Refrigerator/HP powered by heat

This is combination of my initial Stirling refrigerator concept with Vuilleumier refrigerator. This design consists of two sections: hot one (power input) and a cold one (sucks heat out of the cooled object). Each section is is basically a closed-loop pipe, in which working gas is in constant motion (fan moves the gas). Each section has a set of two heat exchangers (each gas molecule can pass many times through exchanger during almost isothermal process), and a few regenerators that allow for heat to be stored during transitions between isotherms. Pipes can change length, thanks to movable barrier between them, so volume of the each section can change. Total volume stays constant, and pressure in both sections is always the same. 

 

When cold section is in contact with with the cold source, hot section contracts (due to heat being absorbed by the regenerators), forcing expansion of the gas in cold section and removal of cooled object’s heat. After that, hot section is in contact with ambient temperature heat exchanger and contracts (it results in heat rejection). This contraction is achieved by expansion of cold section (heat from regenerators is absorbed by gas, so temperature of the cold section increases). Next, cold section is in contact with ambient temperature heat exchanger and contracts, rejecting heat. This is due to expansion hot section (gas in it absorbs heat from regenerators). Finally, hot section is in contact with hot exchanger, and expands, absorbing heat from hot source. During that, cold section moves between isotherms and contracts, while adding heat to regenerators. Starting points of above description lie between processes 2 and 3 in pv_diagram.png . Note that only a few discrete “constant” temperature regenerators are present in each section, so to achieve final temperature, gas has to take or give some heat from/to heat sources. 

 

Files: 

tri-temp_pre_v1.zip, mirror, SHA256: 7069221ec9a0a6d1d7867e8d685a17885a3f709a77f482e5fbcbc72eacdd455f