1. A push rod operating system for a rifle comprising:
a rifle having a barrel coupled to an upper receiver, a bolt carrier carried by the upper receiver, and a mechanical key coupled to the bolt carrier;
a gas block coupled to the barrel, the gas block having a bore therethough;
a rod tube extending from the gas block in communication with the bore, toward the upper receiver;
a gas plug closing the bore of the gas block opposite the rod tube, the gas plug defining a gas chamber therein;
an aperture formed in the barrel for venting discharge gasses, and a pathway for discharge gasses to enter the gas chamber defined by the gas plug;
a piston rod element carried in the rod tube proximate the gas block, the piston rod element having a piston portion reciprocally received within the bore of the gas block and movable between a first position abutting the gas plug to define an operating volume, and a second position; and
a push rod element carried by the rod tube and engaging the mechanical key and the piston rod element.
2. A push rod operating system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the piston portion includes a second gas chamber defined therein which adjoins the gas chamber of the gas plug in the first position to jointly define the operating volume.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for generating electricity by using a thermoelectric material having a Heusler alloy type crystal structure and having a structure expressed by General Formula Fe2V1\u2212ZAl1+z, the structure based on an Fe2VAl basic structure having a total number of valence electrons of 24 per chemical formula,
wherein z satisfies a condition expressed by 0.03\u2266z\u22660.12; wherein the thermoelectric material is controlled to have a total number of valence electrons of 23.76 or more and less than 24 per chemical formula and to act as a p-type material; and wherein the thermoelectric material has a Seebeck coefficient whose absolute value reaches a peak at a temperature of 400 K or higher, and the Seebeck coefficient has an absolute value of about 50 \u03bcVK or more at temperatures from 500 K to 700 K, and
electricity is generated by using the thermoelectric material at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K.
2. A method for generating electricity by using a thermoelectric material having a Heusler alloy type crystal structure and being based on an Fe2VAl basic structure having a total number of valence electrons of 24 per chemical formula, wherein the thermoelectric material has a chemical compositional ratio controlled so as to have a structure expressed by General Formula Fe2V1\u2212ZAl1+Z, where z satisfies a condition expressed by 0.03<z<0.12, and wherein the thermoelectric, material has a Seebeck coefficient whose absolute value reaches a peak at a temperature of 400 K or higher, and the Seebeck coefficient has an absolute value of about 50 \u03bcVK or more temperatures from 500 K to 700 K, and electricity is generated by using the thermoelectric material at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K.
3. The method for generating electricity by using the thermoelectric material according to claim 1 at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K, wherein z is 0.05 or more.
4. The method for generating electricity by using the thermoelectric material according to claim 2 at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K, wherein z is 0.05 or more.
5. The method for generating electricity according to claim 1, wherein
the method further using a thermoelectric n-type material having a Heusler alloy type crystal structure and having a structure expressed by General Formula Fe2V1\u2212ZAl1+Z, the structure based on an Fe2VAl basic structure having a total number of valence electrons of 24 per chemical formula, wherein z satisfies a condition expressed by \u22120.12\u2266z\u2266\u22120.03; wherein the thermoelectric n-type material is controlled to have a total number of valence electrons of more than 24 and less than or equal to 24.24 per chemical formula and to act as an n-type material; and wherein the thermoelectric n-type material has a Seebeck coefficient whose absolute value reaches a peak at a temperature of 310 K or higher, and
electricity is generated by using the thermoelectric material and thermoelectric n-type material at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K.
6. The method for generating electricity according to claim 2, wherein
the method further using a thermoelectric n-type material having a Heusler alloy type crystal structure and being based on an Fe2VAl basic structure having a total number of valence electrons of 24 per chemical formula, wherein the thermoelectric n-type material has a chemical compositional ratio controlled so as to have a structure expressed by General Formula Fe2V1\u2212ZAl1+Z, where z satisfies a condition expressed by \u22120.12\u2266z\u2266\u22120.03, and
electricity is generated by using the thermoelectric material and thermoelectric n-type material at a temperature in a range from 500K to 700K.