Internal-combustion engines – Multiple cylinder – Having rotary output shaft parallel to cylinders
Patent
1993-10-18
1995-09-19
Kamen, Noah P.
Internal-combustion engines
Multiple cylinder
Having rotary output shaft parallel to cylinders
123 564, F02B 7524
Patent
active
054508231
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to piston machines and, more specifically, to an axial-piston machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
At the present time the automotive industry is one of the most rapidly developing branches of industry, so that engineers are constantly turning to non-traditional engine design in particular to piston engines with axially-arranged cylinders. The advantages of axial arrangement of cylinders in I.C. piston engines, resulting in their smaller weight and dimensions, are widely known. As compared with traditional piston engines incorporating a crank gear for converting the reciprocating motion of pistons into rotary motion of the crankshaft the size and weight of automotive axial-piston engines are reduced 1.5-2 times, and the aerodynamic resistance of the motor vehicle can be reduced due the smaller space occupied by the engine under the engine hood.
Modern requirements for reduction of the amount of cancerogenic substances exhausted by I.C. engines of transport facilities together with the exhaust gases and for diminishing the consumption of unreplenishable supplies of fuel force machine builders to turn to axial-piston engines with a variable cylinder volume.
Where such engines are used in vehicles under conditions of city traffic the fuel consumption is reduced by 30-40% with a proportional reduction of the amount of concerogenic substances in the total engine exhaust.
Thus, the axial-cylinder engine is the latest advancement in the development of I.C. piston engines.
However, up to the present time attempts to design a reliable efficient axial-piston engine have failed due to alternating fatigue stresses originating in the parts of the mechanism which converts the reciprocating motion of cylinder pistons into rotary motion of the shaft.
Attempts to solve the problem of ensuring reliable performance of the axial-piston engine resulted in the appearance of an axial-piston machine (FR Application [R/] 3420529 A.sub.1). The body of the known machine accommodates a cylinder block with cylindrical spaces whose axes are parallel with the longitudinal axis of the shaft. Pistons reciprocate in those spaces, each piston articulated to one end of a rod whose other end is articulated to a swash plate. The articulated joint of the other end of the rod to the swash plate is formed by means of a first cylindrical pin passing through the lugs of the yoke constituted by the other end of the rod and through an intermediate member, and a second cylindrical pin whose axis is perpendicular to the axis of the first pin, passing through the intermediate member and the lugs in the swash plate. The swash plate is installed, via a support, on the inclined crank of the shaft which latter is located on supports in the engine body. The swash plate is connected by a universal joint with the body. The support of the swash plate on the inclined crank of the shaft is spherical which provides for swinging of the plate while the reciprocating motion of the pistons in converted into rotary motion of the shaft.
The universal joint yoke is located in the cylinder block with a provision for longitudinal motion, viz., along the longitudinal axis of the shaft. The movement of the yoke entails the movement of the spherical support over the inclined shaft journal and a reduction of the swash plate angle which brings about a reduction of the swept volume of engine cylinders.
The use of one universal joint fails to ensure uniform precession of the swash plate due to changes in its angular velocity which take place twice per crank-shaft revolution in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the swash plate. This produces a strong moment of inertia of the mass of the swash plate and parts associated therewith, said moment resulting in rapid fatigue failure of the universal joint.
The use of the universal joint as one of the swash plate supports still further reduces its reliability due to the heavy alternating loads imposed by the swash plate on the joint.
The provision of one spherical su
REFERENCES:
patent: 1346672 (1920-07-01), Patton
patent: 2424660 (1947-07-01), Howard
patent: 3180159 (1965-04-01), Girodin
Kamen Noah P.
Tsentralny Nauchno-Issledovatelsky Avotmobilny I Avotmotorny Ins
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