The Principle and Trial Apparatus of Piston Type Shape Memory Heat Power Generation

Abstract

In this paper, the new electric power generation system by piston type solid phase heat engine using shape memory alloy is proposed. The proposed system is developed by authors for the purposes not only of establishing new power generation technologies utilizing thermal energy of low temperature region but also of making this new technologies available for practical use. The followings are described.
(1) The trial apparatus based on the proposed principle is manufactured as a new power generation system, whereby life becomes long, is made compact size and thus weak points of prevailing systems are corrected. Furthermore, proposed principle is proved by generating successfully the trial appartus.
(2) The test results show that the proposed system can be useful for middle load power station when the system is connected to power transmission line.
(3) Valuable test results are obtained regarding characteristics on a method of using shape memory alloy for heat engine.