustable coupling. Optionally, the thermodynamic cycle performed may differ from a Brayton cycle in that the heating, and / or cooling, may not be isobaric, especially if the device or the compression and / or expansion devices are of type alternative. Optionally, the combustible materials are dried and / or heated by the combustion air leaving the SSDS and / or thermolysis within the device and process and the thermolysis gases are burned in the reaction chamber, and the solids resulting from drying and / or thermolysis are optionally milled and or sprayed in a manner complementary to their initial fragmentation before being introduced into the reaction chamber.

The device is also notably equipped with sensors for measuring in particular the temperature and the pressure in the combustion chamber, the rotational speeds of the SSCS and SSDS devices, and the positions of the actuators. By acting on the actuators: valves and / or valves, brakes, quantity of fuel introduced into the chamber, optionally release of air from the storage capacity of compressed air, quantity of water injected, it is possible to make engine speed variations and adjust the power level, as well as regulate the pressure and temperature in the combustion chamber. The compression ratio of the SSCS, and relaxation of the SSDS, can be of the order of 5 to 33.

Under these conditions the theoretical yield ri is between 0.37 and 0.62. Example 5-Variant 1. The characteristics are similar, and the device constitutes a turbojet, particularly for the propulsion of aircraft. The SSCS is then a turbocharger, sucking the outside air, and the SSDS a turbomachine of relaxation, the turbocharger and the turbomachine having the same axis of rotation. An example of the arrangement of the reaction chamber, and the compressed air flow paths leaving the adiabatic compression stage, which is heated in the reaction chamber and then goes to the adiabatic expansion stage, is illustrated in FIG. 32, in which the combustion chamber (34) is of rotary type, such as a cyclone, and there are present the calocontactor, solid powdery, resident thanks to the effect of vortex, the air (2) and the CHON materials, especially pulverized solids, which consume there. The air, compressed by an SSCS consisting of a turbo compressor, not shown in FIG. 32 (longitudinal section on the left and cross section on the right), is introduced into the chamber (34) by a peripheral zone (53) and leaves the chamber (34) by a central zone (54), a chamber performing the function of centrifugal separator to confine the solids, denser. The heated air is then directed to an SSDS consisting of a turbine (not shown in Figure 32). This configuration can optionally be applied to a turboprop, or a ramjet. Example 5 - Variant 2. Oxygen reactants are alkali metal hydride XH or an alkali metal and X, and the calocontactor in the reaction chamber is the alkali metal hydroxide XOH formed at room temperature. the liquid state. The configuration is identical to that of Figure 30, but where it is alkali metal hydride, or alkali metal and water in the appropriate proportions, which are introduced into the chamber. A treatment or filtering of the air entering and / or leaving the SSDS can guarantee the absence of hydroxide. In such a configuration, the device produces a motor vehicle propulsion, including light, or alternatively, coupled to an alternator, an electric generator, without carbon dioxide emissions. Example 6. The arrangements are similar to those of Example 5, but with respect to the configuration of Example 5: air is the thermodynamic fluid and carries out an open thermodynamic cycle with recycle; the usable oxygen of the air is entirely consumed in the combustion chamber, in which the CHON fuels, when they are solid or pasty, may be introduced in fragmented form, optionally coarsely, and the combustion chamber may optionally not be contain calocontactor; 45 - as shown in Figure 33, the combustion air (2), instead of being discharged to the outside after the almost adiabatic expansion in the SSDS (6), flows in a SSSF (4) where, as illustrated in FIG. 16, it is cooled by a cold calocontactor during a plurality of phases 3, where optionally the calocontactor may vaporize in some of them, then be