Circulating piston engine
AssigneeWB Development Company, LLC
InventorWalter T. Bonin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An engine includes a housing defining an annular bore and a piston assembly disposed within the annular bore. The engine includes at least one valve configured to oscillate between a first position within the annular bore to allow the piston assembly to travel from a first location proximate to the at least one valve to a second location distal to the at least one valve and a second position to define a combustion chamber relative to the piston assembly at the second location. The engine includes an exhaust gas port disposed in fluid communication with the combustion chamber and a fuel distribution assembly configured to mix fuel from a fuel source and air from an air source into a fuel and air mixture at a location external to the combustion chamber and to deliver the fuel and air mixture to the combustion chamber.
Claims22
An engine, comprising:
- a housing defining an annular bore;
- a piston assembly disposed within the annular bore;
- at least one valve configured to oscillate between a first position within the annular bore to allow the piston assembly to travel within the annular bore from a first location proximate to the at least one valve to a second location distal to the at least one valve and a second position within the annular bore to define a combustion chamber relative to the piston assembly at the second location;
- an exhaust gas port disposed in fluid communication with the combustion chamber;
- and
- a fuel distribution assembly, the fuel distribution assembly configured to mix fuel from a fuel source and air from an air source into a fuel and air mixture at a location external to the combustion chamber and to deliver the fuel and air mixture to the combustion chamber, wherein the fuel distribution assembly is disposed in fluid communication with the at least one valve and is configured to deliver the fuel and air mixture to the combustion chamber via the at least one valve.
An engine, comprising:
- a housing defining an annular bore;
- a piston assembly disposed within the annular bore, the piston assembly configured to be connected to a drive mechanism;
- at least one valve configured to oscillate between a first position within the annular bore to allow the piston assembly to travel within the annular bore from a first location proximate to the at least one valve to a second location distal to the at least one valve and a second position within the annular bore to define a combustion chamber relative to the piston assembly at the second location;
- an exhaust gas port disposed in fluid communication with the combustion chamber;
- a fuel distribution assembly, the fuel distribution assembly configured to mix fuel from a fuel source and air from an air source into a fuel and air mixture;
- and
- a compressor disposed in fluid communication with the air source, the compressor configured to perform a compression cycle and to deliver compressed air to the air source and configured to perform an intake cycle to draw excess air from the air source, the compression cycle and the intake cycle separate from a combustion process associated with the piston assembly and the at least one valve.
An engine, comprising:
- a housing defining an annular bore;
- a piston assembly disposed within the annular bore, the piston assembly comprises a sealing assembly connected to the piston assembly, the sealing assembly configured to limit the flow of combustion gas past a piston of the piston assembly along a direction of rotation of the piston assembly;
- wherein the sealing assembly comprises a sealing ring coupled to each piston of the piston assembly, the sealing ring disposed at an outer periphery of the piston assembly between an outer face of each piston of the piston assembly and an inner wall of the annular bore of the housing and defining a clearance space there between;
- at least one valve configured to oscillate between a first position within the annular bore to allow the piston assembly to travel within the annular bore from a first location proximate to the at least one valve to a second location distal to the at least one valve and a second position within the annular bore to define a combustion chamber relative to the piston assembly at the second location;
- and
- an exhaust gas port disposed in fluid communication with the combustion chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.