The design of the engine intended for transformation of the fluid pressure applied to the engine. Supposed name for the engine is external pressure engine.
Design of the external pressure hydraulic engine:
The proposed engine is shown in Fig. 1 (side view) and Fig. 2 (end view). It includes the transmission mechanism and the following elements shown by arrows:
- rack reducer
- fluid supply box
- bypass manifold
- inlet valve
- outlet valve
- manifold gland
- shaft gland
included in the design of the transmission mechanism but requires the following clarification: all the reducers must have two automatic gears that ensure forward and reverse stroke of the piston when the transmission mechanism is moving circumferentially. Moreover, all the reducers should include a differential gear for matching speeds of pistons in cylinders with the rotation speed of the transmission mechanism.
The engine design described below is arranged in the following way:
the fluid supply box (2) is fixed immovably, it has two opposite cylindrical holes, the transmission mechanism shaft is inserted in one of these holes, gland (7) is located in the gap between the shaft and the box. The cylindrical mouth of the bypass manifold (3) passes through the opposite hole, gland (6) is located in the gap between the mouth and the box. The bypass manifold (3) is immovably fixed at the transmission mechanism shaft and provides a pressure-tight connection between cylinders of the transmission mechanism and the fluid supply box (2). The inlet valve (4) and outlet valve (5) are located inside the bypass manifold, and the number of valve pairs is equal to the number of piston rotor cylinders of the transmission mechanism. Location and design of the transmission mechanism have no other changes compared with patent No. 2518136. This solution does not examine designs of valves and valve actuators as there are many similar designs.
The proposed engine operates in the following way:
The best example of engine operation is the motion of a single piston in a cylinder of the transmission mechanism. The motion starts from the point (of a circle) located at the half-height of the transmission mechanism. At this moment the piston should be located in the extreme right position in the cylinder in accordance with Fig. 1, and at the same time, the inlet valve (4) should be open and the outlet valve (5) should be closed. The acting fluid pressure sets the piston in motion inside the cylinder, and the transmission mechanism itself starts rotating. The cylinder length must correspond to a 180° revolution of the transmission mechanism, taking into account gear ratios. After the mechanism performs a half revolution in the rack reducer (1), the piston starts moving in reverse, the outlet valve (4) closes, the inlet valve (5) opens. At the same time, the transmission mechanism continues to rotate in the same direction, and the piston inside the cylinder moves backward under the action of gears of the transmission mechanism and displaces the fluid from the cylinder through the outlet valve (5). The pressure of the displaced liquid acting on the piston is neglected. Rotation of the transmission mechanism when the piston moves backward in the cylinder is caused by work of the opposite piston inside the opposite cylinder. After the transmission mechanism performs a complete revolution, the piston returns to the initial position, the gear in the rack reducer (1) is switched once again, but from reverse stroke to forward one, the outlet valve (5) is closed and the inlet valve (4) is open, then the motion cycle repeats. The lower part of the half-circle is preferred for engine operation, as the internal fluid pressure inside the bypass manifold (3) will additionally act on the piston.
The purpose of creating this engine is to increase efficiency when transforming the fluid energy. As opposed to hydraulic turbines, this engine has no design power losses, and its efficiency will be 100% taking no account of losses in structure elements. The approximate calculation of losses can be made by summing losses of individual elements in percentage from the total power: piston gasket – 2%, rack reducer – 2%, planetary gear – 2%, glands – 1%, other losses – 3%, in total – 10%. As pistons act in pairs, this value should be doubled to 20%. On this basis, the engine efficiency will be 80%. For comparison, efficiency of the state-of-the-art hydraulic turbines is about 40%. Use of this engine can double the power plant capacity with the same dam height.
Note
Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the calculation of efficiency of gravity field energy transformation by means of the hydraulic turbine. According to my calculations, the hydraulic turbine can transform up to 40% of liquid column potential energy throughout the height. In reality, hydraulic turbines can transform up to 40% of liquid free fall kinetic energy. In turn, liquid free fall energy composes a half of potential energy; therefore, the transformation efficiency by means of the hydraulic turbine is only up to 20% of liquid column potential energy. According to the above-stated, it can be said that the efficiency of the method for gravity field energy transformation proposed by me exceeds efficiency of hydraulic turbines by four times instead of two times.