A Thermally-Driven Heat Pump Having a Heat Exchanger Located Between Displacers

摘要

A thermally driven heat pump is disclosed in which at least most of the warm heat exchanger is disposed within the cylinder between the hot and cold displacers. Such an arrangement is not suitable for a prior art heat pump in which movement of the displacers is based on a crank because it would lead to too much dead volume in the system. However, with mechatronically-controlled displacers in which the displacers are independently controlled, the displacers can reciprocate up to the heat exchanger. Such a configuration reduces dead volume compared to prior art Vuilleumier heat pumps in which the warm exchanger occupies a portion of an annular space between the cylinder in which the displacers move.