Device for obtaining mechanical work from a non-thermal energy source (variants)

Abstract

The invention relates to mechanical engineering. The present device for obtaining mechanical work from a non-thermal energy source comprises a cylindrical housing, a rotor, a vacuum chamber, movable elements, and systems for removal and supply of a working fluid. The rotor is provided with blades and is fastened to the power shaft, disposed inside the housing. The chamber is formed by the outside surface of the bladed rotor and the inside surface of the housing. The movable elements are mounted in diametric opposition inside the housing of the device and divide the chamber into equal parts. The shaft and blades of the rotor are hollow. The inlet ports and outlet ports are provided in surfaces of the rotor blades. Or outlet ports are provided in the housing. The technical result is an increase in the output, efficiency and environmental friendliness of the device, together with a simplified design.

Claims

1. A device for producing mechanical work from a non-thermal energy source, comprising the following components: a cylindrical housing with a power shaft; a rotor fixed to the shaft within the device housing and having at least two streamlined blades, ends of the blades are in contact with an inner surface of the housing and can slide along the inner surface; a cavity formed by an outer surface of the rotor with the blades and the inner surface of the housing; movable elements mounted in the housing diametrically opposite, which divide the device cavity into equal parts; and ends the elements are in contact with the outer rotor surface and can slide along the outer surface; a system of controllable exhaust of an operating medium comprising exhaust valves in the device housing in each half of its cavity formed by movable elements; a system of controllable supply of the operating medium with pressurization valves; the device is characterized by a vacuum cavity and a hollow shaft rotor and hollow blades, cavities inside the shaft and the blades contain systems of controllable supply of the operating medium; pressurization valves are located in the cavities of the rotor blades and ensure the supply of the operating medium into each of the halves of the device cavity formed by the movable elements; at the same time, a power-generating end of the rotor shaft is power-driven by a drive motor, and the power take-off end of the rotor shaft is connected to a power generator or other power load object.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein slit-shaped pressurization and exhaust valves are equipped with nozzles so that during rotor spinning they are vacuum-tight closed by the ends of movable elements and rotor blades, respectively.

3. The device for producing mechanical work from a non-thermal energy source, comprising the following components: a cylindrical housing with a power shaft; a rotor fixed to the shaft within the device housing and having at least two streamlined blades, ends of the blades are in contact with an inner surface of the housing and can slide along the inner surface; a cavity is formed by an outer surface of the rotor with the blades and the inner surface of the housing; movable elements mounted in the housing diametrically opposite, which divide the device cavity into equal parts; and ends of the movable elements are in contact with the outer rotor surface and can slide along the surface; a system of controllable exhaust and pressurization of an operating medium comprising exhaust and pressurization valves; the device is characterized by a vacuum cavity and a hollow shaft rotor and hollow blades, cavities inside the shaft and the blades contain systems of controllable supply of the operating medium; exhaust and pressurization valves are located in the cavities of the rotor blades and ensure an exhaust/supply of the operating medium into each of the halves of the device cavity formed by the movable elements; at the same time, a power take-off end of the rotor shaft is connected to a power generator or other power load object.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein slit-shaped pressurization and exhaust valves are equipped with nozzles so that during a rotor spinning they are vacuum-tight closed by the ends of movable elements.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein the device housing additionally comprises exhaust and pressurization valves for controlled bypass supply/exhaust of the operating medium into each of the halves of the device cavity formed by the movable elements.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing additionally comprises vacuum cavities located in series on the rotor shaft and separated by a vacuum-tight stationary partitions; each cavity is divided into equal parts by additional blades and movable elements located along an axis of symmetry; the blades of each subsequent cavity are mounted on the rotor with axisymmetric radial displacement relative to the blades of the previous cavity.

7. The device of claim 4, wherein the device housing additionally comprises exhaust and pressurization valves for controlled bypass supply/exhaust of the operating medium into each of the halves of the device cavity formed by the movable elements.

