Rotating heating chamber apparatus and method of use thereof
The invention comprises a method for heating a fluid in an engine, including: a rotor rotating relative to a stator about a shaft and a set of vanes extending radially outward, relative to an elongated axis of the shaft, between the rotator and the stator, the set of vanes separating a set of expansion chambers, where the method comprises the steps of: (1) applying a shear force to the fluid to form a gas with a rotatable chamber within the shaft of the engine; and (2) exhausting the gas from the shaft to a rotor-vane chamber, the rotor-vane chamber comprising a void in a vane slot on a shaft side of a first vane, of the set of vanes. Optionally, the gas applies a rotation force by passing the gas from the first vane to a trailing expansion chamber of the set of expansion chambers.
1. A method for heating a fluid, comprising the steps of:
providing an expansion engine, comprising:
a rotor rotating relative to a stator about a shaft; and
a set of vanes extending radially outward, relative to an elongated axis of said shaft, between said rotor and said stator, said set of vanes separating a set of expansion chambers;
applying a shear force to the fluid to form a gas with a rotatable chamber within said shaft of said engine;
exhausting the gas from said shaft to at least one of:
a sliding vane of said set of vanes; and
a rotor-vane chamber, said rotor-vane chamber comprising a void in a vane slot on a shaft side of a first vane of said set of vanes;
passing air through an endplate into a rotor chamber, said rotor chamber comprising a chamber within said rotor of said engine;
heating the air within said rotor chamber to form heated air; and
pressurizing the gas with the heated air by passing the heated air from said rotor chamber to said rotor-vane chamber.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
storing heat in a phase change material within said rotor chamber.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
heating air within said rotor chamber with an electric heater.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
heating air within said rotor chamber by passing current through an alloy with an electrical resistance greater than fifty ohm-cmil/ft.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
passing the heated air through an expansion chamber tube connecting said rotor to a vane tip of said first vane, said expansion chamber tube passing through a trailing expansion chamber of said set of expansion chambers.