JP5347899B2 - Steam engine for vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicular steam engine capable of obtaining a large engine brake force during the braking operation, and storing the energy during the braking operation to re-use the stored engine as the energy for the re-acceleration. <P>SOLUTION: The vehicular steam engine includes a circuit 5 for operation mode including a pump 1 for pumping working fluid, a heater 2 for heating the working fluid from its liquid phase to its high-temperature gas phase, an expander 3 for converting the energy of the gas into the rotational power for vehicle, and a condenser 4 which cools the working fluid into the liquid phase. A circuit 8 for regeneration mode having a radiator 6 and an expansion valve 7 is provided in the circuit 5 for operation mode via circuit switching valves 10, 20 so as to connect the downstream side of the heater 2 to the upstream side of the pump 1. A forward-reverse converter 31 is provided on the expander 3 for switching its rotational direction so as to allow the working fluid to flow in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the circuit 5 for the normal operation mode to the circuit 8 for regeneration mode. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular steam engine, and more particularly to a braking force regeneration technique that stores braking force energy as thermal energy and reuses it as energy during reacceleration.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the steam engine includes a pump 1 that pumps a working fluid (for example, water or saturated water), a heater 2 that heats the working fluid to convert the liquid into a high-temperature gas (steam), A circuit 5 for normal operation is provided that includes an expander 3 that converts gaseous energy into rotational power and a condenser 4 that cools the working fluid back to liquid.

  In the steam engine, the working fluid is adiabatically compressed by the pump 1 and sent to the heater 2. The working fluid is heated at the same pressure by the heater 2 to form a high-temperature gas (superheated steam), and then the high-temperature gas Power is obtained by rotating the expander (steam prime mover) 3 by adiabatic expansion. The expanded working fluid is cooled by the condenser 4, condensed by a change in isobaric pressure, and returned to the liquid.

  The steam engine can obtain a large rotational power by repeating the above cycle (Rankine cycle), and is configured to drive the drive wheels 32 of the vehicle by the rotational power. Can be used as

JP 2008-75463 A

  However, in the steam engine, although large power can be obtained, there is no system for recovering power (kinetic energy) from the vehicle side, and it has not been possible to effectively use energy.

  As a related technique, there is known a vehicle Stirling engine that converts the kinetic energy of the vehicle at the time of braking into temperature difference energy and stores the heat to improve fuel economy (see Patent Document 1). It is difficult to obtain braking force (engine braking force) and large temperature difference energy.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and can obtain a large amount of power during normal operation and a large engine braking force and temperature difference energy during braking, which can be reused as energy during re-acceleration. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular steam engine that can be used.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pump that pumps a working fluid, a heater that heats the working fluid from a liquid to a high-temperature gas, and an expansion that converts the energy of the gas into rotational power for a vehicle. And a steam engine for operation having a condenser for cooling the working fluid and returning it to liquid, the steam circuit for operation comprising the downstream side of the heater and the upstream side of the pump. A circuit for regeneration having a radiator and an expansion valve is provided via a circuit switching valve so as to connect to the side, and the working fluid is supplied to the circuit for regeneration in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the circuit for operation A forward / reverse converter for switching the rotation direction of the expander is provided in the expander.

  The circuit switching valve preferably includes a first three-way valve provided on the downstream side of the heater and a second three-way valve provided on the upstream side of the pump.

  It is preferable that the expander functions as a compressor that pumps the working fluid during regeneration, and energy obtained thereby is stored in the condenser as low-temperature heat energy.

  According to the present invention, large power can be obtained during normal operation, and a large engine braking force and temperature difference energy can be obtained during regeneration, which can be reused as energy during reacceleration.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the steam engine for vehicles of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state at the time of normal driving | operation of the steam engine for vehicles. It is a figure which shows the state at the time of regeneration of the steam engine for vehicles. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conventional steam engine for vehicles.

  EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, the form for implementing this invention is explained in full detail based on an accompanying drawing.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicular steam engine includes a pump 1 that pumps a working fluid (for example, water), a heater 2 that heats the working fluid into a high-temperature gas (steam), and energy of the gas. Is provided with a circuit 5 for normal operation having an expander 3 for converting the power into rotational power for the vehicle and a condenser 4 for cooling the working fluid back to liquid.

