Engine/pump of a pneumatic type for motor vehicles, a propulsion system including this engine, and a motor vehicle using this system

An engine/pump of a pneumatic type for motor vehicles comprising:

• a stator defining one or more radial cylinders, in each of which there is slidably mounted a piston defining in the cylinder a chamber supplied with a gas or air under pressure;
• and
• a rotor in the form of an annular cam, which surrounds the stator and co-operates with a camfollower roller carried by each piston for transforming the reciprocating movement of the pistons caused by the pressurized fluid into a rotational movement of the annular cam, in the case of operation as engine, or for performing the reverse transformation of a rotation of the annular cam into the reciprocating movement of the pistons, in the case of operation as pump;
• in which each piston is connected to the structure of the stator by a system of guides, which forces the piston to move maintaining the its axis rigorously aligned with the axis of the respective cylinder.