8. The device of claim 2, wherein the housing additionally comprises vacuum cavities located in series on the rotor shaft and separated by a vacuum-tight stationary partitions; each cavity is divided into equal parts by additional blades and movable elements located along an axis of symmetry; the blades of each subsequent cavity are mounted on the rotor with axisymmetric radial displacement relative to the blades of the previous cavity.

9. The device of claim 3, wherein the housing additionally comprises vacuum cavities located in series on the rotor shaft and separated by a vacuum-tight stationary partitions; each cavity is divided into equal parts by additional blades and movable elements located along an axis of symmetry; the blades of each subsequent cavity are mounted on the rotor with axisymmetric radial displacement relative to the blades of the previous cavity.

10. The device of claim 4, wherein the housing additionally comprises vacuum cavities located in series on the rotor shaft and separated by a vacuum-tight stationary partitions; each cavity is divided into equal parts by additional blades and movable elements located along an axis of symmetry; the blades of each subsequent cavity are mounted on the rotor with axisymmetric radial displacement relative to the blades of the previous cavity.

11. The device of claim 5, wherein the housing additionally comprises vacuum cavities located in series on the rotor shaft and separated by a vacuum-tight stationary partitions; each cavity is divided into equal parts by additional blades and movable elements located along an axis of symmetry; the blades of each subsequent cavity are mounted on the rotor with axisymmetric radial displacement relative to the blades of the previous cavity.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1-4 show the schemes of design variants of the claimed device.

(2) FIG. 1 shows the design scheme of the first variant of the claimed device. Two vacuum chambers located in series on the same shaft are shown as an example. The right vacuum chamber is of cylindrical shape, and the housing of the left one is of spherical shape, as an option, which can be recommended to create sliding vacuum seals for big-volumed vacuum chambers.

(3) FIG. 2 shows A-A section of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 shows the design scheme of the second variant of the claimed device. Two vacuum chambers of different configurations located in series on the same shaft are also shown as an example.

(5) FIG. 4 shows A-A section of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(6) The schemes of supply and exhaust flows of the operating medium within the device housing are marked with arrows on all the drawings.

(7) The claimed device comprises the housing 1, the hollow power shaft 2 located in the housing, the rotor with blades 3 mounted on the shaft, the blades are in contact with the polished inner surface of the housing 1 and can slide along this surface.

(8) Movable elements 4 (FIGS. 2 and 4) mounted diametrically opposite in the device housing 1, which divide housing cavity into equal parts and which ends are in contact with the outer surface of rotor blades 3 and can simultaneously slide along this surface. Movable elements 4 are located in the housing 1 and can move longwise inside the projections 5 of the housing.

(9) Outlets 6 (FIGS. 1 and 2) for operating medium exhaust are in the housing 1 of the device.

(10) Rotor blades 3 divide each half of the cavity of the housing 1 into two working chambers 7 and 8 (FIGS. 2 and 4) with volumes which vary cyclically in the process of rotation of the rotor. Outlets 9 are in the surfaces of the blades 3, which are opposite relative to the shaft 2.

(11) Any power load object (a generator or a screw-propeller, depending on the task) can be connected to the power take-off end of the rotor shaft 10.

(12) The power shaft 2 is mounted in the housing 1 of the device on vacuum-tight bearings 11 (FIGS. 1 and 3).

(13) The System of Operating Medium Supply Includes (FIGS. 1 and 3): inlet 12 for the supply of operating medium into the cavity of the shaft 2; supply channel located in the internal cavity of the rotor shaft 2 and connected to the internal cavities of the blades 3; inlets [9] for the supply of operating medium into each half of the device cavity formed by movable elements 4.

(14) The System of Operating Medium Exhaust Includes: for the first variant of the claimed device design (FIGS. 1 and 2): outlets [6] for the exhaust of the operating medium located in the device housing 1 in each half of its cavity formed by movable elements 4; valves connected to these outlets and outflow tubes to a vacuum pump located on the outside of the device housing (not shown in the schemes); for the second variant of the claimed device design (FIGS. 3 and 4): outlets 9 for the exhaust of the operating medium; channels for outlet (exhaust) and inlet (supply) of the operating medium located in the inner cavities of the shaft 2 of the rotor and the blades 3 and connected to external devices through the inlets 12 (FIGS. 1 and 3) and outlets 13 (FIG. 3).

