Enhanced efficiency internal combustion engine
OwnerBrian Schmidtinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An enhanced efficiency internal combustion engine is described. The engine may include a piston and a gear assembly capable of causing the duration of a piston power stroke to exceed that of the piston's compression stroke. One example of the engine of the present invention involves a gear assembly with non-circular gear pairs at crank and output shafts. The non-circular gears may increase the duration of the piston down stroke per combustion event, and decrease the duration of the piston up stroke per combustion event, resulting in greater fuel efficiency of the engine. The engine may be employed in various different vehicles or other internal combustion engine-utilizing devices.
Claims20
An internal combustion engine system, the system comprising:
- a piston, configured to engage in reciprocal motion;
- a crankshaft in mechanical communication with the piston and a first gear assembly, the first gear assembly comprising at least one gear;
- an output shaft in mechanical communication with a second gear assembly, the second gear assembly comprising at least one gear in mechanical communication with the first gear assembly;
- and
- wherein at least one gear of at least one of the first and second gear assemblies has a non-circular outer perimeter adapted to cause a duration of a downward power stroke of the piston to be greater than a duration of an upward compression stroke of the piston.
An internal combustion engine apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
- a piston, configured to engage in reciprocal motion;
- a rod, connected to the piston;
- a crankshaft in mechanical communication with the rod and a first gear assembly, the first gear assembly comprising at least one gear;
- an output shaft in mechanical communication with a second gear assembly, the second gear assembly comprising at least one gear in mechanical communication with the first gear assembly;
- wherein the piston is configured to engage in a downward power stroke to cause the rod to rotate the crankshaft and the at least one gear of the first gear assembly;
- and
- wherein at least one gear of at least one of the first and second gear assemblies has a non-circular outer perimeter adapted to cause a duration of the downward power stroke of the piston to be greater than a duration of an upward compression stroke of the piston.
An internal combustion engine system, the system comprising:
- a piston, configured to engage in reciprocal motion;
- a rod, connected to the piston;
- a crankshaft mechanically coupled to the rod and a first plurality of gears;
- an output shaft mechanically coupled to a second plurality of gears in mechanical communication with the first plurality of gears;
- and
- wherein each gear of the first plurality of gears and each gear of the second plurality of gears has a non-circular outer perimeter adapted to cause a duration of a downward power stroke of the piston to be greater than a duration of an upward compression stroke of the piston, and to cause a duration of a downward air intake rotation of the piston to be greater than a duration of an upward exhaust rotation of the piston.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.