A compact energy cycle construction that operates as or in accordance with a Rankine, Organic Rankine, Heat Pump, or Combined Organic Rankine and Heat Pump Cycle, comprising a compact housing of a generally cylindrical form with some combination of a scroll type expander, pump, and compressor disposed therein to share a common shaft with a motor or generator and to form an integrated system, with the working fluid of the system circulating within the housing as a torus along the common shaft and toroidally within the housing as the system operates.

A cooling subsystem of a fuel cell assembly that employs the Rankine cycle to use the potential energy of a thermally pressurized fluid to generate electrical power. Waste heat from a fuel cell stack is transferred to working fluid in a heat exchanger. The working fluid in the condensed phase is pressurized, evaporated in a boiler or evaporator, and then fed to an expansion turbine which in turn provides rotary motion to an electric generator to generate useful electrical power. The fluid leaves the turbine as a lower pressured vapor, and is then condensed back to a fluid and pumped back to the evaporator to repeat the process.

A cooling subsystem of a fuel cell assembly that employs the Rankine cycle to use the potential energy of a thermally pressurized fluid to generate electrical power. Waste heat from a fuel cell stack is transferred to working fluid in a heat exchanger. The working fluid in the condensed phase is pressurized, evaporated in a boiler or evaporator, and then fed to an expansion turbine which in turn provides rotary motion to an electric generator to generate useful electrical power. The fluid leaves the turbine as a lower pressured vapor, and is then condensed back to a fluid and pumped back to the evaporator to repeat the process.

A reverse compression cycle machine includes an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser arranged in series along a path of a working fluid in the machine, further including a boundary layer turbine placed between the condenser and the evaporator. The turbine includes a set of power disks mounted on a shaft which rotates inside a volume of a rotor casing, an inlet opening for introducing a working fluid in a stator volume, a stator nozzle, which accelerates the flow in a direction that is tangential to the power disks, and a discharge of a working fluid. The rotor casing includes a drain of a liquid fraction of the working fluid from the peripheral part of the power disks in order to avoid its concentration in the peripheral part of the volume of the rotor casing.

A reverse compression cycle machine includes an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser arranged in series along a path of a working fluid in the machine, further including a boundary layer turbine placed between the condenser and the evaporator. The turbine includes a set of power disks mounted on a shaft which rotates inside a volume of a rotor casing, an inlet opening for introducing a working fluid in a stator volume, a stator nozzle, which accelerates the flow in a direction that is tangential to the power disks, and a discharge of a working fluid. The rotor casing includes a drain of a liquid fraction of the working fluid from the peripheral part of the power disks in order to avoid its concentration in the peripheral part of the volume of the rotor casing.

A refrigerator according to the present invention includes: a cooling part for cooling an object to be cooled through heat exchange with a refrigerant; an expander-integrated compressor including a compressor for compressing the refrigerant and an expander for expanding the refrigerant integrated therein; and a refrigerant circulation line configured to circulate the refrigerant through the compressor, the expander, and the cooling part. The compressor includes a low-stage compressor, a middle-stage compressor, and a high-stage compressor disposed in series in the refrigerant circulation line. The expander-integrated compressor includes: the middle-stage compressor; an expander for adiabatically expanding and cooling the refrigerant discharged from the high-stage compressor; a first motor having an output shaft connected to the middle-stage compressor and to the expander; at least one non-contact type bearing, disposed between the middle-stage compressor and the expander, for supporting the output shaft of the first motor without being in contact with the output shaft; and a casing for housing the middle-stage compressor, the expander, and the at least one non-contact type bearing.

A refrigerator according to the present invention includes: a cooling part for cooling an object to be cooled through heat exchange with a refrigerant; an expander-integrated compressor including a compressor for compressing the refrigerant and an expander for expanding the refrigerant integrated therein; and a refrigerant circulation line configured to circulate the refrigerant through the compressor, the expander, and the cooling part. The compressor includes a low-stage compressor, a middle-stage compressor, and a high-stage compressor disposed in series in the refrigerant circulation line. The expander-integrated compressor includes: the middle-stage compressor; an expander for adiabatically expanding and cooling the refrigerant discharged from the high-stage compressor; a first motor having an output shaft connected to the middle-stage compressor and to the expander; at least one non-contact type bearing, disposed between the middle-stage compressor and the expander, for supporting the output shaft of the first motor without being in contact with the output shaft; and a casing for housing the middle-stage compressor, the expander, and the at least one non-contact type bearing.

The invention relates to a turbomachine device of the intercooled recuperated reheated gas turbine (IRReGT) type. The invention relates to applications for motor vehicles. The turbomachine device comprises a first turbocompressor (C1, T2), a second turbocompressor (C2, T1), two combustion chambers (CC1, CC2) or an exhaust line (EL), an intercooler (IC) and a heat exchanger (E1). The device is configured to implement a stream of fluid (F1) from the first compressor (C1) to the intercooler (IC), to the second compressor (C2), to the heat exchanger (E1), to the turbines (T1, T2). According to one aspect, the device comprises at least one vehicle interior air conditioning section comprising at least a means for producing cold (E1F, E2F) and/or heat (E1C) on the basis of said stream (F1).

A turbomachine arrangement includes a housing, a turbo-expander formed with an expander rotor, a turbo-compressor formed with a first compressor rotor, and a shaft that is rotatably mounted on the housing. The shaft connects the expander rotor to the compressor rotor. The first turbo-compressor can be driven exclusively by the turbo-expander. A second turbo-compressor having a second compressor rotor is disposed on the housing such that the second compressor rotor is connected to the first turbo-compressor in parallel or in series. The second compressor rotor is driven via a transmission accommodated in the housing and via a drive shaft connecting the transmission to the second compressor rotor.

The present application relates to a heat recovery apparatus and method. According to the heat recovery apparatus and method, low-level heat sources at a temperature less than 100 C. discharged from industrial settings or various chemical processes, for example, a petrochemicals manufacturing process are not wasted but used to generate steam and the generated steam is used for various processes to reduce an amount of consumed high-temperature steam that is an external heat source to be used for a reactor or distillation column, thereby not only maximizing energy reduction efficiency but also autonomously producing power consumed by a compressor. Also, an evaporation phenomenon of a part of a refrigerant flow which passes through the compressor may be reduced, thereby recovering heat with excellent efficiency.