Compact ceramic recuperator preheater for stirling engine

Claim 1

In a Stirling engine having an external heating circuit in a closed working fluid system, a heater head assembly for transferring heat from said circuit to said closed working fluid system, comprising: (a) an induction means for providing a positive supply of air to said assembly, (b) an exhaust means, (c) a combustion unit for adding fuel to said inducted supply of air and combusting said air mixture, (d) a heating chamber receiving the products of combustion from said combustion unit and within which is disposed a heater tube array for absorbing a predetermined heat content of said combustion products passing thereabout, and (e) heat exchange means comprising a fixed matrix annularly arranged about the axis of said heater tube array, said fixed matrix having wall defining layers of first passages interleaved with walls defining layers of second passages, said induction means being fluidly connected to one end of said first passages and the combustion unit being fluidly connected to the other end of said first passages, said exhaust means being fluidly connected to one end of said second passages and the heating chamber being fluidly connected to the other end of said second passages, the flow through said first passage is in a generally axial direction taken with respect to the axis of said combustion unit, and the flow through said second passage is in a transverse axial direction therein, the axial flow being substantially equal in volume to the transverse axial flow, said fixed matrix being formed substantially of a heat resisting ceramic material formed of discrete modules, each module having a cubical configuration with one flat face of each of said cubicals forming a closed cylinder about said burner unit whereby a uniform heat flux may be carried forth in said air flow to said combustion unit, said fluid connections between said intake and exhaust, and between the heating chamber and burner unit, are provided by ceramic seals disposed along the edges of said annularly arranged ceramic matrix, said matrix being formed as a plurality of cubicals, each of said cubicals said ceramic seals along the twelve edges thereof, the ceramic seals being comprised of a braided ceramic core encased within a thin distortable metal foil.