In order to improve an expansion installation for obtaining electrical energy from heat by means of a thermodynamic circulation procedure, comprising an expansion device, which is operated by an expanding working medium of the thermodynamic circulation procedure, and a generator driven by the expansion device, it is proposed that the expansion installation should be provided with a rotational speed sensor, which is coupled to a shaft of the expansion installation that rotates proportionally to a rotor of the generator, and which takes the form of an electrical sensor generator that generates an electrical sensor signal.

A power and propulsion system includes an air compressor, a combustor positioned to receive compressed air from the air compressor as a core stream, and a closed-loop system having carbon dioxide as a working fluid that receives heat from the combustor and rejects heat to a cooling stream. The closed-loop system configured to provide power to a fan that provides the cooling stream, and to one or more distributed propulsors that provide thrust to an aircraft.

An air-storage system includes air-storage units that are in fluid communication with each other, that are in fluid communication with an air-actuated power generating system, that cooperatively enclose the air-actuated power generating system, and that cooperatively define a work area for placement of the air-actuated power generating system. Each of the air-storage units includes at least one air-storage subunit and a plurality of supporting subunits that support the at least one air-storage subunit. The at least one air-storage subunit of each of the air-storage units includes a plurality of first air-storage pipes that are colinearly arranged, that are connected to and in fluid communication with each other, and that are adapted to store pressurized air.

The present invention provides a heat engine operating on a novel closed thermodynamic cycle. The primary characteristics of the heat engine comprise a boiler, condenser, liquid pump, and a regenerative expander in which heat is recovered from the expansion/work extraction process to be returned to the sensible heat addition process that occurs between the condenser outlet and the boiler inlet. The regenerative expander may be comprised of a novel turbine design described as part of the present invention. The primary characteristic of the turbine being a rotor consisting of a hub intersected by a plurality of narrow helical channels through which motive fluid is directed by a plurality of nozzles to induce rotation in the same direction as the helical path of the channels. The liquid pump of the heat engine may also be comprised of a novel design based on similar working principles to the above turbine.

An air-storage system includes air-storage units that are in fluid communication with each other, that are in fluid communication with an air-actuated power generating system, that cooperatively enclose the air-actuated power generating system, and that cooperatively define a work area for placement of the air-actuated power generating system. Each of the air-storage units includes at least one air-storage subunit and a plurality of supporting subunits that support the at least one air-storage subunit. The at least one air-storage subunit of each of the air-storage units includes a plurality of first air-storage pipes that are colinearly arranged, that are connected to and in fluid communication with each other, and that are adapted to store pressurized air.

A hybrid electric bottoming cycle including an auxiliary shaft supporting a bottoming cycle compressor and turbine; a working fluid/oil heat exchanger fluidly coupled between the compressor and turbine; a waste heat recovery heat exchanger fluidly coupled between the bottoming cycle turbine and compressor; a working fluid/fuel heat exchanger fluidly coupled between the bottoming cycle turbine and compressor, a bottoming cycle working fluid fluidly coupled with the compressor, the working fluid/oil heat exchanger, the waste heat recovery heat exchanger, the turbine and working fluid/fuel heat exchanger; a bottoming cycle motor generator in operative communication with the auxiliary shaft, wherein the bottoming cycle motor generator is configured to rotate the auxiliary shaft responsive to a predetermined gas turbine engine condition and generate electrical power responsive to another predetermined gas turbine engine condition; and an electrical power source in operative communication with the bottoming cycle motor generator.

Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which a difference in the thermal energies, and/or temperatures, of two bodies, materials, gases, liquids, solids, objects, and/or other groups or collections of matter, may be harnessed to provide mechanical energy to a rotary engine and/or shaft. Also disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which mechanical energy (e.g., the rotation of a shaft) may be used to produce and/or amplify a difference in the thermal energies, and/or temperatures of, and/or between, two bodies, materials, gases, liquids, solids, objects, and/or other groups or collections of matter. The disclosed thermal-to-mechanical energy conversion apparatus, as well as the complementary mechanical-to-thermal energy conversion apparatus, lacks moving parts and therefore satisfies a previously unmet need for a simple, robust, and efficient heat engine.