초록 ▼

A multi cylinder compressor/expansion engine having a centrally mounted drive shaft. A cylinder barrel is mounted on the drive shaft and both the cylinder barrel and the drive shaft rotate about a common axis. There is a plurality of cylinders in the cylinder barrel with pistons disposed in each of

A multi cylinder compressor/expansion engine having a centrally mounted drive shaft. A cylinder barrel is mounted on the drive shaft and both the cylinder barrel and the drive shaft rotate about a common axis. There is a plurality of cylinders in the cylinder barrel with pistons disposed in each of the cylinders. Some of the cylinders are compression cylinders and some of the cylinders are expansion cylinders. The compression cylinders discharge a fluid at a first high pressure from the engine. The expansion cylinders receive fluid at a second pressure which provides energy to the engine thereby reducing the energy required for the engine to rotate the drive shaft.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A compressor/expansion engine comprising: a centrally mounted drive shaft, a cylinder barrel mounted on the drive shaft, the cylinder barrel and the drive shaft rotating about a common axis of rotation, a plurality of cylinders disposed in the barrel, a piston disposed in eac

What is claimed is: 1. A compressor/expansion engine comprising: a centrally mounted drive shaft, a cylinder barrel mounted on the drive shaft, the cylinder barrel and the drive shaft rotating about a common axis of rotation, a plurality of cylinders disposed in the barrel, a piston disposed in each of the cylinders, the piston defining a piston stroke as it reciprocates in the cylinder, at least one of the cylinders being a compression cylinder for discharging a fluid at a first pressure from the compressor/expansion engine, and at least one of the cylinders being an expansion cylinder for receiving a fluid at a second pressure for providing energy to the compressor/expansion engine. 2. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 1 and further comprising a wedge member mounted in the engine, the wedge member in driving relationship with the pistons for causing the pistons to reciprocate when the cylinder barrel is rotated with respect to the wedge member. 3. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 2 wherein the wedge member is adjustable for adjusting the piston stroke. 4. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 2 wherein the wedge member is moveable for adjusting the piston stroke and clearance volume within the cylinder. 5. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 1 and further comprising a cylinder head with porting means for providing fluid passages into and out from the cylinders. 6. The compression/expansion engine of claim 5 wherein the porting means comprises a port plate disposed in the compressor/expansion engine at a port end of the cylinder barrel for providing the fluid passages into and out from the cylinders. 7. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 6 wherein the compression cylinder has compression cylinder ports located in the cylinder head at a first radial distance from the drive shaft and the expansion cylinder has expansion cylinder ports located in the cylinder head at a second radial distance from the drive shaft, and wherein the first and second radial distances are not the same. 8. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 7 wherein the cylinder head has expansion ports for receiving fluid at the second pressure and for providing it to the expansion cylinder for providing energy to the compressor/expansion engine. 9. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 8 wherein the cylinder head has compression ports for discharging fluid at the first pressure from the compression cylinder. 10. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 9 wherein the cylinder barrel is removable from the compressor/expansion engine and can be replaced by another cylinder barrel having a different ratio of expansion and compression cylinders. 11. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 10 wherein the port plate is removable and is replaced by another port plate having compression and expansion slots that correspond to the ratio of expansion and compression cylinders. 12. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 11 wherein the port plate has its compression slots and expansion slots aligned with their respective compression and expansion cylinder ports when the piston is at a top dead center position. 13. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 1 wherein the first pressure is between 200 psi and 1800 psi. 14. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 1 wherein the second pressure is between 200 psi and 1800 psi. 15. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 1 wherein the fluid is carbon dioxide. 