A rod seal assembly. The rod seal assembly includes a housing between two spaces configured to receive a reciprocating rod, the reciprocating rod disposed within a first space and a second space, a floating bushing configured to move axially and radially within the housing and disposed coaxially around the reciprocating rod, a rod seal configured to seal the outside diameter of the reciprocating rod relative to an inside surface of the floating bushing, and at least one stationary bushing fixed within the housing that may form a seal with the floating bushing to the axial flow of fluid in the presence of a pressure difference between the two spaces.

A piston rod seal unit. The piston rod seal unit includes a housing, a cylinder gland, and at least one floating rod seal assembly mounted in the cylinder gland, the floating rod seal assembly comprising at least one rod seal mounted onto the floating rod seal assembly.

A method for assembling a heat exchanger device of a refrigeration unit may include pushing a heat exchanger coil of the heat exchanger device over a refrigerant collecting vessel of the heat exchanger device. The method may also include fluidically connecting the heat exchanger coil to the at least one cover of the heat exchanger device. The method may further include pushing a tubular casing of the heat exchanger device over the heat exchanger coil, and deforming the tubular casing radially inward.

A heat exchanger for supplying heat includes a housing, a bundle of helical fin-coil tubes, and a flue channel. The housing includes a burner, a water inlet, a water outlet and a flue gas outlet. The burner is disposed on a top portion of the housing and connected to an air/gas mixture unit. The bundle of helical fin-tube coils is disposed tightly, circularly, and coaxially around the burner. The flue channel is disposed below the burner and is formed by a plurality of serpentine bent fin-tube coils. A flow of flue gas vents from the flue channel to the flue gas outlet. The water inlet is connected to the plurality of serpentine bent fin-tube coils which forms the flue channel below the burner. The plurality of serpentine bent fin-tube coils below the burner are connected to the bundle of helical fin-tube coils. The bundle of helical fin-tube coils are connected to the water outlet.

An external combustion engine including a burner element, a heater head, a piston cylinder containing a piston, a cooler and a crankcase. The crankcase includes a crankshaft, a piston rod connected to the piston, a drive mechanism for converting the linear motion of the piston rod to rotary motion of the crankshaft and a linear cross-head bearing that is connected rigidly to the piston rod at one end and to the drive mechanism at the other end. Also the external combustion engine includes a piston clearance seal and a piston rod seal unit that has floating rod seals. The piston includes a inner dome to reduce axial heat transfer via radiation and convection.

A Stirling cycle machine. The machine includes at least one rocking drive mechanism including 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. The drive mechanism includes at least one coupling assembly. 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 heat exchanger includes a first fluid pathway enclosed in a heat exchanger body to convey a first fluid through the heat exchanger body and a second fluid pathway enclosed in the heat exchanger body to convey a second fluid through the heat exchanger body and facilitate thermal energy exchange between the first fluid and the second fluid. The first fluid pathway and the second fluid pathway together are arranged in a spiral arrangement extending along a central axis of the heat exchanger.

Counter-flow heat exchanger is constructed with plenums at either end that separate the opposing fluids, the channels of which are arrayed in a checkerboard patterns, such that any given channel is surrounded by channels of opposing streams on four sides—laterally on both sides and vertically above and below.

The disclosure relates to a plate heat exchanger in a sealed design, with a stacked arrangement comprising a front-side and a rear-side end plate, wherein at least one end plate is constituted as a connection plate, heat exchanger plates which are arranged and stacked between the front-side and the rear-side end plate, in such a way that cavities for accommodating a plurality of heat exchanger media are formed between the heat exchanger plates, and sealing elements which are disposed to seal the cavities, and a clamping device, configured to exert an external clamping pressure on the stacked arrangement for the tensioning, wherein the clamping device is formed to encompass the stacked arrangement in a form-fit manner at least in sections, namely at least in a corner region of the stacked arrangement.

Heat exchange devices (30) and methods of using same are provided. In a general embodiment, the present disclosure provides for heat exchange devices (30) that are cooling devices having a double helical coil (32) in a phase-mixing-cooling section, a helical coil (36) in a phase-separation-cooling section, and a back-pressure valve (34) intermediate the two coils (32,36). The cooling devices provide maximum extraction of the heat content from a heated food product using a direct-injected liquid cryogen, and complete separation of the gaseous cryogen phase from the cooled product, while avoiding the formation of a stable foam. Hybrid direct-indirect cooling devices are also provided, as well as methods for using same.