Internal-combustion engines – Rotary – With compression – combustion – and expansion in a single...
Patent
1986-03-05
1987-10-27
Husar, Stephen F.
Internal-combustion engines
Rotary
With compression, combustion, and expansion in a single...
418206, F02B 5300
Patent
active
047022060
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a rotary positive displacement machine, and more particularly to a rotary internal combustion engine.
The basic design and method of operation of the internal combustion engine is well established, particularly in piston engine form where many reciprocating parts are used. Attempts have been made to design a viable alternative to the piston engine in which the main motion is rotational, or substantially rotational, thereby avoiding or reducing vibration and power losses caused by reciprocation. Other advantages such as weight reduction and simplification of valve operation have also been sought, but ideally not at the expense of certain well established features of the piston engine such as efficient sealing of the combustion chamber, proven reliability and acceptable combinations of torque output and fuel economy. By utilising a method of combustion which involves continuously burning combustion chambers, this invention constitutes an attempt to provide an engine combining pure rotational motion with a simple design and method of operation, thereby gaining the above advantages with the minimum of disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention as claimed is intended to provide a means of compression and expansion, applied more particularly to an internal combustion engine, in which all reciprocating motion or eccentric rotation is replaced by pure rotation about fixed axes. In perhaps the simplest of its many forms the rotary engine consists of four similar rotors, each mounted on parallel axles in a symmetrical `square` formation. Each rotor resembles a cogged or lobed wheel symmetrically mounted on an axle about which it can rotate in the opposite sense to each of two neighbouring rotors and, during rotation, the lobes of such neighbouring rotors mesh, or interlocate, with no contact occuring between lobes, but with each lobe closely approaching or possibly contacting the surface between lobes on the other rotor. The rotation, phasing and consistency of meshing of the rotors is controlled by gearing on the axles and these axles are supported by bearings in the housing which surrounds the rotors on all sides, or substantially so, with close proximity to the swept volume of the rotor lobes. Suitably positioned inlet and outlet ports are set into the housing together with suitably positioned ignition and/or injection devices so that, during rotation, working fluid is caused to be drawn into one of two expanding regions defined between rotors and housing, thence to be carried around to a compression region, subsequently to pass between two rotors and become ignited, thereafter to join an expanding combustion region before being conveyed to one of the outlet regions.
A crucial factor in such a design is that the compression ratio, at the point of maximum compression of the fluid, is not fixed but varies and tends to converge to a value dictated mainly by the shape of the rotors. The advantages offered by the invention are manifold. Firstly, as the motion is rotational and unfluctuating for a given engine speed, the power losses due to reciprocation are eliminated. Also the motion is perfectly balanced, and the rotational motion, coupled with a total absence of valve gear, should provide for smooth operation. Ignition may be simplified to glow plugs so situated that each compressed charge is ignited, as it passes the glow plug, either by the plug itself or by a remnant of burning gas from a previous such ignition. Also, when in operation, each combustion chamber burns continuously with frequent replenishment on one side and separation to exhaust on another. This method of combustion, analogous to a steadily burning and well tended coal fire, should provide greater efficiency as well as offering interesting possibilities concerned with exhaust emission control and the employment of lean mixtures for combustion. A wide usable range of revolution speeds is expected due to the smooth operation, the large number of power strokes per revolution and the fact
REFERENCES:
patent: 1656538 (1928-01-01), Smith
patent: 3323499 (1967-06-01), Gijbeis
patent: 3709199 (1973-01-01), Molyneaux
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