Claims
- 1. A method for determining contoured contact faces for a rotor of an engine so as to provide a predetermined gap between said faces, said method comprising the steps of:providing a first rotor for being mounted on a housing for rotation about a first axis in engagement with a second rotor which is mounted on said housing for rotation about a second axis which is offset from being collinear by an angle α and which intersects said first axis at a common center of said rotors; defining a cone which is in contact with said first rotor and which has an apex and an axis which bisects the obtuse angle between said first and second axes of said rotors; positioning said apex of said cone at a spaced distance from said intersection of said axes of said rotors which corresponds to said predetermined gap between said contoured contact faces of said rotors; and rotating said first rotor about said first axis and said cone about said second axis so as to remove material from said first rotor so as to form said contoured contact surface thereon.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said apex of said cone is positioned below said intersection to form a positive gap between said contoured surfaces.
- 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said apex of said cone is positioned above said intersection to form a negative gap between said contoured surfaces.
- 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:initially rotating said first rotor about said first axis relative to said cone so a to form a predetermined angled gap between said contoured faces.
- 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of initiallyrotating said first rotor relative to said cone comprises: rotating said first rotor relative to said cone in a direction which is selected to form a gap which is angled so a to increase in width radially away from said common center of said rotors.
- 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of initiallyrotating said first rotor relative to said cone comprises: rotating said first rotor relative to said cone in a direction which is selected to form a gap which is angled so as to increase in width radially inwards towards said common center of said rotors.
- 7. A method of creating an engine, comprising the steps of:mounting a first rotor mounted for rotation in a housing about a first axis, said first rotor including first and second opposite facing contoured faces and a surface defining at least part of a sphere having a center; mounting a second rotor mounted for rotation in said housing about a second axis said second rotor including third and fourth contoured faces and a surface defining at least part of a sphere having a common center with said center of said first rotor; aligning the first axis and second axis being offset from being collinear by an angle α and intersecting at the common centers of the rotors; constructing each contour face of each rotor being defined by the locus formed as the rotors rotate about their respective axes by points on the other rotor whereas the points of each rotor that define the locus lying along an outer edge of a cone whose central axis is essentially a radius extending outward from the common centers of the rotor at an angle α/2 from a normal to the axis of the other rotor; said first and second contoured faces being similar and said third and fourth contoured faces being similar and said first and third contoured faces being arranged in face-to-face engagement; whereas said engagement of said mirror image contoured faces prevents backlash between said rotors so as to maintain a predetermined gap between said faces during operation of said engine.
- 8. The method of claim 7 in which the first and second rotors face each other axially across the common center of the rotors, and the first rotor is a master rotor and the second rotor is a slave rotor.
- 9. The method of claim 7 in which the housing has an interior surface defining at least a partially spherical cavity, whose center coincides with the common center of the rotors and the housing interior surface cooperates with the contoured faces of the rotors to form the chambers.
- 10. A method of constructing a device to convert energy comprising the steps of mounting the first rotor on a first axis of rotation where a second axis intersects the first axis at the centerpoint of the first rotor where a central axis that is a radius extending outward from the centerpoint is equidistant from the first and second axis and a cone about the central axis is rotated about the second axis while simultaneously rotating the first rotor in a first direction at the same angular rate as the central axis towards the same direction whereby the cone defines material to be removed and in removing such material a first contour surface is formed, constructing a second surface on the first rotor where the second contour surface is formed by first indexing the first rotor in first direction and then rotating the central axis about the second axis in the opposite direction of the first direction used to form the first contour surface whereby simultaneously rotating the first rotor at the same angular rate as the central axis whereby the cone defines material to be removed and in removing such material a second contour surface is formed, positioning first and second tips on a second rotor that is adapted to rotate about the second axis and the first and second tips are adapted to engage the first and second contour surfaces respectively where the central axis of the first tip is positioned in the substantially same location as the center axis when defining material to be removed for the first contour surface and the central axis of the second tip is positioned in the substantially same location as the center axis when defining material to be removed for the second contour surface whereas the first and second rotors are positioned in a housing adapted to allow fluid to pass through ports of the housing and enter chambers formed in part by the first and second surfaces where the change in volume of the chambers is adapted to create a change in volume of the fluid.
- 11. The method as recited in claim 10 further comprising the steps of mounting the second rotor on the second axis of rotation where the first axis intersects the second axis at the centerpoint of the second rotor where a central axis that is a radius extending outward from the centerpoint of the second rotor is equidistant from the first and second axis and a cone about the central axis is rotated about the second axis while simultaneously rotating the second rotor in a second direction at the same angular rate as the central axis towards the same direction whereby the cone defines material to be removed and in removing such material a third contour surface is formed, constructing a fourth surface on the second rotor where the fourth contour surface is formed by first indexing the second rotor in first direction and then rotating the central axis about the second axis in the opposite direction of the second direction used to form the third contour surface whereby simultaneously rotating the second rotor at the same angular rate as the central axis whereby the cone defines material to be removed and in removing such material a fourth contour surface is formed, positioning third and fourth tips on a first rotor that is adapted to rotate about the first axis and the third and fourth tips are adapted to engage the third and fourth contour surfaces respectively where the central axis of the third tip is positioned in the substantially same location as the center axis when defining material to be removed for the third contour surface and the central axis of the fourth tip is positioned in the substantially same location as the center axis when defining material to be removed for the fourth contour surface.
- 12. The method as recited in claim 11 where the surface of first and second tips are continuous with the third and fourth contour surfaces respectfully.
- 13. The method as recited in claim 12 where the surface of third and fourth tips are continuous with the first and second contour surfaces respectfully.
- 14. The method as recited in claim 12 where by the third and fourth surfaces define a region that is adapted to accept the first and second surfaces that in part define a lobe where as when the first and second rotors are rotated the lobe of the first rotor engages the region between the third and fourth surfaces.
- 15. The method as recited in claim 14 where the third and forth surfaces partially form third and fourth lobes respectfully of the second rotor.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/086,838, which was filed May 26, 1998 and is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/318,572 filed May 26, 1999 that was a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/085,139, which was filed May 26, 1998 and now matured into U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,463 which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/401,264 filed Mar. 9, 1995 and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,196.
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Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/086838 |
May 1998 |
US |
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/318572 |
May 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/862246 |
|
US |
Parent |
08/401264 |
Mar 1995 |
US |
Child |
09/085139 |
|
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/085139 |
May 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/318572 |
|
US |