Patent ID: 9638035
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: F01C,F02G,F04C,Y02E

Claim:
1. A rotary engine system comprised of at least one independent partial engine configured to perform a primary process of transforming thermal energy into kinetic energy, each partial engine comprising: A) a cold reservoir comprising a heat exchanger in which gas phase process fluid condenses to the liquid state; B) a pump adapted to pressurize the process fluid in its liquid state received from the cold reservoir; C) a heater system adapted to receive pressurized process fluid in liquid form from the pump and to heat the process fluid; D) a hot reservoir adapted to store pressurized and overheated process fluid received from the heater system; E) an expansion chamber having an entrance side and an exit side, the expansion chamber adapted to allow rotor blades to move through the expansion chamber, the rotor blades attached to a main rotor, wherein the main rotor is attached to an output shaft of the rotary engine system; F) two closing mechanisms that define the entrance side and the exit side of the expansion chamber, wherein the first of the closing mechanisms is located before a primary inlet opening that allows process fluid to enter the expansion chamber and the second of the closing mechanisms is located after a primary outlet opening that allows expanded gases of the process fluid to exit the expansion chamber; the closing mechanisms being adapted to trap batches of process fluid within the expansion chamber while allowing the rotor blades to pass into and out of the expansion chamber; G) a primary inlet valve in fluid communication with the primary inlet opening of the expansion chamber, the primary inlet valve configured to receive overheated pressurized process fluid from the hot reservoir and to allow a series of batches of overheated pressurized process fluid of predetermined volume to enter the expansion chamber; and H) a primary outlet valve in fluid communication with the primary outlet opening of the expansion chamber and adapted to allow the gas phase of the process fluid to leave the expansion chamber and to return to the heat exchanger in the cold reservoir, wherein the gas phase process fluid is cooled and condensed to the liquid state; wherein: i) the primary inlet valve is configured as a rotating feeding valve that comprises at least one recess having a predetermined volume that is adapted to receive pressurized and overheated process fluid in liquid form from the hot reservoir, to allow the pressurized and overheated process fluid to enter the expansion chamber in discrete batches, and to physically separate each batch of process fluid in liquid form from the expansion chamber thereby preventing the batches of process fluid in liquid form from starting to expand and evaporate until rotation of the primary inlet valve allows fluid communication between the interior of the recess and the primary inlet opening of the expansion chamber, thereby preserving all of the thermal energy contained within each batch of pressurized process fluid in the form of heat and pressure to be released only inside the expansion chamber; ii) the opening and closing of the closing mechanisms, of the primary inlet valve and of the primary outlet valve are mechanically synchronized with the rotation of the main rotor thereby enabling feeding batches of liquid process fluid into the expansion chamber in synchronization with the rotational speed of the rotary engine system—one batch per one rotor blade passing through the expansion chamber; iii) the primary inlet valve and the primary outlet valve are both configured to close when the rotor blade nears the circumferential end of the expansion chamber thus enclosing and trapping the expanded gases of the process fluid within the expansion chamber; iv) the primary inlet valve is configured such that its rotational position immediately after a first rotor blade passes through the closing mechanism at the exit side of the expansion chamber and the following second rotor blade passes through the closing mechanism at the entrance side of the expansion chamber allows a new second batch of liquid process fluid to enter the expansion chamber where it begins expanding and pushing the second rotor blade forwards while the expanded gases of the previous first batch of process fluid are still in the remaining volume of the expansion chamber in front of the second rotor blade; v) the primary outlet valve is configured to open not before the second batch of process fluid starts to enter the expansion chamber thereby, connecting the expansion chamber to the cold reservoir and defining a hermetically closed space composed of the part of the expansion chamber in front of the second rotor blade, the heat exchanger, and a connecting passage from the primary outlet valve to the heat exchanger; whereby condensation in the heat exchanger of the expanded gases from the first batch of process fluid that are in the expansion chamber in front of the second rotor blade generates a vacuum, which creates a negative pressure on the front of the second rotor blade and thus adds to the force on the second rotor blade in the forward direction.