(15) According to the second variant of the claimed device (FIGS. 3 and 4), the device housing additionally comprises inlets 14 and outlets 15 of controlled bypass supply/exhaust of the operating medium into each of the halves of the device cavity formed by the movable elements. These inlets 14 and outlets 15 are connected by bypass tubes with the receiver and the exhaust system to start the device (not shown in the schemes). These are auxiliary structural elements to facilitate the start of the device and its put on stream.

(16) As mentioned above, the housing 1 of the device is provided with a vacuum chamber to ensure the operation of the device from an external source of non-thermal energy; the chamber is divided into two equal halves formed by movable elements 4 in the form of plates, for example, which can move up and down in the projecting slots 5 in the housing.

(17) The blades 3 are moved to the other half of the vacuum chamber by a vacuum-tight lift of separating plates 4 performed due to the inclined surface of the blades or due to the projecting slots 5 along which carrier bearings of the separating plates move synchronously with the blades (not shown in the schemes).

(18) The separating plates are under a sufficiently strong force directed perpendicular to the movement of the plates, so it is important to use the projecting slots of required profile to lift the plates using bearings that greatly reduce the friction between blades and plates.

(19) The separating plates from the side of the housing may be spring-assisted to provide a vacuum-tight sliding of their ends along the surface of the blades.

(20) While the rotor is spinning, the separating plates slide along the curved surfaces of the blades and come into projecting slots in the housing, letting the blades pass into the next part of the vacuum chamber.

(21) At the same time the separating plates constantly maintain the two parts of the vacuum chamber vacuum-tightly separated during the passage of the blades, which can be ensured by any conventional ways of vacuum-tight sliding motion of the surfaces. The blades, which have passed to the next half of the vacuum chamber, divide it vacuum-tightly into two working chambers 7 and 8 with cyclically varying volumes.

(22) For the first variant of the device design (FIGS. 1 and 2), the atmosphere or other operating gas is pressurized through inlets 9 under at least atmospheric pressure into the expanding volume of chamber 7 between the blade surface and the separating plate from which the blade is moving away. The inlets 9 can be equipped with nozzles directed toward the expanding volume. The atmospheric pressure force is constantly acting on the blade surface until its transition to the next half of the vacuum chamber 8. The movement of pressurization of operating medium into the cavities of blade and power shaft 2 is marked with arrows.

(23) The inlets 9 can be slit-shaped and they are sequentially closed when the blades are passing into the other part of the vacuum chamber.

(24) While pressurizing, the vacuum pump exhausts the gas/atmosphere from the chamber with decreasing volume through the outlet 6 located in the housing.

(25) The process of pressurization is repeated in the next half of the vacuum chamber, but the gas is exhausted through the corresponding outlet 6 of this half.

(26) The force of atmospheric pressure, which makes the rotor spin, is also constantly acting on both blades of the rotor from the side of expanding volumes.

(27) Thus, the claimed design provides a permanent working cycle of the device with doubled torque on its power shaft. The action of the driving force is stopped only when the blade passes the separating plate, that is not more than 5-10 degrees of full revolution of the rotor. At least one more vacuum chamber is located on the same shaft to eliminate this gap in the driving force action; the rotor blades in the second chamber are located at 90 relatives to the blades of the first chamber providing constant and continuous torque of the shaft and increasing the power output.

