Power plants – Fluid within expansible chamber heated or cooled
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-23
2002-08-06
Nguyen, Hoang (Department: 3748)
Power plants
Fluid within expansible chamber heated or cooled
C060S527000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06427444
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a thermal energy conversion device, a unit having the device, and a thermal energy conversion method, and more particularly, relates to the configuration of a thermal energy conversion device for deriving energy based on changes in pressure or volume of heating medium due to changes in temperature.
BACKGROUND ART
A table clock called “Atmos” from Jaeger-LeCoultre is known as a timepiece in which dynamic energy is obtained by using changes in outside air temperature. Inside this table clock, a deformable sealed container is placed so as to contain ethyl chloride as heating medium in a state which is a mixture of a gaseous phase and a liquid phase. When the internal pressure of the sealed container is changed due to a change in temperature, the sealed container is deformed, and a mainspring is wound up by the deformation, thereby storing energy for driving pointers.
In contrast, techniques for obtaining driving energy for a timepiece by converting thermal energy into dynamic energy in response to a change in ambient temperature, in a manner similar to that of the above-described table clock, are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications Publication Nos. H6-341371 and H10-14265. Both of these techniques adopt a structure in which liquid and gas are contained as heating media in a sealed container having an expandable bellows, and a driving lever is connected to the sealed container. When the sealed container expands and contracts in response to changes in outside air temperature, the driving lever also moves reciprocally, and rotational motion is generated by a gear meshed with the driving lever. When the rotational motion is transmitted to a rotor of a power generator either directly or via a mainspring or the like, power is generated in the power generator. The generated electrical energy is then stored in a capacitor, a secondary battery, or the like.
In the above techniques, however, since the temperature of outside air generally changes relatively slowly, deformation of the sealed container is considerably slow. As a result, it is difficult to efficiently derive dynamic energy from the deformation of the sealed container.
That is, in the above-described table clock, Atmos, since a coil spring for pressing the sealed container has great elastic force and since the amount of deformation of the sealed container is limited in order to improve pressure resistance of the sealed container, it is impossible to respond to a sudden change in outside air temperature. Moreover, it is also impossible to derive energy from slight changes in the outside air temperature.
In the techniques described in the above publications, in order to efficiently convert thermal energy, deformation of the sealed container is restrained until the outside air temperature changes by some amount, and the restraint force is suddenly released when the amount of change in temperature exceeds a predetermined value, thereby rapidly and greatly deforming the sealed container so as to generate dynamic energy. In this case, it is possible to improve energy conversion efficiency of the power generator, whereas, when rapid increase and decrease in temperature are caused (for example, when the temperature rises rapidly and then falls rapidly), the temperature returns to its initial temperature before the sealed container is released. This does not allow dynamic energy to be obtained. In a case in which the temperature changes slowly, it takes a considerably long time before deriving of thermal energy is started. Furthermore, when the temperature rises and falls before thermal energy can be derived, even if heat is conducted into and out of the sealed container with the rise and fall of the temperature, dynamic energy cannot be derived based on the movement of the heat. Therefore, in the conventional methods, most of the energy, which is supposed to be obtained, cannot be derived and is lost.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to solve various problems in the above-described techniques.
That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a device or method which allows energy in an available form to be quickly or reliably derived even based on a slow temperature change, such as a change in air temperature.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device or method which can satisfactorily respond to a rapid change in ambient temperature and which can reliably derive energy even when a temperature rise and a temperature fall are almost simultaneously caused within a short period.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a device or method which is highly responsive to various manners of change in ambient temperature and which can efficiently derive energy, for example, which can derive energy with high efficiency over a wide range of rates of change in ambient temperature.
In order to overcome the above problems, a thermal energy conversion device of the present invention includes: a heat converter having a sealed container for containing a heating medium which changes in volume in response to a change in temperature, said sealed container having a medium containing portion, which does not substantially change in capacity, and a variable portion connected to the medium containing portion so as to change in capacity; and an operating portion to be operated in response to a change in capacity of the variable portion. According to the present invention, since the variable portion capable of changing in capacity is connected to the medium containing portion, which does not substantially change in capacity, in the heat converter, when heat is exchanged between the heating medium in the medium containing portion and the outside, the volume of the heating medium changes and causes a change in capacity of the variable portion. In this case, since the medium containing portion does not substantially change in capacity, operations brought about by the capacity change of the heating medium in the medium containing portion are concentrated on the variable portion. This substantially changes the capacity of the variable portion. As a result, it is possible to sensitively and quickly deform the variable portion in response to a considerably slow and slight temperature change, such as a change in ordinary outside air temperature, and in response to a rapid temperature change caused when the device is moved from indoors to outdoors and is returned again to indoors, or when the device is placed out of close contact with the skin and is then put into close contact therewith again, thereby deriving dynamic energy of the operating portion from the deformation. This allows greater energy to be derived than was possible previously. Since a large amount of change in capacity of the variable portion is ensured even when operation thereof is not temporarily restrained, as described in the above publications, or even when the range of change in temperature for limiting the operation is reduced (a set value of the temperature range (temperature difference) for removing the restraint of operation is decreased), it is possible to efficiently derive energy.
In the above heat converter, the description “the capacity of the medium containing portion does not substantially change” means that the capacity of the medium containing portion may be changed to a lower degree than that of the variable portion which changes in capacity in response to the change in volume of the heating medium. The above operating portion refers to a portion that is operated in response to a change in capacity of the variable portion, and refers to all the operating portions mechanically connecting the variable portion and a storage means for storing dynamic energy of the operating portion when the storage means is connected to the operating portion. Therefore, the operating portion may be formed of a single component or a plurality of connected members.
Alternatively, the medium containing portion and the variable portion may be separately formed and
Haro Rosalio
Nguyen Hoang
Seiko Epson Corporation
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