re-condensed in others, and where part of the air is discharged outside, to be replaced by outside fresh air, in such proportions that the quantity of oxygen present in the air entering the reaction chamber is equal to the amount necessary to generate the amount of primary heat required for the thermodynamic cycle; the fuels (38) are introduced by a suitable device (39) into the combustion chamber (34-1), which can be a solid fuel bed combustion chamber; when water is continuously accessible to the device, for example in the case of a vessel propelled by the device and method, the water can be used directly as a cold calocontactor; optionally, a fraction of the air containing oxygen and leaving the SSCS (8), may, via a switching device, in particular adjustable, bypass the reaction chamber and be re-mixed downstream, in particular in a secondary combustion chamber (34- 2) which can optionally contain a calocontactor, with the main flow of combustion air leaving the reaction chamber, and this in order to consume with oxygen carbon monoxide and / or pyrolysis or synthesis gases (such as that hydrocarbons, hydrogen ...) possibly contained in the combustion air, and to avoid the rejection to the atmosphere. In the optional bypass and second chamber configuration, operating conditions are set which limit any amounts of carbon monoxide and synthesis gas formed in the main combustion chamber (34-1), and where the amount of heat possibly released in the secondary chamber (34-2) is substantially less than that released in the chamber (34-1), unlike the cycles of the state of the techniques using the synthesis gas generation to operate a turbine gas. Example 7. In the configuration of this application example, illustrated in Figure 34, the air (2-1) performs a first cycle of Brayton, where it is adiabatically compressed in an SSCS-1 (8-1), introduced into a reaction chamber (34) where it performs a combustion of CHON materials, especially solid (38), optionally coarsely fragmented, introduced by the device (39), in the presence of a hot liquid circulator (1C), for example a salt or a mixture of molten salts, then the air relaxes in an SSDS-1 (6-1) and is discharged to the outside. Oxygen is in particular entirely consumed in combustion. The hot calocontactor is circulated in a mixer / exchanger / liquid gas countercurrent separator assembly (46), where it transfers its calories to the second thermodynamic fluid (2-2) which is also air, adiabatically compressed in an SSCS-2 (8-2) and which relaxes adiabatically in an SSDS •• 2 (6-2). Circulation of the hot air switch is ensured by liquid circulation pumps, in particular pressure increase and reduction pumps (45) and (44), in the case where the maximum pressures of the two Brayton cycles differ, and by pumps if they are identical. When optionally the reaction chamber is at atmospheric pressure, the SSCS-1 (8-1) then consists of a fluid transfer apparatus in the gaseous state and the SSDS-1 (6-1) disappears and the only motor cycle is that performed by the thermodynamic fluid (2-2). The SSSC (3), common to both cycles, consists of the reaction chamber where the combustion takes place, the equipment for introducing CHON materials, the equipment for discharging residues, the circuit for circulating the hot air heat exchanger. and the set of countercurrent separator / exchanger mixers The rotation speed of the SSCS-1 apparatus may be variable and adjusted to provide the oxygen supply required for the release of heat in the reaction chamber Optionally, when the maximum pressures of the two cycles of Brayton are identical, SSCS-1 (8-1) and SSDS-1 (6-1) are removed from the configuration of FIG. the air pipes (55-1) and (55-2) and an air routing device (57), which makes it possible to adjust the air flow, and hence the flow of oxygen, introduced into the combustion chamber (34), so that the amount of primary heat released is equal to the amount of heat necessary for the thermodynamic cycle.

REFERENCES

[1] JS. Bendat, AG. Piersol "Random Data: Analysis and Measurement Procedures" Wiley Interscience [2] J. Max "Methods and Techniques of Signal Processing and Applications to Physical Measurements" Masson [3] E. Roubine "Introduction to the Theory of Communication" Masson & Cie

