Patent ID: 8707695

Claim:
A heat engine comprising: a container with a tube portion; a liquid phase of an operation fluid disposed within said tube portion forming a liquid piston within said tube portion of said container; an exterior evaporator located outside of said container in communication with said container; a heat source located outside of the container in communication with the exterior evaporator; a vapor phase of said operation fluid being generated by said exterior evaporator; a vapor suction portion arranged at one end side of said container drawing said vapor phase of said operation fluid generated in said exterior evaporator into said container; an expansion portion provided in said container, said vapor phase of said operation fluid drawn from said vapor suction portion expanding in said expanding portion to cause a displacement of said liquid piston in said tube portion of said container; an output portion arranged at the other end side of said container converting said displacement of said liquid piston to mechanical energy and outputting said converted mechanical energy; a liquid piston discharge portion discharging a part of said liquid phase of said operation fluid forming said liquid piston from said container to restrict an increase of an amount of said liquid phase of said operation fluid forming said liquid piston; and a vapor discharge portion discharging a portion of said vapor phase of said operation fluid in said container to outside of said container.