HIGH EFFICIENCY WASTE HEAT/SOLAR POWER SYSTEM UTILIZING REGENERATIVE ZEOLITE CYCLE

POWER GENERATION SYSTEMS TYPICALLY CONVERT TWO-THIRDS OF THEFUEL ENERGY INTO WASTE HEAT. THE RECOVERY AND EFFICIENT UTILIZATION OF THIS WASTE HEAT OR OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES, SUCH AS SOLAR ENERGY, IS HINDERED BY THE LOW TEMPERATURES NORMALLY AVAILABLE FROM THEM. THE USE OF SUCH POWER SYSTEMS IN POLAR PROGRAMS ADDS FURTHER LIMITATION ON THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF ANY WASTE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEM. THE SOLID/GAS ADSORPTION SYSTEM UTILIZING ZEOLITES HAS THE UNIQUE CAPABILITY OF CONVERTING SMALL VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURE INTO LARGE VARIATIONS IN PRESSURE WHICH PERMITS THE WASTE HEAT TO BE CONVERTED TO USEFUL WORK BY SMALL, INEXPENSIVE AND EFFICIENT DEVICES. COMBINING THE ZEOLITE TECHNOLOGY WITH THE PRINCIPLE OF ENERGY REGENERATION RESULTSIN HIGH CONVERSION EFFICIENCIES AND AN OVERALL INCREASE OF FUEL UTILIZATION BY A FACTOR OF 1.5. THE TECHNOLOGY CAN BE FURTHER INTEGRATED WITH ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES, SUCH AS SOLAR ENERGY.