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(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 8,661,817 B2 Harmon, Sr

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(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 8,661,817 B2 Harmon, Sr US008661817B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 8,661,817 B2 Harmon, Sr. et a]. (45) Date of Patent: Mar. 4, 2014 (54) HIGH EFFICIENCY DUAL CYCLE FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS INTERNAL COMBUSTION STEAM ENGINE AND METHOD DE 3437151 A1 4/1986 GB 175 0 0/ 1912 (75) Inventors: James V. Harmon, Sr., Mahtomedi, MN (US); Jerry A. Peoples, Harvest, AL (Continued) (Us) OTHER PUBLICATIONS (73) Assignee: Thermal Power Recovery LLC, Mahtomedi, MN (US) Evans Cooling Systems, Evans Waterless Engine Coolant, by Evans Cooling Systems, Suf?eld, CT 06078; Website information WWW. (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this evanscooling.com/fuel-ef?ciency/, pp. l-6. patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 593 days. (Continued) (21) Appl. N0.: 12/844,607 Primary Examiner * Kenneth Bomberg Assistant Examiner * Paolo Isada (22) Filed: Jul. 27, 2010 (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm * Nikolai & Mersereau, P.A.; James V. Harmon (65) Prior Publication Data US 2010/0300100 A1 Dec. 2,2010 (57) ABSTRACT Related US. Application Data The coolant in the cooling jacket of a dual cycle internal combustion steam engine is intentionally maintained at an (63) Continuation-in-part of application No. 12/539,987, elevated temperature that may typically range from about ?led onAug. 12, 2009, noW Pat. No. 8,061,140, Which 225° F. -3000 F. or more. A non-aqueous liquid coolant is used is a continuation-in-part of application No. to cool the combustion chamber together With a provision for (Continued) controlling the How rate and residence time of the coolant Within the cooling jacket to maintain the temperature of the (51) Int. Cl. coolant at a selected elevated temperature that is substantially F 02G 3/00 (2006.01) above the boiling point of Water but beloW the boiling point of the coolant. The coolant is passed from the jacket through a US. Cl. (52) heat exchanger in a ?rst circuit to transfer heat to a vaporiz USPC .......... .. 60/616; 60/615; 123/41.2; 123/41.72 able Working ?uid such as Water and is then returned. An (58) Field of Classi?cation Search optional second circuit is an intrajacket perturbation circuit USPC ................. .. 60/614, 618, 624, 670, 615, 616; Within the engine can be used to disrupt and disperse pockets 123/41.2, 41.72 of vapor that may tend to form before damaging hot spots can See application ?le for complete search history. develop around the combustion chamber. A cooling jacket design is tailored to extract heat at the highest possible tem (56) References Cited perature from each heat transfer Zone as by having the coolant folloW a circuitous helical pathway to achieve more ef?cient U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS and improved heat transfer from the combustion chamber to the cooling medium. 51,081 A 11/1865 Pike 175,485 A 3/1876 Miracle (Continued) 28 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets US 8,661,817 B2 Page 2 Related US. Application Data 4,433,548 2/1984 Hallstrom, Jr. ............... .. 60/712 4,509,464 4/1985 Hansen (63) 12/492,773, ?led on Jun. 26, 2009, noW abandoned, 4,550,694 11/1985 Evans Which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 4,561,256 12/1985 Molignoni 4,565,162 1/1986 Seki et a1. ................ .. 123/4108 12/387,113, ?led on Apr. 28, 2009, noW Pat. No. 4,590,766 5/1986 Striebich 8,109,097, Which is a continuation-in-part of 4,599,859 7/1986 Urso ............................. .. 60/514 application No. 12/075,042, ?led on Mar. 7, 2008, noW 4,622,925 11/1986 KuboZuka ................ .. 123/41.25 Pat. No. 7,997,080. 4,706,462 11/1987 Soltermack 4,724,800 2/1988 Wood (60) Provisional application No. 61/228,752, ?led on Jul. 4,747,271 5/1988 Fischer 4,785,631 11/1988 Striebich 27, 2009, provisional application No. 61/320,959, * 4,803,958 2/1989 Erickson ....................... .. 122/21 ?led on Apr. 5, 2010, provisional application No. 4,829,947 5/1989 Lequesne 61/309,640, ?led on Mar. 2, 2010, provisional 4,864,826 9/1989 Lagow application No. 60/905,732, ?led on Mar. 7, 2007, 5,000,003 3/1991 Wicks 5,031,579 7/1991 Evans ........................ .. 123/41.2 provisional application No. 61/192,254, ?led on Sep. 5,111,776 5/1992 Matsushiro et a1. 