Isochoric piston-cylinder heat pump

1. A method of operating a mechanical heat pump, actuated by an externally powered electric motor, according to an internally reversible, thermodynamic cycle, comprising:

providing a high pressure, ambient temperature gas in a piston-cylinder system at top dead center;

isentropically expanding the high pressure, ambient temperature gas in the piston cylinder system to bottom dead center;

isochorically heating the gas in the piston cylinder system back to the ambient temperature; and

isothermally compressing the gas in the piston cylinder system back to the initial state of the piston at top dead center at the ambient temperature using the externally powered electric motor via a crankshaft.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mechanical heat pump utilizes ambient air at a temperature cooler than the hot stage, and warmer than the cold stages disposed proximate the piston cylinder system;

after the process of isentropic expansion, this will provide a heat source for the process of isochoric heating;

followed by providing as a sink for cooling for the process of isothermal compression.

3. A mechanical heat pump as described in claim 1 with a bore of 7 cm, a stroke of 10 cm, a compression ratio of 2 and an iron cylinder wall of 5 mm thickness.

4. The mechanical heat pump of claim 3 , wherein the isochoric heating and the isothermal compression are one continuous process such that the piston cylinder system begins to compress the gas at a rate slow enough that the gas reaches the ambient temperature prior to the piston cylinder system returning to top dead center.

5. The mechanical heat pump of claim 3 , wherein the gas is monatomic, with a specific heat ratio of 5/3, in order to achieve both the greatest temperature difference and the greatest isentropic expansion output, for a given compression ratio.

6. The mechanical heat pump of claim 3 , further comprising redirecting the flow of an ambient fluid output once the temperature of the gas reaches the ambient temperature:

when the ambient fluid acts as a source of cooling instead of a source of heat;

0.02 seconds after the piston is 36° above bottom dead center, when operating at 300 RPM.

7. A method of operating a heat pump, actuated by an externally powered electric motor, comprising:

moving a piston provided with a piston cylinder system from a top dead center position to a bottom dead center position, resulting in isentropic expansion of a high pressure, ambient temperature gas in the piston-cylinder system;

isochorically heating the gas, while the piston is at the bottom dead center position back to the ambient temperature;

moving the piston provided with the piston cylinder system from the bottom dead center position to the top dead center position to isentropically compress the gas using the externally powered electric motor via a crankshaft; and isochorically cooling the gas back to the ambient temperature at the top dead center position.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the mechanical heat pump utilizes ambient air at a temperature cooler than the hot stage, and warmer than the cold stages disposed proximate the piston cylinder system;

after the process of isentropic expansion, this will provide a heat source for the process of isochoric heating; and

after the process of isentropic compression, this will provide a heat sink for the process of isochoric cooling.

9. A method of operating a heat pump, actuated by an externally powered electric motor, comprising:

where high pressure, ambient temperature gas in a piston-cylinder system at top dead center undergoes isentropic expansion to recover mechanical energy to bottom dead center;

followed by isochoric heating back to the ambient temperature;

followed by isentropic compression back to the original pressure with a mechanical work input by the externally powered electric motor via a crankshaft; and

followed by isobaric cooling back to top dead center and the initial stage of the heat pump cycle.