Power plants – Fluid within expansible chamber heated or cooled – Special motive fluid
Patent
1997-06-06
2000-04-25
Nguyen, Hoang
Power plants
Fluid within expansible chamber heated or cooled
Special motive fluid
60512, 60515, 60527, 92134, F01K 300, F01B 3100
Patent
active
06052992&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the field of thermodynamics, and more particularly to techniques of accumulating or dissipating energy in association with thermodynamic systems or devices.
The object of the invention is to develop a novel technique of accumulating or dissipating energy that is capable of providing performance that is much higher than that obtained with traditional techniques that make use of conventional working fluids, i.e. gases and steam, for accumulating energy, and ordinary viscous fluids such as those used in shock-absorbers or dampers for dissipating energy.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In documents SU-A-1 333 870 and SU-A-943 444, the inventor has described the general principle of an energy-accumulating heterogeneous structure of the type comprising a porous capillary solid matrix that is lyophobic relative to the liquid surrounding said matrix, i.e. the matrix is not wetted by the liquid. Nevertheless, the capillary porosity is defined in theoretical and rudimentary manner in those documents, using capillary passages of constant section. In fact, it turns out that making such a matrix is very expensive, and that the performance of such a heterogeneous structure is limited in terms of the amount of energy that can be accumulated. Also, a matrix of that type turns out to be unsuitable for obtaining significant results when dissipating energy.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention thus seeks to devise a heterogeneous structure of better performance, that is capable of implementing a thermodynamically reversible process, and in particular of avoiding heating and/or turbulence during compression.
The invention also seeks to provide methods of using such a heterogeneous structure, and also associated devices implementing the methods.
More particularly, the invention provides a heterogeneous structure for accumulating or dissipating energy for use in thermodynamic systems or devices, the structure being of the type comprising a porous capillary solid matrix and a liquid surrounding said matrix, said matrix being lyophobic relative to said liquid, the structure being characterized in that the porous capillary solid matrix has open capillary porosity and controlled topology, with capillary passages of varying section and/or mutually interconnected to form labyrinths, and the liquid surrounding the porous capillary matrix being selected to define a solid/liquid separation surface whose area varies isothermally and reversibly as a function of the external pressure to which the structure is subjected.
The main criteria used with such a heterogeneous structure are the solid/liquid separation surface area and the surface tension of the liquid at its interface with the solid.
Such an approach, which was merely outlined in above-mentioned documents SU-A-1 333 870 and SU-A-943 444, is thus radically different from the teaching given by conventional thermodynamics insofar as the potential energy of molecular interaction is used, together with the dependence of said energy on temperature. Thus, instead of using the kinetic energy of the random motion of gas or vapor molecules, the argument relates to the potential energy of molecular interaction by causing an appropriate liquid to penetrate into micropassages (whose dimensions lie typically in the range one-thousandth to one-tenth of a micron), allowing the liquid to escape from said micropassages, with a separation surface area that increases as the liquid penetrates and decreases as the liquid withdraws, with this taking place in a process that is both isothermal and reversible. It is then possible to encounter compression of the working medium which is isobaric and isothermal but without phase transition, using as independent parameters the values of temperature and of solid/liquid separation surface area. The energy that is accumulated or dissipated is thus essentially thermomolecular.
In a particular embodiment, the capillary passages are mutually interconnected, and are organized to form cylindrical channels
REFERENCES:
patent: 1920094 (1933-07-01), Martin, Jr.
patent: 3486417 (1969-12-01), Vita et al.
patent: 4471190 (1984-09-01), Pouyez
patent: 4945725 (1990-08-01), Carmein et al.
D L D International a part interest
Friedman Stuart J.
Nguyen Hoang
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