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Thermomechanical or Stirling compressor is a device suited for increase of the pressure by means of heat adding to a volume of working fluid. First notable attempt to utilize this principle was performed by V. Bush in 1944 [1]. Method, suggested by him, utilizes the principle of alternating heating and cooling of gas in limited volume. However, this method requires significant time to change the temperature of the working fluid, and, thus, does not find its application. Decrease of the temperature change time can be achieved by application of the regenerator between hot and cold areas of the compressor (why it is sometimes called Stirling compressor). Firstly, regenerator was used in the artificial heart researches, carried out in 1970's by Martini and others [2], [3]. Regenerator allows free heating for mass of the working fluid which remains in the thermocompressor, so heating only required for a mass which will pass through the compressor, which in turn allows to increase working frequency of the drive and mass output of pressurized gas. Suggested artificial heart systems utilize nuclear energy source, but after Chernobyl power plant catastrophe due to common mistrust to nuclear energy, the research was stopped. Same authors later developed artificial hear system with electrical heat source [4] |