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a monothermal thermodynamic cycle with zero net working and heat balance, FIG. 2 a Carnot cycle, FIG. 3 an Ericsson cycle, FIG. 4 the approximation of an isothermal expansion by a succession of adiabatic relaxations and isobaric reheating. Figure 5 illustrates a Brayton cycle and Figure 6 a similar cycl e, but where the compression is isothermal. FIG. 7 illustrates the evolution of the temperatures in a staged compression of a thermodynamic fluid and a calocontactor. FIG. 8 illustrates the adaptation of a dynamic axial apparatus for relaxing or compressing a thermodynamic fluid with a calocontactor, as well as FIG. 9 in the case of a vane volumetric apparatus, and likewise FIG. 10 in the case of a device with lobes. Figure 11 illustrates a mixing apparatus - exchanger - vortex centrifugal separator. Fig. 12 shows a configuration of SSSC, Figs. 13 to 20 of SSSF configurations, and Fig. 21 a configuration of SSER. FIG. 22 shows a configuration of the device performing a quasi-cycle of this Ericsson, likewise FIG. 23 for a quasi-Carnot cycle, FIG. 24 for a Brayton cycle, FIG. 25 for a Rankine-Hirn cycle, FIG. 26 for a similar cycle, but where the adiabatic relaxation is preceded by an almost isothermal relaxation. Figure 27 shows a configuration of the device performing two thermodynamic cycles. FIGS. 28 and 29 show two configurations of SSSC 'in an example of application of the device to geothermal energy and performing an Ericsson cycle. FIG. 30 shows an application configuration of the device where it carries out an internal combustion Brayton cycle. and partial consumption of oxygen, Figure 31 illustrates combustion chamber configurations associated with this application and this even Figure 32 in the case of a turbojet. Fig. 33 shows a configuration of the device for a similar application, but where oxygen is completely consumed in the reaction chamber. Figure 34 illustrates a Brayton two-cycle internal combustion configuration and a hot calocontactor flowing between the two cycles.

Claims (18)

