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. 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