Patent Grant
8555830
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to internal combustion engines, and more specifically, to orbital, non-reciprocating internal combustion engines.
The Otto Cycle engine is a reciprocating internal combustion engine. Many of the key work-producing components of the Otto Cycle engine reciprocate, that is they are required to move in a first direction, stop, and then move in a second, opposite direction in order to complete the cycle. In the Otto Cycle engine, there are four changes of direction of the piston assembly in effecting a single power stroke. Piston assemblies (e.g., pistons, rings, wrist pins and connecting rods) travel up into their respective cylinders at a changing rate of speed to top dead center (i.e., to the end of the stroke), where they stop and then return down the cylinder to the bottom of the stroke. The connecting rod, traveling with the piston and articulating at the wrist pin and orbiting at the crankshaft presents a changing angular force that results in side loading of the piston against the cylinder wall. This causes frictional losses. Because of acceleration and deceleration of the piston components in their movements, the internal combustion reciprocating engine requires a flywheel to moderate these energy surges, but this is an imperfect solution and there remain energy-consuming effects.
The Otto Cycle engine also employs the piston/cylinder relationship to pump air into the cylinder (through reciprocating valves) to support combustion and then to pump the exhaust gases out of the cylinder through reciprocating valves. A significant amount of the engine power is used to achieve the pumping action and two revolutions of the crankshaft are required to effect one power stroke.
The engine design of the present invention, termed the CIRCLE CYCLE™ engine (hereinafter “CC engine”), changes some of the basic mechanical principles of the Otto Cycle engine. Instead of a reciprocating motion, the CC engine design employs a non-reciprocating orbital motion of pistons and cylinders. Thus, the CC engine has no engine block, no crankshaft or associated connecting rods, no separate flywheel, intake or exhaust valves or water pump, nor their supporting hardware.
Instead, the CC engine's pistons and cylinders are each attached to their own respective carrier or drive wheels. By arranging and maintaining the relationship and the position of the piston drive wheel relative to the position of the cylinder drive wheel, an overlap of the piston/cylinder paths can be achieved. This union of the piston and cylinder paths represents the “stroke” of the CC engine. The piston wheel and the cylinder wheel rotate in opposite directions on their respective (and parallel) axes, and the individual pistons and cylinders carried thereby are in orbital motion, circling the wheel axes but at the same time counter rotating about their own respective axes to keep, at all times, in position for interfittment. That is, respective sets of pistons and cooperating cylinders share a common longitudinal axis regardless of their relative positioning on their respective wheels.
A working unit, a set comprising a piston and mating cylinder, always stays aligned throughout 360 degrees of rotation of the piston wheel and the cylinder wheel. Simply put, a piston always points toward its associated cylinder in the set or unit and a cylinder is pointed open towards its associated piston. There are thus no angular forces pushing the piston against the cylinder walls and causing friction. This is in contrast to radial piston/cylinder disposition systems where the axial alignment is transitory and local. In the CC engine, the aforementioned longitudinal alignment, wherein the cylinder/piston angle is no greater than about 0 degrees, enables both compression and combustion forces to be directly in line with piston/cylinder center lines as further explained below.
The pistons and cylinders of the present invention are always oriented the same way, for interfittment along a common longitudinal axis, avoiding side loading. In some embodiments, the pistons and cylinders of the CC engine are maintained oriented by gears to keep them in the desired relative positions. In other embodiments, sprockets and toothed belts may be used.
Unlike the Otto Cycle engine whose maximum lever arm or torque is achieved when the piston is half-way through its power stroke, the CC engine increases its lever arm through the full distance of the power stroke. The CC engine lever arm is 250% greater than the Otto Cycle engine lever arm; the stroke is 166% longer (as a factor of a typical cylinder bore), and each cylinder completes a power stroke with each, not every other, revolution of the engine, allowing the CC engine to achieve high horsepower at low RPM's, meaning more moderate engine speeds, more work and less friction wear in operating the engine. These mechanical advantages add markedly to fuel efficiency.
Both the cylinder and the piston carrier assemblies act as linked flywheels. All engine components having mass are rotating/orbiting about the wheels' axes of rotation and are always in balance. Because pistons and cylinders are orbiting and thus not changing their direction of motion or their velocity (except in relation to engine speed), energy that is lost in Otto Cycle reciprocating engines is conserved in the CC engine.
The CC engine is in some embodiments operable by a liquid combustible fuel such as gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, etc. In other embodiments, the CC engine is operable with gaseous combustible fluids such as natural gas, propane, etc. As described below, some embodiments do not require intake or exhaust valves, which offers increased engine efficiency and simplicity.
As discussed below with reference to the drawings, the CC engine features of lightness, low cost, and simplicity in construction make it ideal for employment as an electrical generator or power transfer device. In some embodiments, high strength permanent magnets are positioned on or in concert with the piston/cylinder carrier wheels without any direct electrical connection between them, providing a core for the electrical generator. Power is then developed through stationary stator coils that are attached to the CC engine's frame or housing and controlled with solid-state power management electronics. Thus, a single CC engine/generator can provide the electrical needs of a house, car, well pump, boat or any other electrically powered device.