16. An air conditioning system comprising: condenser means with a high pressure hot fluid inlet and a high pressure warm fluid outlet, evaporator means with a low pressure cold fluid inlet and a cool low pressure fluid outlet, a compressor/expansion engine comprising a centrally mounted drive shaft, a cylinder barrel mounted on the drive shaft, a plurality of cylinders disposed in the barrel, a piston disposed in each of the cylinders, the piston defining a piston stroke as it reciprocates in the cylinder, at least one of the cylinders being a compression cylinder having a high pressure high temperature outlet for discharging a fluid at a first pressure from the compressor/expansion engine and a low pressure inlet, and at least one of the cylinders being an expansion cylinder having a high pressure high temperature inlet for receiving a fluid at a second pressure for providing energy to the compressor/expansion engine and a low pressure outlet, a first fluid passageway fluidly connecting the high pressure high temperature outlet from the compression cylinder to the high pressure hot fluid inlet of the condenser means, a second fluid passageway fluidly connecting the high pressure warm fluid outlet from the condenser means to the high pressure high temperature inlet of the expansion cylinder, a third fluid passageway fluidly connecting the low pressure outlet from the expansion cylinder to the low pressure cold fluid inlet of the evaporator means, and a fourth fluid passageway fluidly connecting the cool low pressure outlet from the evaporator means to the low pressure cold fluid inlet of the compression cylinder. 17. The air conditioning system of claim 16 and further comprising a wedge member mounted in the engine, the wedge member in driving relationship with the pistons for causing the pistons to reciprocate when the cylinder barrel is rotated with respect to the wedge member. 18. The air conditioning system of claim 17 wherein the wedge member is adjustable for adjusting the piston stroke. 19. The air conditioning system of claim 16 and further comprising a cylinder head with porting means for providing fluid passages into and out from the cylinders. 20. The compression/expansion engine of claim 19 wherein the porting means comprises a port plate disposed in the compressor/expansion engine at a port end of the cylinder barrel for providing the fluid passages into and out from the cylinders. 21. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 20 wherein the compression cylinder has compression ports located in the cylinder head at a first radial distance from the drive shaft and the expansion cylinder has expansion ports located in the cylinder head at a second radial distance from the drive shaft, and wherein the first and second radial distances are not the same. 22. The compressor/expansion engine of claim 21 wherein the cylinder head cylinder head has expansion ports for receiving fluid at the second pressure and for providing it to the expansion cylinder for providing energy to the compressor/expansion engine. 23. The air conditioning system of claim 22 wherein the cylinder head has compression ports for discharging fluid at the first pressure from the compression cylinder. 24. The air conditioning system of claim 16 wherein the cylinder barrel is removable from the compressor/expansion engine and can be replaced by another cylinder barrel having a different ratio of expansion and compression cylinders. 25. The air conditioning system of claim 23 wherein the port plate is removable and is replaced by another port plate having compression and expansion slots that correspond to the ratio of expansion and compression cylinders. 26. The air conditioning system of claim 25 wherein the port plate has its compression slots and expansion slots aligned with their respective compression and expansion cylinder ports when the piston is at a top dead center position. 27. The air conditioning system of claim 16 wherein the first pressure is between 200 psi and 1800 psi. 28. The air conditioning system of claim 16 wherein the second pressure is between 200 psi and 1800 psi. 29. The air conditioning system of claim 16 wherein the fluid is carbon dioxide. 30. A compressor/expansion engine comprising: a housing having a centrally mounted drive shaft, a cylinder barrel mounted on the drive shaft, the cylinder barrel and the drive shaft rotating about a common axis of rotation, a plurality of cylinders disposed in the barrel, the cylinders oriented in spaced parallel relationship to the drive shaft with the cylinders having a long axis parallel to the axis of rotation, a piston disposed in each of the cylinders, the piston defining a piston stroke as it reciprocates in the cylinder, at least one of the cylinders being a compression cylinder for discharging a fluid at a first pressure from the compressor/expansion engine through a compression port, the compression port being located at a first radial distance from the axis of rotation, at least one of the cylinders being an expansion cylinder for receiving a fluid at a second pressure through an expansion port for providing energy to the compressor/expansion engine, the expansion port being located at a second radial distance from the axis of rotation which is different than the first radial distance. 31. The compression/expansion engine of claim 30 wherein the compression cylinder further comprises a low pressure inlet port located at the first radial distance and the expansion cylinder further comprises a low pressure outlet port located at the second radial distance.