JP2000027701A - Stirling engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To equalize quantity of heat absorbed by each heater by locating four heaters at the upstream and downstream of hot gas by half respectively and equalizing heat transfer amount to the two heaters on the downstream side and heat transfer amount of two heaters on the upstream side by providing a balancing means. SOLUTION: Because conversion efficiency is lowered when a difference is generated between works performed by working medium flowing in heaters, a balancing means is provided for equalizing a temperature of working medium flowing within a heater 15A on an upstream side and a temperature of working medium flowing within a heater 15B on a downstream side. In this conversion means, a heater tube of the heater 15B on the downstream side is provided with a fin 21, and area where the heater 15B on the downstream side is exposed to hot gas and area where the heater 15A on the upstream side is exposed to hot gas are increased by fixed amount as a whole. As a result, quantity of heat that each heater absorbs is equalized and output lowering of an engine is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a Stirling engine, and particularly to a heater for the Stirling engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 1, a Stirling engine 10 has four cylinders 11 having a phase difference of 90 degrees.
A, 11B, 11C, and 11D are arranged on concentric circles. Thus, the cylinders 11A, 11B, 11C and 1
1D has pistons 12A, 12B, 12C inside, respectively.
And 12D are vertically movably mounted, and the cylinder 1
Inside 1A, an expansion chamber 13A and a compression chamber 14A are formed above and below the piston 12A, respectively. Similarly, an expansion chamber 13B is provided inside the cylinder 11B.
The compression chamber 14B has an expansion chamber 13C and a compression chamber 14C formed inside the cylinder 11C, and the cylinder 11D has an expansion chamber 13D and a compression chamber 14D formed therein.

[0003] Adjacent expansion chamber 13A and compression chamber 14B, adjacent expansion chamber 13B and compression chamber 14C, adjacent expansion chamber 1
3C and the compression chamber 14D, and the adjacent expansion chamber 13D and the compression chamber 14A are each provided with a heater 1 in the form of a heater tube.
5. The working space is formed between the expansion chamber and the compression chamber adjacent to each other through the regenerator 16 and the cooler 17. In each working space, a working medium is filled with helium or another gas, and when the heater 15 is heated by heat from the direction A due to the flame from the combustor 16, the pistons 12A, 12B, 12C are well known. And 12D are 9
A reciprocating up and down movement is performed with a phase difference of 0 degree, and a rotation output is taken out from an output mechanism 19 having a swash plate 18 as a main component.

[0004]

However, when high-temperature waste heat generated in an incinerator is used as a heat source of the above-mentioned Stirling engine, the combustor 17 is removed and the high-temperature waste heat flowing in the B direction is heated. The vessel 15 will be exposed.
Thus, the heater 15 is actually composed of a large number of hitter tubes as shown in FIG. 2, and when the heat flows in the direction A in FIG. When the fluid flows in the direction B in 2, the amount of heat transmitted to each heater 15 and the temperature of the working medium vary. This is because the entire heater 15 looks like a circle, and the heat gas is guided around the circumference, and the amount of heat absorbed from the inside of the heater 15 is unbalanced. The imbalance results in an imbalance in the conversion efficiency of each working medium, resulting in a decrease in engine output. By the way, when the experiment was performed under the same conditions, assuming that the engine output when the heat flows in the direction A is 1, the engine output when the heat flows in the direction B becomes about 0, 7, and Only a change in direction resulted in about a 30 percent reduction in engine power.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a Stirling engine which eliminates such a problem.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems Means taken in claim 1 to solve the above problems (first technical means)
The working space from the expansion chamber to the compression chamber is formed by connecting the adjacent expansion chamber and compression chamber via a heater comprising a number of heater tubes, a regenerator, and a cooler. In a Stirling engine in which a working gas is sealed in a space and four cylinders provided with the expansion chambers are arranged concentrically so as to form a phase difference of 90 degrees, the four heaters are each heated by a hot gas. And a Stirling engine having a balance means so as to equalize the amount of heat transferred to the two downstream heaters and the amount of heat transferred to the two upstream heaters. That is.

[0007]

In the above construction (first technical means), each heater is exposed to substantially the same amount of hot gas and the temperature of the downstream heater and the temperature of the upstream heater are compared. Since the temperatures of the heaters are substantially equalized, the amounts of heat absorbed by the respective heaters are equalized as a whole, and the conventional trouble does not occur.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 shows various examples of the embodiment of the present invention.
The description will be made with reference to FIG.
Is basically the same as that shown in FIG. 1, and therefore the following description will be made on matters different from the configuration of FIG.