(28) The first variant of the claimed device design can be optimally applied as a vacuum-and-atmospheric rotor power amplifier (VARPA) of the drive motor (FIG. 1) described below

(29) For the second variant of the device design (FIGS. 3 and 4), the atmosphere or other operating gas is pressurized through inlets 9 under at least atmospheric pressure into the expanding volume of chamber 7 between the blade surface and the separating plate from which the blade is moving away. The inlets 9 are equipped with nozzles directed toward the expanding volume and accelerating the supply/exhaust of the operating medium (not shown in the drawing). The operating medium is exhausted from a decreasing volume through the outlets 9, located on the blade surface from the side of decreasing volume; the outlets can be equipped with nozzles directed toward the exhaust channel located in the cavities of the blade and the power shaft.

(30) The device constructed in accordance with the second claimed variant can be successfully used as an autonomous power supply source (an electric generator).

(31) According to this variant, the device additionally uses inlets 14 and outlets 15 of controllable bypass supply/exhaust of the operating medium, which are connected by bypass tubes with the initial receiver and the exhaust system to start the device (not shown in the schemes). Bypass inlets 14 and outlets 15 serve for the parallel supply and exhaust of the operating medium through the bypass tubes from the initial receiver (additional one, under the pressure).

(32) For both variants of the claimed device design, the maximum force of atmospheric pressure on the blades can be achieved by maintaining the pressure at the level of 1000-10000 Pa in decreasing and exhausted volumes, which is ensured by the exhaust of the gas from decreasing volumes by vacuum pumps. In this case, the atmospheric pressure force F.sub.at from the side of expanding volumes is proportional to the total area S of the two surfaces of the blades:
F.sub.at=P.sub.atS=2P.sub.ath(D.sub.1D.sub.2) [N](1)

(33) with: S=2(D.sub.1D.sub.2)h [m.sup.2],

(34) where:

(35) P.sub.a is the atmospheric pressure, Pa;

(36) D.sub.1 is the diameter of the inner surface of the housing, m;

(37) D.sub.2 is the diameter of the external surface of the rotor, m;

(38) his the length of the blade along the axis of symmetry of the rotor, m.

(39) Work A.sub.rot produced by the rotor is determined by the length of the path of blades between the separating plates:
A.sub.rot=/8P.sub.ath(D.sub.2D.sub.1).sup.2 [J](2)

(40) where is the angular displacement (in radians).

(41) The power that can be obtained on the rotor power shaft, ignoring friction losses and at normal atmospheric pressure, is determined by rotation per minute (RPM) n and equals to:
N=/4P.sub.ath(D.sub.2D.sub.1).sup.2n, [W](3)

(42) The exhaust is performed constantly by a vacuum pump.

(43) High-power devices can use rotors with four, six or more blades located on the same shaft 2, which can be displaced relative to each other by a radial angle and separated by vacuum-tight separators to create, together with additional movable plates, additional vacuum chambers along the axis of symmetry of the rotor (FIGS. 1 and 3).

(44) In this case, the number of separating plates and systems of supply/exhaust to/from separated sections of the vacuum chamber is increased according to additional working chambers with variable volume and the vacuum chambers.

(45) Each additional chamber can have its own exhaust system and a vacuum pump providing the necessary speed of exhaust of working gas/atmosphere from the separated section of the vacuum chamber, thus allowing to increase the rotor speed. In this case, one supply system (through the power shaft cavity) can be used.

(46) There can be more blades located radially on the rotor, which is determined by the design features to obtain the required parameters of the device.

(47) This increases the power output of the device without increasing the diameter of the housing, at the same time the length of the rotor is increased, however, the uniformity of rotation is improved and a uniform flow of the operating medium exhausted by vacuum pumps is ensured. The number of control valves is not increased because the supply/exhaust is performed through the power shaft cavity, which greatly simplifies the design of the device.

(48) The Example of Calculating the Power Output of the Device with the Following Parameters: rotor diameter D.sub.1=0.3 m; inner diameter of the housing D.sub.2=1.3 m; length of the blade along the axis of symmetry of the rotor h=1 m.

