POWER DEVICE EQUIPPED WITH COMBUSTION ENGINE AND STIRLING ENGINE

摘要

A power device used in vehicles including automobiles has an internal combustion engine (1) serving as a prime mover for a vehicle and a Stirling engine (4) for driving a power generator (3). A higher temperature heat source for the Stirling engine (4) is the heat of exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine (1), and electric power generated by the power generator (3) is supplied to an electric motor (2) driving auxiliary machines (6-9) and to a battery (5) capable of supplying power to the electric motor (2). The rpm of the Stirling engine (4) is controlled by a field regulator (15) controlling the load on the power generator (3), so that the rpm is set at an optimum value which yields the maximum shaft output or substantially maximum shaft output of the Stirling engine (4). This ensures that even when the fuel consumption of the combustion engine serving as a prime mover discharging waste heat which serves as a higher temperature heat source for the Stirling engine is reduced to reduce the shaft output of the Stirling engine, it is driven to the extent that the auxiliary machines exert sufficient performance.