| 摘要 |
A multi-stage heat engine such as a pump comprising an evaporator and a condenser; an expander section including more than two expander stages; a compressor section comprising more than two vapour compression stages that co-operate with the expander section; x tanks wherein x is at least three (e.g. T1 to Tx) for holding gaseous phases (e.g. G1 to Gx) and liquid phases (e.g. L1 to Lx) of a fluid; the expander section having x-1 expansion valves (e.g. V1 to Vx-1), the compressor section being adapted to compress the gaseous phase in the adjacent tank with a higher pressure to that in which expansion had occurred and move the compressed fluid to the next adjacent tank at a higher pressure, the expander section being adapted to expand a part of the compressed fluid (liquid) in each tank, through the expansion valve (V) of that tank, to expand the fluid in the adjacent tank at a lower pressure, the compressor and expander sections being adapted to output the gaseous phase at the highest pressure to the condenser and the liquid phase at the lowest pressure to the evaporator, the output of the condenser being fed back to tank (T1) at the highest pressure and the output of the evaporator being fed back to the tank (Tx) at the lowest pressure, wherein said multi-stage heat pump constitutes multiple evaporator-compressor-condenser-expander modules which are substantially identical to one another; a process for increasing the temperature of a medium, said process comprising the steps of: subjecting said medium to multiple evaporation-compression-condensation-expansion-cycles in said multi-stage heat pump; and the use of said multi-stage heat pump in the transformation of heat from renewable energy sources to higher temperatures. |