17, 2008, provisional application No. 61/194,608, 5,121,607 6/1992 George, Jr. ?led on Sep. 29, 2008. 5,255,636 10/1993 Evans ...................... .. 123/41.54 5,385,211 1/1995 Carroll References Cited 5,845,609 12/1998 Corrigan .................. .. 122/209.1 (56) 6,220,210 4/2001 Kobayashi U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 6,237,550 5/2001 Hatano 6,247,309 6/2001 Haas et a1. .................... .. 60/514 6,443,111 9/2002 LaDoW 606,739 A 7/1898 Rothgery 6,470,679 10/2002 Ertle 753,647 A 3/1904 Thorson 6,694,737 2/2004 Tsai et a1. 845,622 A 2/1907 Du Shane EED>D>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 12/2004 Freyrnann 6,834,503 1,027,380 A 5/1912 Fryer 6,895,756 5/2005 Schmotolocha 1,128,125 A 2/1915 Fryer 7,056,251 6/2006 Ibaraki 1,169,672 A 1/1916 Palm 7,104,063 9/2006 Clemens 1,252,927 A 1/1918 Muir 7,191,649 3/2007 Coogle 1,311,529 A 7/1919 Muir 7,240,644 7/2007 Slike et a1. ........... .. 123/41.82 R 1,324,183 A * 12/1919 Still .............................. .. 60/618 5/2008 Holden ....................... .. 123/250 1,331,665 A 2/1920 Ohborg 7,367,306 7,421,983 9/2008 Taylor ...................... .. 123/41.01 1,332,633 A 3/1920 Parrish 7,454,910 11/2008 Hamada et a1. 1,359,988 A 11/1920 Hansen 7,454,911 11/2008 Tafas 1,427,395 A 8/1922 Kaschtofsky 7,841,309 11/2010 Grundl 1,489,291 A 4/1924 Tuerk 7,997,080 8/2011 Harmon et a1. .. 60/670 1,496,839 A 6/1924 Bohan et a1. 8,061,140 11/2011 .. 60/670 1,502,918 A 7/1924 Scott 2/2012 Harmon,Harmon etSr. a1. .... .. 60/670 1,517,372 A 12/1924 Martineau 8,109,097 2005/0235931 10/2005 Zahdeh ...... .. 123/41.74 1,542,578 A 6/1925 Pool 2006/0107663 5/2006 Filippone ...................... .. 60/643 1,601,995 A 10/1926 Butler et al. 2008/0216480 9/2008 Harmon et a1. ............... .. 60/670 1,629,677 A 5/1927 Bull 2009/0205338 8/2009 Harmon 1,630,841 A 5/1927 Fusch 2009/0293480 12/2009 Harmon 1,732,011 A 10/1929 Gouirand 2011/0083434 4/2011 Peoples et a1. ................ .. 60/618 1,802,828 A 4/1931 Perrenoud 1,913,251 A 6/1933 Smith 2,000,108 A 5/1935 Tucker FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 2,040,453 A 5/1936 Weber 2,057,075 A 10/1936 Wuehr GB 25356 0/1911 2,063,970 A 12/1936 Young GB 28472 0/1913 2,122,521 A 7/1938 Goddard GB 125395 4/1918 2,138,351 A 11/1938 McGonigall GB 130621 8/1919 2,341,348 A 3/1940 Welby JP 2008121615 5/2008 2,196,979 A 4/1940 Campbell JP 2008240614 10/2008 2,196,980 A 4/1940 Campbell JP 200997391 5/2009 2,402,699 A 6/1946 Williams W0 W0 0231319 4/2002 2,560,449 A 7/1951 Kahr W0 WO 03050402 6/2003 2,604,079 A 7/1952 Ray 2,649,082 A 8/1953 Harbert et al. OTHER PUBLICATIONS 2,943,608 A 7/1960 Williams 3,200,798 A 8/1965 Mans?eld J .R. Allen and J .A. Bursley, Heat Engines, 1925 Third Edition, pp. 3,397,619 A 8/1968 Sturtevant 210 and 211, McGraW Hill, New York, US. 3,650,295 A 3/1972 Smith 3,882,833 A 5/1975 Longstaff Jerry Peoples, GeWgaWs of Production Steam, The Steam Automo 3,908,686 A 9/1975 Carter et al. bile Bulletin, Sep.-Oct. 2006, vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 7-13. 3,921,404 A * 11/1975 Mason .......................... .. 60/618 J.V. Haywood, Internal Combustion Engines, McGraW-Hill Book 3,995,531 A * 12/1976 Zibrun .......................... .. 91/152 (:0. 1988 pp. 657-659. 4,023,537 A 5/1977 Carter, Sr. et al. D.A. Low, Heat Engines, Longmans, Green & Co. 1949, pp. 246-248. 4,050,357 A 9/1977 Carter, Sr. et al. Marks, et. a1 ., Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, 4,077,214 A 3/1978 Burke, Jr. McGraW-Hill, Inc. 9th ed. 1987, pp. 9-36 to 9-38. 4,087,974 A 5/1978 Vaughan 4,201,058 A 5/1980 Vaughan An Assessment of the Technology of Rankine Engines for Automo 4,300,353 A 11/1981 RidgWay biles. Division of Transportation Energy Conservation, US. Energy 4,352,342 A 10/1982 Cser et a1. Research and Development Administration, Apr. 1977, pp. 22-24. 4,362,132 A 12/1982 Neuman Bill Cartland, Easy Starting Bash Valve, Steam Automobile Club of 4,377,934 A * 3/1983 Marshall ....................... .. 60/712 America, Inc. Technical Report No. 120, 1993, one page. US 8,661,817 B2 Page 3 (56) References Cited An Assessment of the Technology of Rankine Engines for Automo biles Div. of Transportation Energy Conservation, U. S. Energy OTHER PUBLICATIONS Research & Develop. Admin., Apr. 1977, pp. 43-54. Ho-Young Kim, Yi Gu Kim, and Byung Ha Kang, Enhancement of Ronald Loving, LoW NOX Thermal OXidiZers, Steam Automobile Natural Convection and Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Via Ultrasonic Bulletin, vol.
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