  The circuit 5 for normal operation includes a circuit 8 for regenerative operation having a radiator 6 and an expansion valve 7 so as to connect the downstream side of the heater 2 and the upstream side of the pump 1 to the circuit switching valves 10 and 20. Is provided. These circuit switching valves 10 and 20 include a first three-way valve 10 provided on the downstream side of the heater 2 and a second three-way valve 20 provided on the upstream side of the pump 1, both of which are electromagnetic valves. And is switched by the control device 30 in accordance with the operation state (during normal operation or regeneration).

  The first three-way valve 10 includes a first port 11 that communicates with the inlet of the expander 3, a second port 12 that communicates with the outlet of the heater 2, and a third port 13 that communicates with the inlet of the radiator 6. And two spools (first spool and second spool) 14 and 15 for selectively connecting the first port 11 and the second port 12 or the first port 11 and the third port 13.

  The second three-way valve 20 includes a first port 21 that communicates with the outlet of the condenser 4, a second port 22 that communicates with the inlet of the pump 1, and a third port 23 that communicates with the outlet of the expansion valve 7. And two spools (third spool, fourth spool) 24 and 25 for connecting the first port 21 and the second port 22 or the first port 21 and the third port 23.

  During normal operation, the first three-way valve 10 is switched to the position of the first spool 14 and the second three-way valve 20 is switched to the position of the third spool 24 as shown in FIG. The working fluid flows in the clockwise direction through the circuit 5 for normal operation in the order of the heater 2, the expander 3, and the condenser 4.

  On the other hand, at the time of regeneration, as shown in FIG. 3, the first three-way valve 10 is switched to the position of the second spool 15 and the second three-way valve 20 is switched to the position of the fourth spool 25, respectively. In order to flow the working fluid in a direction (counterclockwise) opposite to the flow direction (clockwise) of the circuit 5 for normal operation, that is, the working fluid dissipates heat by the function of the expander 3 as a compressor. The expander 3 is provided with a forward / reverse converter 31 for switching the rotation direction so that the regenerator 6, the expansion valve 7, and the condenser 4 flow in the counterclockwise direction in the order of the regenerator 4. Yes.

  The forward / reverse converter 31 is interposed between a drive shaft (propeller shaft) 33 for driving the drive wheels 32 of the vehicle and the rotating shaft 3a of the expander 3, and is operated normally to make the expander 3 work as a turbine. The control device 30 can switch to the forward rotation at times, and to the reverse rotation at the time of regeneration in which the expander 3 works as a compressor in order to use the engine brake. A clutch or transmission may be incorporated between the rotating shaft 3a of the expander 3 and the drive shaft 33, or the clutch or transmission may be incorporated in the forward / reverse converter 31. .

  The expander 3 functions as a turbine as shown in FIG. 2 during normal operation, and forms a circuit 8 for regeneration in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the circuit 5 for normal operation as shown in FIG. 3 during regeneration. In addition to acting as a compressor for pumping the working fluid, the load applied at this time acts as an engine brake. In this case, in the circuit 8 for regeneration, the expander 3, the radiator 6, the expansion valve 7, and the condenser 4 constitute a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an indoor heat exchanger in the refrigeration cycle. Therefore, the condenser 4 is cooled by the braking force energy during regeneration, and the temperature difference between the heater 2 and the condenser 4 is expanded, whereby the condenser 4 is converted into the braking force energy as low-temperature thermal energy. To be accumulated. In addition, in order to accumulate heat energy in the condenser 4, it is preferable that the heat capacity of the condenser 4 is large.