A thermodynamic method for producing mechanical energy from at least one primary source of heat in which at least one thermodynamic fluid carries out a thermodynamic cycle, characterized in that: said thermodynamic cycle comprises at least one compression phase and a relaxation phase, and / or at least one heat-receiving phase, and / or at least one cooling phase, of said thermodynamic fluid, during a heat-receiving phase and / or a cooling phase and / or compression and expansion phases, the thermodynamic fluid 10 is mixed with a calocontactor in divided form (15, 25), at least a part of said calocontactor remaining in divided form and dispersed in the thermodynamic fluid, and in movement relative to to him, during all of said phase, in order to achieve heat exchange between them, said calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid being separated at the end of said phase (17), 15 * during a compression phase, and / or of expansion and / or of heat reception, the calocontactor brings, to the thermodynamic fluid mixed with it, a thermal inertia making it possible to control and stabilize the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid, and has a heat volume at least ten times higher than that of the thermodynamic fluid. 20 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the thermodynamic cycle is a Brayton cycle, and the thermodynamic fluid comes from air taken outside, this thermodynamic fluid containing oxygen which is involved in chemical reactions with at least one reactive agent, these reactions generating the primary heat. 3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that said chemical reactions are combustion reactions and said at least one reactive agent is a fragmented solid carbonaceous fuel. 4. Method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: - said phase of mixing with a calocontactor is a heat-receiving phase, the primary heat-generating reactions take place during said heat-receiving phase, only a portion of the oxygen which occurs in the reactions generating the primary heat during said heat-receiving phase is consumed during said reactions generating the primary heat, the calocontactor, mixed with the thermodynamic fluid (15, 25). ) during said heat-receiving phase, it is in a predetermined minimum quantity to provide the mixture with a thermal inertia and a time constant necessary for controlling and stabilizing the reactions generating the primary heat and / or the temperature of the heat. thermodynamic fluid, -ledit at least one agent reactive with oxygen is introduced into the mixture calocontactor-thermo fluid during said heat-receiving phase, and said at least one oxygen reactive agent is introduced in such quantities that the temperature of the thermodynamic fluid during said heat-receiving phase is maintained between predetermined minimum and maximum values. 5. Method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the thermodynamic fluid, cooled at the end of a cooling phase, is partially recycled by being mixed with additional air taken from the outside, and all of the oxygen which is involved in the reactions generating the primary heat and contained in the additional cooling-air thermodynamic fluid mixture is consumed by said reactions generating the primary heat, and: the quantity of oxygen, taken with the additional air, is adjusted so that the amount of primary heat, generated by the reactions of said oxygen with said at least one reagent, is equal to a predetermined amount of heat, - said at least one reagent is overabundant and is partially consumed during said reactions with oxygen. 6. Method according to any one of claims 2, 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that at least a portion of the heat contained in the thermodynamic fluid at the end of a relaxation phase is transferred to another thermodynamic fluid which performs another thermodynamic cycle, said part of the heat constituting a primary source of heat of said other thermodynamic cycle. I0 7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that during heat transfer at least one mixing phase between a thermodynamic fluid and a calocontactor is performed. 8. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the calocontactor implemented during a heat-receiving phase, transfers heat to another part of the Brayton cycle, or to another thermodynamic cycle. 9. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that the cycle followed by the thermodynamic fluid is an Ericsson cycle or a Carnot cycle, where during a compression phase and / or a relaxation phase, the The calocontactant is mixed with the thermodynamic fluid under predetermined conditions and quantities which ensure quasi-isothermal conditions. 10. Process according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the calocontactor is introduced (15) and mixed (25) with the thermodynamic fluid in a progressive manner. 11. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 characterized in that the calocontactor is removed (17) of the thermodynamic fluid in a progressive manner. 12. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the calocontactor is introduced (15) and mixed (25) with the thermodynamic fluid in several steps. 13. Thermodynamic device for implementing the method for producing mechanical energy according to any one of claims 1 to 12, said device being characterized: * in that it comprises mixing means (25) and / or introduction means (15) for a calocontactor to be and remains mixed, in divided and dispersed form, with a thermodynamic fluid during at least one phase of the thermodynamic cycle, and in that it comprises extraction means ( 17) for extracting the calocontactor during a phase of the thermodynamic cycle and / or separation means to separate it at the end of said phase. 14. Device according to claim 13, characterized in that a calocontactor is a material in the liquid state. 15. Device according to one of claims 13 or 14, characterized in that a calocontactor is a solid material divided in granular or powder form. 16. Device according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that a calocontactor consists of solids divided in suspension in a liquid. 17. Device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that it is an internal combustion engine: * using as reactive agent one or more fragmented solid fuel fuels and / or other fuel fuels with oxygen, * performing at least one thermodynamic cycle of Brayton, where the thermodynamic fluid comes from air taken from outside the device, the oxygen-containing air which is involved in combustion reactions with at least an agentreactant, these reactions generating the primary heat, said thermodynamic cycle comprising at least one adiabatic compression phase (8), a heat-receiving phase simultaneously with reactions generating the primary heat, and an adiabatic expansion phase (6), said device comprising at least one combustion chamber (34) in which reactions between oxygen and said fuel fuels take place. 18. Device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that the thermodynamic cycle carried out by said device is a cycle of Ericsson: * comprising at least one quasi isothermal compression means (7) with mixing with a calocontactor, * comprising at least one substantially isothermal expansion means (5) with mixing with a calocontactor, * and wherein a thermodynamic fluid heating means and a cooling means of the thermodynamic fluid are combined to form a means allowing transferring all the heat of the thermodynamic fluid during cooling, to the same thermodynamic fluid during its heating, to form a regenerator exchanger (9), and where the heat transfer to the thermodynamic fluid in the means of heating is carried out by mixing between at least one calocontactor and the thermodynamic fluid, and this exchanger-regenerator performs a counter-current heat exchange function of the thermodynamic fluid on itself, where the thermodynamic fluid leaving the quasi-isothermal expansion means enters said exchanger-regenerator, runs through the cooling means and leaves cooled, giving way to the heat to the same thermodynamic fluid, during its heating in the heating means, which it comes warmed.