The Stirling engine 10 shown in FIGS.
In the above, the heater 15A connecting the cylinder 11A and the regenerator 16A is composed of a plurality of heater tubes, and the heater tubes are arranged in a row having a predetermined width as a whole. The regeneration 16A communicates with a pressure chamber (not shown) of the cylinder 11B via a cooler (not shown). A heater 15B connecting the cylinder 11B and the regenerator 16B,
Heater 15 connecting cylinder 11C and regenerator 16C
C and the heater 15D connecting the cylinder 11D and the regenerator 16D have the same configuration as the heater 15A, that is, the heater tube has a row shape having a predetermined width as a whole.

However, as is apparent from FIG.
The heater 15A and the heater 15D extend so as to be substantially perpendicular to the hot gas direction B. The heater 15A and the heater 15D are arranged with a slight misalignment. In addition, the heater 15B and the heater 15C
5A and the downstream side of the heater 15D, the hot gas direction B
, And the heater 15B is arranged in a mode slightly offset from the heater 15C. As described above, when the arrangement is configured, since there is a gap between the pipes in each heater, the upstream heater 1
The hot gas (flow of high-temperature exhaust gas) that has passed through the heater 5D and the heater 15D at a substantially right angle thereafter similarly passes through the heater 15B and the heater 15C on the downstream side.

Thus, both the upstream heater 15A and the heater 15D, and the downstream heater 15B and the heater 15C,
It is exposed to the same amount of hot gas per unit time, but a part of the heat of the hot gas is part of the upstream heaters 15A and 15D.
Since the temperature of the calorific value is reduced because it is absorbed by the working medium flowing through the inside, the temperature of the working medium flowing in the downstream heaters 15B and 15C is increased by the operation flowing through the upstream heaters 15A and 15D. It is lower than the temperature of the medium.
As a result, a difference occurs between the work performed by the working medium flowing through the upstream heaters 15A and 15D and the work performed by the working medium flowing through the downstream heaters 15B and 15C, and the conversion efficiency is reduced. It's going down. Therefore, the temperature of the working medium flowing in the upstream heaters 15A and 15D,
In order to equalize the temperature of the working medium flowing in the heaters 15B and 15C on the downstream side, a balancing means as described below is used.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the fins 21 are provided on the heater tubes of the downstream heaters 15B and 15C, and the downstream heaters 15B and 15C are exposed to hot gas as a whole. The area of the upstream heaters 15A and 15D may be increased by about 50% by exposing the heaters 15A and 15D to the hot gas. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. And the hot gas that does not pass through the heater 15D is transferred to the downstream heater 15B.
Alternatively, it may be applied directly to the heater 15C. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the projected area of the heater tubes of the downstream heaters 15B and 15C may be set larger than the projected area of the heater tubes of the upstream heaters 15A and 15D. . Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, the pitch between the heater tubes of the downstream heater 15B and the heater 15C may be made closer to the pitch between the heater tubes of the upstream heater 15A and the heater 15D. .

As is apparent from the above description, the heaters 15A and 15D and the downstream heater 15B
In addition, the temperature of the working medium flowing through the heater 15C and the amount of heat absorbed from the heat flow become substantially the same, and the engine output is improved as compared with the conventional case. By the way, if the conventional engine output is 1,
When the balancing means shown in FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are employed, the engine outputs are 1.35, 1.27 and 1.21 respectively.
And 1.06, which clearly shows that the output characteristics of the Stirling engine according to the embodiment of the present invention are remarkably improved as compared with the conventional case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a general configuration of a Stirling engine.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional heater.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the arrangement of heaters employed in the Stirling engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the arrangement of the heaters shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a first example of a balancing means added to the heater shown in FIG.
It is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect.

FIG. 6 shows a second example of the balancing means added to the heater shown in FIG.
It is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect.

FIG. 7 shows a third example of the balancing means added to the heater shown in FIG. 3;
It is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect.

FIG. 8 shows a fourth example of the balancing means added to the heater shown in FIG. 3;
It is a conceptual diagram showing an aspect.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11A cylinder 11B cylinder 11C cylinder 11D cylinder 15A heater 15B heater 15C heater 15D heater 16A regenerator 16B regenerator 16C regenerator 16D regenerator 21 Fin (balance means) 22 Straightening plate (balance means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] An operating space extending from the expansion chamber to the compression chamber is formed by connecting an adjacent expansion chamber and a compression chamber via a heater including a plurality of heater tubes, a regenerator, and a cooler. A Stirling engine in which a working gas is sealed in the working space and four cylinders provided with the expansion chambers are arranged concentrically so as to form a phase difference of 90 degrees. A Stirling engine which is positioned upstream and downstream of the hot gas at a time, and is provided with a balancing means so that the amount of heat transferred to the two heaters on the downstream side is equal to the amount of heat transferred to the two heaters on the upstream side. .