Apparatus for compressing gas using heat as energy source

Abstract

A gas compressor, comprising a compressor chamber comprising a chamber inlet for gas and a chamber outlet for gas A gas heating device comprising a heater chamber having a heater inlet for gas and a heater outlet for gas. The gas heating device being arranged to heat gas present in the heater chamber, thereby raising its pressure to a heated pressure and ejecting a first portion of the heated gas through the heater outlet into the compressor chamber retaining a second portion of the heated gas in the heater chamber, thereby compressing gas present in the compressor chamber by applying pressure on said gas with said first portion of the heated gas, while lowering the gas pressure in the heater chamber below the heated pressure,

I claim: 
     
         1 . A gas compressor, comprising
 a compressor chamber comprising a chamber inlet for gas and a chamber outlet for gas, the outlet configured to control the volume of gas being ejected;   a gas heating device comprising a heater chamber having a heater inlet for gas and a heater outlet for gas, the heater outlet being periodically connected to the compressor chamber inlet;   and the gas heating device being arranged to superheat gas present in the heater chamber, thereby raising its pressure to a superheated pressure, higher than the compressor chambers pressure, and periodically connect the heater outlet to the compressor chamber, and ejecting a first portion of the heated gas by allowing the superheated gas to expand into the compressor chamber more than the compressor chamber outlet eject, retaining a second portion of the heated gas in the heater chamber, thereby compressing gas present in the compressor chamber by applying pressure on said gas with said first portion of the heated gas, and while lowering the gas pressure in the heater chamber below the heated pressure.   
     
     
         2 . A gas compressor according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 i) Means for achieving a substantially unidirectional gas flow in the compressor chamber from the chamber inlet to the chamber outlet, whereby heated gas received from the heating device will be gradually cooled in flow direction,   ii) Means for controlling the ejection of heated gas from the gas heating device to the compressor chamber in such a way that the hot gas will apply pressure to cold gas downstream of it, thereby compressing said cold gas while flowing to compensate for the pressure drop caused by the drop in temperature along the flow.   
     
     
         3 . A gas compressor according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas heating device further comprises a cooling section, arranged to receive at least a part of the second portion of the heated gas from the heater chamber and arranged to reuse thermal energy of the at least part of the second portion for heating gas present in the heating chamber. 
     
     
         4 . A gas compressor according to  claim 3 , wherein the cooling section comprises a refrigerant arranged to absorb heat from the at least part of the second portion, said refrigerant being further arranged to heat gas entering the heating chamber. 
     
     
         5 . A gas compressor according to  claim 1 , comprising a first and a second heating chamber, having a first and a second heater inlet, respectively and a first and a second heater outlet, respectively, wherein the chamber inlet is arranged to be connected alternatingly to the first and the second heater outlet and the chamber outlet is arranged to be connected alternatingly to. 
     
     
         6 . A method of compressing gas by using thermal energy, comprising
 a. Heating gas in a heater chamber to a heated temperature, thereby increasing its gas pressure to a heated pressure   b. Transferring a first portion of said heated gas to a compression chamber having a chamber inlet and a chamber outlet, and comprising a gas at a temperature lower than the heated temperature, thereby increasing the temperature and pressure in the compression chamber by thermal energy transfer, while retaining a second portion of the heated gas in the heater chamber, thereby lowering the gas pressure in the heater chamber below the heated pressure.   
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 6 , wherein the gas in the compression chamber is caused to flow substantially unidirectionally from the compression chamber inlet to the compression chamber outlet while controlling the pressure along the flow to compensate for the pressure drop caused by the drop in temperature along the flow. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 6 , further comprising the step of reusing the thermal energy of the at least part of the second portion of the gas to heat new gas entering into the heating chamber. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the step of reusing the thermal energy of the at least part of the second portion of the gas comprises, in a cooling section of the heater, absorbing thermal energy from the gas by a refrigerant and heating the new gas by using the refrigerant. 
     
     
         10 . A gas compressor according to  claim 1 , comprising,
 a high-pressure gas chamber, an array of pressurized gas chambers having a series of pressures lesser than said high-pressure gas chambers start-pressure, and means for connecting the high-pressure gas chamber and a subset of said array of pressurized gas chambers;   arranged for discharge of said high-pressure gas chamber into said array of pressurized gas chambers, by sequential connection of said high-pressure gas chamber to a subset of said array of pressurized gas chambers, in descending order by the pressure of the pressurized gas chambers.   
     
     
         11 . A gas compressor according to  claim 1 , comprising,
 a low-pressure gas chamber, an array of pressurized gas chambers having a series of pressures higher than said low-pressure gas chambers start-pressure, and means for connecting the low-pressure gas chamber to a subset of said array of pressurized gas chambers;   arranged for discharge into said low-pressure gas chamber from a subset of said array of pressurized gas chambers, by sequential connection of said low-pressure gas chamber to a subset of said array of pressurized gas chambers, in ascending order by the pressure of the pressurized gas chambers.   
     
     
         12 . A gas compressor, according to  claim 1 , comprising,
 an array of pressurized dispenser gas chambers,   an array of receiver gas chambers having a series of pressures lesser than maximum pressure of the array of pressurized dispenser gas chambers,   and means for connecting chambers of said array of pressurized dispenser gas chambers, to chambers of said array of receiver gas chambers;   arranged for sequential connection of a dispenser chamber of array of pressurized dispenser gas chambers to a receiver chambers of array of receiver gas chambers,   wherein the receiver chamber is the receiver chamber that is closest in pressure to said dispenser chamber,   among chambers of array of receiver gas chambers having a pressure less or equal to the dispenser chamber.   
     
     
         13 . A heatpump, comprising a regular compressor further comprising a gas compressor according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein said gas compressor use thermal energy to extra compress the gas, before or after the gas passes through said regular compressor.
 ii) Means for controlling the ejection of heated gas from the gas heating device to the compressor chamber in such a way that the hot gas will apply pressure to cold gas downstream of it, thereby compressing said cold gas while flowing to compensate for the pressure drop caused by the drop in temperature along the flow.