(49) In this case, the total area of surfaces of two rotor blades is S=1 m.sup.2. Substituting these parameters in the formula (3), we'll get the device power output at 60 rpm:
N=/2P.sub.atSn=3.14/4*101300*1*1=159 kW(4)

(50) The exhaust from the vacuum chamber and the stable pressure within the exhausted sections of the vacuum chamber at the level of about 100-10,000 Pa should be ensured to obtain the required difference in pressure. The total volume of the vacuum chamber with the design parameters and taking into account the volume of the blades cavities is 0.4 m.sup.3. The vacuum pump with exhaust speed of at least 400 l/s (1500 m.sup.3/h) is required to ensure such pressure in the vacuum chamber, and the energy volume consumed by the pump will depend on the pump type. The balance between the energy generated by the rotor and the energy consumed to exhaust from the vacuum chamber will constitute the efficiency of the device.

(51) The claimed device can be optimally applied as a vacuum-and-atmospheric rotor power amplifier (VARPA) in the main-line locomotives and power units of ships. For example, if the number of revolutions of the rotor is increased up to 120 rpm in the case under consideration, the power output on the screw of the power shaft will be of about N=318 kW, taking into account the losses. The torque will equal to:
M=2Fr=2F((D.sub.2+D.sub.1)*)=101,300*2*0.8=162,080 Hm(5)

(52) Due to the fact that the torque does not depend on the rotor speed and thermal and mechanical losses are almost absent, the claimed power unit with these parameters can provide the required speed of the ship with quite a big displacement.

(53) Estimated parameters of the device and its dimensions are determined by formulas (3) and (5).

(54) The speed of exhaust from the vacuum chamber should be increased up to 1000 l/s or 3600 m.sup.3/h to ensure these design parameters. Industrial vacuum pumps of Roots type provide the required exhaust speed at the motor shaft rotation speed of 1500-3000 rpm, while consuming 15-25 kW.

(55) The vacuum pump motor is replaced by an auxiliary diesel engine of 25-40 kW, which rotates the shafts of the vacuum pump at 600-3500 rpm, to ensure the autonomy of operation of the power unit of the ship together with VARPA. In this case, the average power output of about 250-400 kW with torque of 160,000 Nm can be obtained on the power shaft of the screw-propeller of VARPA. Thus, the tenfold power gain will be obtained.

(56) In this case, the rotor rotates at an average speed of 120 rpm, so the power shaft of the screw-propeller can be connected directly to the rotor without loss of power on the transmission. The speed of rotation and the stop of the rotor are regulated by valves and by the speed of rotation of the drive diesel engine shaft due to varying the supply and exhaust of the atmosphere to/from the vacuum chamber with variable volumes.

(57) It is obvious that the use of VARPA in the ship's power unit can provide, ceteris paribus, fuel economy by approximately 10 times, which is a quite significant indicator for a long-term self-contained navigation. At the same time, VARPA will ensure the minimum vibration and noise of the power unit.

(58) Fuel economy can be increased while maintaining the preset power on the power shaft, using a cascade variant of the design of the power unit with VARPA described below. A diesel generator is used in the first cascade, and booster VARPA is integrated between the diesel engine and the generator.

(59) For example, the 10-15 kW diesel engine produces 50-100 kW at the output of the first cascade via the VARPA generator of the first cascade; the generated power is used by the VARPA motor of the second cascade, which power shaft can produce 500-1000 kW power output for its further transmission to the ship propeller.

(60) The claimed device compares favorably with existing energy sources with the external power supply by the following characteristics: environmentally friendly VARPA powered by a permanent external source of non-thermal energy does not require the combustion of fossils or other fuels for its operation and does not produce any harmful emissions into the atmosphere; practically non-intermittent silent operation, without vibrations; having almost the same weight and dimensional characteristics with ICE, VARPA produces a significantly higher torque and its quite free variation at a design power, depending on the purpose of the device; stable and permanent operation at any time and under any weather conditions; 5-10 times less fuel consumption by autonomous power units of ships or power units of other purposes.

(61) Vacuum equipment, which meets the requirements of creating VARPA to be used in autonomous power units of low and medium power output, exists and does not require any special development.