Rotary internal combustion engine with seal lubrication
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsEdwin SCHULZ, Etienne PLAMONDON, Jean THOMASSIN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary internal combustion engine with a housing having a fluid passage defined therethrough opening into a portion of its inner surface engaging each peripheral or apex seal of the rotor. An injector has an inlet for fluid communication with a pressurized lubricant source and a selectively openable and closable outlet in fluid communication with the fluid passage for delivering the pressurized lubricant to each seal through the fluid passage. A housing for a Wankel engine and a method of lubricating peripheral seals of a rotor in an internal combustion engine are also discussed.
Claims22
An internal combustion engine comprising:
- a housing defining a rotor cavity;
- a rotor rotationally received within the rotor cavity to define a plurality of working chambers of variable volume around the rotor, the rotor having circumferentially spaced peripheral seals biased radially outwardly from the rotor and slidingly engaging a portion of an inner surface of the housing upon rotation of the rotor to separate the working chambers from one another, the housing having a fluid passage defined therethrough opening into the portion of the inner surface engaging each of the peripheral seals;
- and
- an injector having an inlet for fluid communication with a pressurized lubricant source and a selectively openable and closable outlet, the outlet being in fluid communication with the fluid passage for delivering the pressurized lubricant to the peripheral seals through the fluid passage.
A housing for a Wankel engine, comprising:
- a peripheral wall extending between two axially spaced apart end walls, the peripheral and end walls cooperating to enclose a rotor cavity configured for sealingly engaging a rotor rotatable therein, the housing having a fluid passage defined therethrough opening into an inner surface of the peripheral wall to communicate with the rotor cavity;
- and
- an injector having an inlet for fluid communication with a pressurized lubricant source and a selectively openable and closable outlet, the outlet being in fluid communication with the fluid passage for delivering the pressurized lubricant to the rotor cavity.
A method of lubricating peripheral seals of a rotor in an internal combustion engine, the rotor rotatable inside a rotor cavity defined by a housing of the engine, the method comprising:
- circulating lubricant from a pressurized lubricant source to an injector;
- selectively opening an outlet of the injector;
- and
- when the outlet of the injector is open, delivering the pressurized lubricant through the housing and to an inner surface of the rotor cavity with the injector, the peripheral seals contacting the inner surface upon rotation of the rotor within the rotor cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.