Valve timing system and method
OwnerAllen Eugene Looneyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In an internal combustion engine, first and second rotating members, one for the intake valve and one for the exhaust valve rotate next to the outside of an engine cylinder on opposite sides thereof when driven by a drive gear attached to the end of the engine's crankshaft. Each rotating member may include a ring gear having a valve port or aperture near its perimeter that cyclically aligns with a corresponding valve port formed through the cylinder wall near the top of the cylinder. A method of controlling valve timing comprises the steps of causing the rotating member containing the second valve port to periodically align in synchronism with the first port to control the passage of an air/fuel mixture and exhaust gases through the combustion cycles of the engine.
Claims20
A valve system for an internal combustion piston engine having a crankshaft rotatably mounted in a crankcase portion of an engine block, comprising:
- an engine cylinder formed within said engine block and open at a lower end thereof into said crankcase portion, said engine cylinder having an intake port and an exhaust port formed in first and second sides thereof;
- wherein:
- an intake rotating port member comprising an annular sector aperture is disposed to rotate alongside said first side of said engine cylinder;
- an exhaust rotating port member comprising an annular sector aperture is disposed to rotate alongside said second side of said engine cylinder;
- such that each said intake rotating port member and said exhaust rotating port member is driven in synchronism with revolution of said crankshaft to align respectively in a communicating alignment with said intake port and said exhaust port formed through said opposite first sides of said engine cylinder and said second side of said engine cylinder;
- said annular sector apertures are each individually defined mathematically as a region between two concentric circles;
- and
- said concentric circles are defined mathematically as circles with a same center point origin or common center.
A method for controlling valve timing in an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft rotatably mounted in a crankcase of an engine block, an engine cylinder formed within the engine block and open at a lower end thereof into the crankcase, and a combustion chamber formed in an upper end of the engine cylinder, comprising the steps of:
- forming a first intake valve port and a first exhaust valve port in a respective side of said engine cylinder on opposite sides thereof and proximate said combustion chamber;
- disposing in a first rotating port member adjacent said first intake valve port and a second rotating port member adjacent said first exhaust valve port, wherein said first rotating port member includes a second intake port comprising an annular sector aperture and the second rotating port member includes a second exhaust port comprising an annular sector aperture;
- and
- causing each respective first and second rotating port member to rotate in synchronism with said crankshaft such that the first and second intake ports said the first and second exhaust ports are respectively aligned at periodic intervals to permit passage of respective intake or exhaust substances respectively in or from said engine cylinder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.