External combustion slidable vane motor with air cushions

In combination:

• an external combustion sliding-vane engine comprising a motor member including means for compressing ambient air and means for expanding the combusted gas resulting from the combustion of fuel in the compressed air,
• a combustion member for receiving compressed air from the motor member, mixing the fuel with compressed air, igniting the mixture and burning the fuel, and delivering the combusted gas to said motor member, and
• a shaft connecting the compressing and expanding means for delivering power by means of an external drive shaft,
• the motor member further including a plurality of generally cylindrical center bodies, a plurality of generally cylindrical hollow external structures surrounding and enclosing corresponding ones of the center bodies, a plurality of flanges supporting the center bodies and hollow external structures for relative rotation therebetween about the shaft axis, each center body and corresponding hollow external structure being positioned between a corresponding pair of adjacent flanges, the external hollow structures and the center bodies having continuously curved surfaces positoned to face each other, a plurality of radially extending vane means extending between each pair of adjacent flanges at a plurality of circumferentially spaced locations, each vane means extending from an outer facing surface of a corresponding center body to an inner facing surface of a corresponding external hollow structure to thereby define a plurality of substantially circumferentially spaced sealed spaces between the flanges and the circumferential facing surfaces, each of the vane means being slidable in a substantially radial direction with respect to its corresponding facing surfaces, the curvatures and relative positions of the facing surfaces being such that a first portion of the sealed spaces progressively decrease in volume and a second porion of said sealed spaces progressively increase in volume as relative rotation of the facing surfaces takes place, an air inlet at the location where the decreasing volume is largest, an air outlet at the location where the decreasing volume is smallest, a combusted gas inlet at the location where the increasing volume is smallest and a combusted gas outlet at the location where the increasing volume is largest,
• a length of a first portion of each vane means which is located between its corresponding facing surfaces varying and a second portion of the vane means being guided laterally in a sliding motion between a pair of opposing walls of a guiding and structurally restraining slot-shaped housing.
• the guided laterally restrained first portion of each vane means and the center bodies being supported between the corresponding guiding surfaces by pressurized air cushion means;
• and
• a plurality of air cushions located between all sliding surfaces formed by the relative motions of the center bodies, the external structures, the vane means and the shaft each air cushion being formed in a shallow cavity positioned between two closely located contiguous sliding surfaces, said cavity being defined by a first sliding surface on one side and a generally matchingly-shaped second surface on the other side, the first and second surfaces being generally parallel, the second surface being surrounded by a third narrow surface substantially orthogonal to the first and second surfaces and extending around the perimeter of the second surface and rising to a fourth surface generally parallel to the first surface and forming the other associated cooperating sliding surface, the supporting means so provided by said plurality of air cushions further including:
• means for supplying and ducting presurized air to each of the shallow cavities,
• a fixed size restricting orifice positioned in the ducting means between the air supplying means and each shallow cavity,
• means for enabling the presssurized air to leave each air cushion between its corresponding two sliding surfaces for venting into the corresponding sealed spaces, and
• means for enabling two cooperating air cushions to operate in opposition against two of the first surfaces, said surfaces being fixed and separated by a fixed distance, the air cushions being housed in a structural member to be guided by and restrained between said two first surfaces in its sliding motion, said structure extending between two of the fourth surfaces separated by a distance slightly smaller than the distance separating the two first surfaces, so as to form two gap openings, each one gap being positioned between associated cooperating first and fourth sliding surfaces, one gap opening becoming automatically larger when the other gap opening becomes smaller and vice-versa,
• whereby each gap opening created by the distance separating each pair of cooperating sliding surfaces along a perimeter of the corresponding cavity forms a variable area restricting orifice, thereby enabling the pressure inside the cavity to vary according to said distance between the two sliding surfaces, and
• whereby a guided and restrained structural member equipped with air cushions becomes automatically centered and maintained in said centered position between the two guiding and restraining first surfaces.