For a CC engine, friction, pumping, cooling, and even vibration losses are reduced substantially, perhaps as much as 50%, compared to current designs. Add in combustion efficiency, lowered weight, and reduced manufacturing costs due to simplicity and inexpensive materials relative to current Otto Cycle engines, and it is apparent that the CC engine is a giant step forward in meeting the world's engine modernization needs.
With reference now to the drawings in detail, and particularly
Because the cylinders 28 and the pistons 36 are to remain on a common longitudinal axis A-A shown in
The basic movement of each of the pistons 36 and cylinders 28 of the engine 10 is schematically illustrated in
As shown in
To achieve the aforementioned rotational and orbital motion, the shafts 74 and 114 of each of the cylinders 28 and pistons 36, respectively are coupled with a respective planetary gear 96 and 58 carried by the carrier wheels 24 and 20, which are in turn coupled to respective fixed center or common gears 70 and 106 via idler gears 116 and 117. This gearing structure operates to counter-rotate the cylinders 28 and pistons 36 in a 1:1 ratio to the rotation of their respective carrier wheels 24 and 20.
As discussed in further detail below, there is a combustible fluid supply to each of the cylinders 28 for combustion coincident with the periodic interfittment of the cylinders and pistons 36. A combustible fluid detonator comprising a spark plug 128 is operatively associated with each of the pistons 36. During operation, the carrier wheels 20 and 24 rotate under the explosive impetus of the detonation between one cylinder/piston pair to bring the other cylinder/piston pair together, and so on, in a “circle cycle.” The engine 10 is suitable for diesel operation by increasing compression and injector pressure, as well as for operation by steam, compressed gas, or other fluid energy source.
Notably, the center axles 62 and 98 do not extend through the atmosphere control chamber 162, the cylinder pivot shafts 74 are positioned outboard of the cylinders 28, and the piston pivot shafts 114 are positioned outboard of the pistons 36. Since the cylinders 28 and pistons 36 can be moved into the space extending along the same axis as the center axles 62 and 98, respectively, without interference therefrom, a higher horse power can be achieved for the same volume or envelope compared to an engine that includes center axles that extended outboard of the cylinders 28 and pistons 36. That is, in this embodiment, the pistons 36 and cylinders 28 do not need to be spaced apart to allow a center axle to pass through their respective axes of rotation.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The engine 10 also includes an oil pump 220 and an oil filter 224 configured to lubricate the gears of the engine. As shown in
As discussed above, the physical nature of the present design is supportive of a built-in generator (and starter motor) for greater flexibility in power transfer. By using the engine structure as the generator core, there is a great savings in weight. As shown in
The engine 10 also comprises a breathing system that includes a blower assembly 300 and an exhaust system 320. As may best be viewed in
The exhaust system 320 comprises two exhaust headers 322 each extending downward from one of the atmosphere control chambers 162 that come together at a common header 324. An exhaust control valve actuator 326 is provided and is operatively coupled to a butterfly valve 330 (shown in dashed lines) in the common header 324 via a lever arm 322 and a butterfly valve shaft 334.
In operation, the computer control unit (CCU) controls the blower assembly 300, the exhaust control valve actuator 326, and the cylinder purge flap 312. A positive pressure may be maintained in the atmosphere control chambers 162 by regulating the exhaust system 320 and the speed of the blower assembly 300. At low engine speed, some of the exhaust gases may be re-circulated to limit the oxygen available in the combustion chambers of the cylinders 28. As the speed of the engine 10 increases, the exhaust control valve 330 may be gradually opened and the cylinder purge flap 312 can be moved towards the opening of the cylinders 28, as shown in
Referring now to
As shown in
The cartridge 152 and compression rings 148A-C are contained within a recessed portion 146 in a rim portion 145 of the cylinder sleeve 32 by a containment ring 142. The containment ring 142 and the rim portion 145 include holes configured to receive a plurality of threaded screws 160 and studs 170 so that the containment ring 142 may be secured to the cylinder sleeve 32 using a plurality of nuts 162.
In some embodiments, the cylinder sleeve 32 and a piston liner or insulator 90 made from a ceramic material is provided. Because the piston 36 is not in contact with the cylinder 28 wall and because both the cylinder and the piston are allowed to “breath” independently after each power stroke, a transfer of heat between them is not required. This allows the use of low thermal conducting ceramics to convert more of the combustion heat energy into mechanical energy, greatly increasing the thermal efficiency of the engine.
The engine 400 includes cylinder drive wheel assembly 404 comprising a bank of four cylinders 472 and a piston drive wheel assembly 408 comprising a bank of four corresponding pistons 470. The cylinders 472 rotate about a main cylinder shaft 406 and the pistons 470 rotate about a main piston shaft 432. A starter gear 436 is coupled to a starter (not shown) and to a sprocket 442 on an idler shaft 438. The sprocket 442 is coupled to the main cylinder shaft 406 and the main piston shaft 432 via a starter belt 450 and sprockets 414 and 422, respectively. Thus, the belt 450 links the cylinder drive wheel assembly 404 to the piston drive wheel assembly 408.
As shown in
The foregoing described embodiments depict different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.).
It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations).
Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20130092121 A1 | Apr 2013 | US |
