摘要 |
Embodiments of the invention include a sleeved heat engine that can be used in a fluidized bed combustion system and a fluidized bed combustion system with heat engines. In one embodiment, a heat engine includes an enclosed cylinder, a fixed charge of gas in the cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, and a sleeve spaced apart from and surrounding part of the cylinder. The sleeve defines a passage along part of the cylinder to carry, for example, combustion air introduced into a fluidized bed combustion chamber. In another embodiment, a system includes a combustion chamber, a bed of sand in the combustion chamber, multiple air passages penetrating the combustion chamber such that air entering the combustion chamber through the passages passes through the sand, and multiple heat engines disposed along the combustion chamber such that at least a part of each heat engine is exposed to sand in the bed of sand.
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