  Next, the operation of the vehicular steam engine configured as described above will be described. First, during normal operation, the first three-way valve 10 is switched to the position of the first spool 14 and the second three-way valve 20 is switched to the position of the third spool 24 as shown in FIG. Then, the working fluid is pumped to the heater 2 by the pump 1, and the liquid working fluid becomes a high-temperature gas in the heater 2. This high-temperature gas is pumped to the expander 3 and expands in the expander 3, whereby the energy of the high-temperature gas is converted into the rotational power of the expander 3, and the expander 3 rotates. The heat of the expanded working fluid is exchanged with the atmospheric temperature in the condenser 4 and released to the atmosphere. The temperature of the working fluid is lowered to normal temperature, and the working fluid is condensed and returned to a liquid. The rotational power of the expander 3 is transmitted to the drive shaft 33 of the vehicle via the forward / reverse converter 31 so that the vehicle can travel. In this case, the forward / reverse converter 31 is switched to the forward rotation position, and the rotation direction of the expander 3 and the rotation direction of the drive shaft 33 are the same.

  On the other hand, during regeneration, the first three-way valve 10 is switched to the position of the second spool 15 and the second three-way valve 20 is switched to the position of the fourth spool 25 as shown in FIG. Switch to the circuit 8 for regeneration. Further, the forward / reverse converter 31 is switched to the reverse rotation position so that the rotation direction of the drive shaft 33 on the drive side and the rotation direction of the expander 3 on the engine side are reversed. As a result, the expander 3 functions as a compressor, and the working fluid is reversibly adiabatically compressed into high-pressure heated steam. Next, the working fluid is cooled isobarically by the radiator 6 and condensed to become a saturated liquid. Next, when the working fluid passes through the expansion valve 7, it expands and becomes a low-pressure, low-temperature wet steam, absorbs the heat of the condenser 4, evaporates the working fluid, and the temperature of the condenser 4 increases. descend.

  According to this vehicular steam engine, a pump 1 that pumps the working fluid, a heater 2 that heats the working fluid from a liquid to a high-temperature gas, and an expander that converts the energy of the gas into rotational power for the vehicle. 3 and an operation circuit 5 having a condenser 4 that cools the working fluid and returns it to a liquid. The operation circuit 5 includes a downstream side of the heater 2 and an upstream side of the pump 1. A regenerative circuit 8 having a radiator 6 and an expansion valve 7 is provided via circuit switching valves 10 and 20 so as to be connected, and a working fluid is supplied to the regenerative circuit 8 in the flow direction of the operational circuit 5. Since the forward / reverse converter 31 for switching the rotation direction is provided in the expander 3 so as to flow in the direction opposite to the direction, large power is obtained during normal operation, and large engine braking force and temperature during regeneration. Differential energy is obtained and re-accelerated It can be reused as energy.

  Since the circuit switching valves 10 and 20 include a first three-way valve 10 provided on the downstream side of the heater 2 and a second three-way valve 20 provided on the upstream side of the pump 1, It is possible to reliably and easily switch between the circuit 5 for normal operation and the circuit 8 for regeneration that are opposite in the flow direction.

  Since the expander 3 functions as a turbine during normal operation and functions as a compressor that pumps a working fluid during regeneration, a large engine braking force can be obtained during regeneration and the braking force energy can be easily used as heat energy for the condenser 4. Can accumulate.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pump 2 Heater 3 Expander 4 Condenser 5 Circuit for normal operation 6 Radiator 7 Expansion valve 8 Circuit for regeneration 10 Circuit switching valve (first three-way valve)
20 Circuit switching valve (second three-way valve)
31 Forward / reverse converter

Claims (3)

  A pump that pumps the working fluid, a heater that heats the working fluid from a liquid to a hot gas, an expander that converts the energy of the gas into rotational power for the vehicle, and cools the working fluid back to a liquid A vehicular steam engine having a circuit for operation having a condenser, wherein a radiator and an expansion valve are connected to the circuit for operation at a downstream side of a heater and an upstream side of a pump. A circuit for regenerative operation is provided via a circuit switching valve, and in order to flow a working fluid in the circuit for regenerative operation in a direction opposite to the flow direction of the circuit for operation, the rotation direction of the expander is set. A vehicular steam engine comprising a forward / reverse converter for switching.   The vehicle circuit according to claim 1, wherein the circuit switching valve includes a first three-way valve provided on the downstream side of the heater and a second three-way valve provided on the upstream side of the pump. Steam engine.   The said expander functions as a compressor which pumps a working fluid at the time of regeneration, It is comprised so that the energy obtained by this may be accumulate | stored in the said condenser as low-temperature heat energy. The steam engine for vehicles as described.

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