Internal-combustion engines – Rotating cylinder – Radial
Patent
1991-06-21
1994-10-25
Cross, E. Rollins
Internal-combustion engines
Rotating cylinder
Radial
123 44E, 123 543, F02B 5700, F02B 7522
Patent
active
053579119
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention concerns a four-stroke radial-piston engine comprising a stationary housing, a drive shaft which is rotationally mounted substantially centrally inside said housing and which supports a hub rotating therewith, at least two radially projecting cylinders which are mounted on the hub to rotate therewith, said cylinders being positioned inside a circumferentially extending chamber in said housing and each having a piston which is mounted for radial reciprocating movement inside its associated cylinder, the piston heads of said piston facing radially inwards towards the hub, a circumferentially extending cam member mounted inside the housing in alignment with the pistons adjacent the radially outwardly extending piston ends and having a cam face facing said pistons, against which cam face abut bearing means mounted on each piston in order to impart a radial movement to said pistons in the direction towards the hub upon rotation of the rotary unit formed by the pistons, the cylinders, the hub, and the drive shaft relatively to the stationary housing, a combustion chamber formed in said hub essentially in alignment with the head of each one of said pistons, which combustion chamber has valve-operated inlets and outlets for intake and exhaustion, respectively, of a combustible fuel-air mixture and combusted exhaust gases, whereby said pistons are imparted a radial motion away from the hub in response to the compression-induced increase of pressure and the centrifugal force.
An internal combustion engine of the above type is disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,496. In this prior art internal combustion engine the drive shaft and the hub together form a hollow rotor in which is received a stationary, housing-mounted shaft. The shaft is formed with an intake channel communicating at one of its ends with a radial intake port and at its opposite end with a carburetter for supply of a combustible fuel-air mixture. The stationary shaft is also formed with an outlet channel communicating at one of its ends with a radial exhaust port and at its opposite end with an exhaust pipe for removal of exhaust gases. The radial intake and exhaust ports in the stationary shaft communicate with the combustion chamber inlets and outlets.
A chamber is also formed in the stationary shaft, housing a spark plug the electrode end of which opens into an essentially radially extending port formed in the shaft. This port may be shifted to a position radially opposite the combustion chamber inlets and outlets so as to ignite the combustible fuel-air mixture sequentially in all combustion chambers by means of sparks emitted by the single spark plug.
The provision of one central, stationary shaft having radial intake, exhaust, and spark plug ports which communicate with radial inlets and outlets in the rotor rotating about the shaft, causes considerable wear and thus leakage problems in the shaft and rotor interfaces in the areas around the ports as well as around the inlets and outlets. When the wear and leakage have reached an excess level the stationary shaft or the rotor or both must be exchanged or reconditioned.
The position of one single spark plug inside the stationary and gradually increasingly hot shaft causes maintenance and heat load problems, because the spark plug is well encased inside the shaft and in order to replace it, the shaft must be completely dismantled from the stationary housing. In addition, the spark plug is exposed to considerable wear, since in accordance with the embodiment illustrated and described in the prior art patent specification, comprising four cylinders, it must emit an ignition spark four times per revolution of the rotary unit formed by the piston, the cylinders, and the rotor.
The purpose of the subject invention is to reduce as far as possible the problems outlined in the aforegoing in a simple and efficient manner in an internal combustion engine of the kind defined initially and at the same time disclose an engine of this type comprising a minimum of movable and there
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International Search Report-PCT/SE 89/00582, Completion date: Dec. 28, 1989.
Beutler Ernest A.
Cross E. Rollins
Kesol Production AB
Moulis Thomas N.
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