Proceedings of the NITINOL Heat Engine Conference, 26-27 September 1978, Silver Spring, Maryland

摘要

Twelve technical papers were tape-recorded and reduced to these Proceedings. The Conference technical sessions were: Overview of Low Grade Energy Utilization, NITINOL Heat Engines, Engine Performance Efficiency and Thermodynamics, and NITINOL Alloys. Engine efficiencies were reasonably estimated to range up to 4% absolute, or approx. 30% of Carnot (maximum) efficiency, although some were estimated higher. Output estimates ranged from a few watts to a kw per kilogram of NITINOL alloy. Engine performance data and new designs up to 25 HP were presented during the sessions. The thermodynamics of NITINOL Heat Engines was examined from the viewpoints of both theory and application. Tests on NITINOL wire in simulations of various Heat Engine cycles are reported on, as well as the training (bi-stable memory) phenomenon. Progress on preparation of NITINOL alloys by powder metallurgy techniques is discussed, as well as X-ray diffraction studies of the shape memory transformation. Separately, inventors displayed 8 different working engines. Engine output of these models was estimated to be under 10 watts for each. (Author)