A Stirling cycle machine. The machine includes at least one rocking drive mechanism which includes: a rocking beam having a rocker pivot, at least one cylinder and at least one piston. The piston is housed within a respective cylinder and is capable of substantially linearly reciprocating within the respective cylinder. Also, the drive mechanism includes at least one coupling assembly having a proximal end and a distal end. The linear motion of the piston is converted to rotary motion of the rocking beam. Also, a crankcase housing the rocking beam and housing a first portion of the coupling assembly is included. The machine also includes a working space housing the at least one cylinder, the at least one piston and a second portion of the coupling assembly. An airlock is included between the workspace and the crankcase and a seal is included for sealing the workspace from the airlock and crankcase. A burner and burner control system is also included for heating the machine and controlling ignition and combustion in the burner.

A Stirling cycle machine with a liquid fuel/gaseous fuel burner. The burner may include a preheater to capture the thermal energy of the exhaust. The burner directs the preheated air to each burner head, where it enters a prechamber. Each burner head includes a fuel nozzle that directs liquid or gaseous fuel into the prechamber. The prechamber is fluidically connected to a combustion chamber via a prechamber nozzle that has a smaller opening than the prechamber. The burner head ignites the fuel air mixture in the prechamber with an ignitor located above or within the prechamber. The flame is initially lit as a diffusion flame in the prechamber. The flame is pushed out of the prechamber into the combustion chamber by an increased air flow rate. The liquid fuel from the nozzle now evaporates in the prechamber and forms a prevaporized flame in the combustion chamber.

A closed cycle regenerative heat engine has a housing defining a chamber. A displacer is housed in the chamber. A power piston is housed in the chamber. The displacer is resiliently deformable from a rest condition in response to displace the working fluid in the chamber. The displacer may be a multi-start volute spring. The displacer may be provided with a heat storage reservoir to store heat received from a working fluid as the working fluid is displaced from a heating location in the chamber to a cooling location in the chamber and reject heat to the working fluid when the working fluid is displaced from the cooling location to the heating location. The resiliently deformable displacer may comprise two components with an air space defined between the two components.

A Stirling cycle machine. The machine includes at least one rocking drive mechanism which includes: a rocking beam having a rocker pivot, at least one cylinder and at least one piston. The piston is housed within a respective cylinder and is capable of substantially linearly reciprocating within the respective cylinder. Also, the drive mechanism includes at least one coupling assembly having a proximal end and a distal end. The linear motion of the piston is converted to rotary motion of the rocking beam. Also, a crankcase housing the rocking beam and housing a first portion of the coupling assembly is included. The machine also includes a working space housing the at least one cylinder, the at least one piston and a second portion of the coupling assembly. An airlock is included between the workspace and the crankcase and a seal is included for sealing the workspace from the airlock and crankcase. A burner and burner control system is also included for heating the machine and controlling ignition and combustion in the burner.

A closed cycle regenerative heat engine has a housing (12) defining a chamber (14). A displacer (18) is housed in the chamber. A shaft (24) is connected with the displacer and extends from the chamber. A power piston (30) is housed in the chamber. The displacer (18) is secured to the housing (12) and is resiliently deformable from a rest condition in response to movement of the shaft (24) to displace the working fluid in the chamber. The displacer may be a multi-start volute spring. The displacer (18) may be provided with a heat storage reservoir to store heat received from a working fluid as the working fluid is displaced from a heating location in the chamber (14) to a cooling location in the chamber and reject heat to the working fluid when the working fluid is displaced from the cooling location to the heating location.

The present invention relates to a cooling device (8) comprising: —a housing (22); —a crank (28) rotationally movable relative to the housing (22); —a piston (16); —a coupling component (34) rotationally mounted on the crank (28), the coupling component (34) having a first edge (54) facing the piston (16) and a second edge (56) opposite the first edge (54); —a deformable element (64) integrated in the coupling component (34) and integrated in the piston (16), the deformable element (64) being configured to translationally move the piston (16) relative to the housing while deforming, when the crank (28) is rotated relative to the housing (22), the deformable element (64) being integrated in the second edge (56) of the coupling component (34).

A Stirling engine comprising: a crank case (1) with a crank shaft (2) arranged therein, a displacer cylinder (3) with a reciprocatingly arranged displacer piston (4) therein, said displacer piston (4) being connected to said crank shaft (2) via a connecting rod (5) extending through a first end of said displacer cylinder (3), and wherein the displacer cylinder (3) defines a hot chamber (6) and a cool chamber (7) separated by the displacer piston (4), a working cylinder (8) defining a working cylinder chamber (11) with a reciprocatingly arranged working piston (9) therein, said working piston (9) being connected to said crank shaft (2) via a connecting rod (10) extending through a first end of the working cylinder (8), a heater device (14), arranged at a second end of said displacer cylinder opposite to said first end and configured to heat a working gas which is present in the hot chamber (6) of the displacer cylinder (3) and in fluid communication with the working cylinder chamber (11) through a working gas channel which comprises a first heat exchanger (16) extending from a head (19) of the displacer cylinder (3) into the heater device (14), a second heat exchanger (17) formed by a regenerator arranged outside the heater device (14), and a third heat exchanger (20) formed by a cooler arranged between the regenerator (17) and the working cylinder chamber (11). At any point along the working gas channel, as seen cross wise to an assumed working gas flow direction through the working gas channel, the cross section area of the working gas channel defined by the first, second and third heat exchangers is within the range of the medium cross section area of the working gas channel +/10%.

There is provided a balancer device for an internal combustion engine that suppresses lubricating oil from failing onto a reduction gear and a pump drive gear provided to drive and rotate an oil pump and thereby suppresses an increase in resistance against rotation between the reduction gear and the pump drive gear. The balancer device for the internal combustion engine includes a lower side housing on which a balancer drive gear, a first balancer shaft including a first balance weight, a first gear, a second gear, a second balancer shaft including a second balance weight, and the reduction gear are mounted. The balancer device also includes an upper side housing formed in such a shape that covers the balancer drive gear, the first balancer shaft including the first balance weight, the first gear, the second gear, the second balancer shaft including the second balance weight, the reduction gear, and the pump drive gear from above in the state that the oil pump is assembled with the upper side housing such that the pump drive gear is meshed with the reduction gear. The upper side housing is assembled with the lower side housing. The balancer device further includes an exposure opening formed in the upper side housing such that only the balancer drive gear is exposed from the upper side housing to be meshed with an engine-side gear.

An engine utilizing multiple closed loop heat exchangers. The engine makes use of a first exchanger dedicated to a given chamber of a piston assembly. This exchanger is configured to provide both heating and cooling to the chamber for changing the volume thereof in stroking the piston. The second exchanger is configured similarly to provide both heating and cooling to another chamber at the opposite side of the piston for correspondingly facilitating a change in its volume as the piston is stroked. This unique configuration allows for the working substance in the chambers, generally an operating CO.sub.2 fluid, to effectively remain in a supercritical state for the substantial duration of the thermal cycle.

A closed cycle regenerative heat engine has a housing (12) defining a chamber (14). A displacer (18) is housed in the chamber. A shaft (24) is connected with the displacer and extends from the chamber. A power piston (30) is housed in the chamber. The displacer (18) is secured to the housing (12) and is resiliently deformable from a rest condition in response to movement of the shaft (24) to displace the working fluid in the chamber. The displacer may be a multi-start volute spring. The displacer (18) may be provided with a heat storage reservoir to store heat received from a working fluid as the working fluid is displaced from a heating location in the chamber (14) to a cooling location in the chamber and reject heat to the working fluid when the working fluid is displaced from the cooling location to the heating location.