A reversible rotary internal combustion engine comprising:
- a stator comprising a cylindrical chamber;
- a drive shaft extending through said chamber;
- a rotor comprising a cylindrical hub fixed to said drive shaft and a rotor arm extending radially from said hub to the inner peripheral surface of said chamber;
- first and second radially movable wall members mounted to said stator at respective locations that are spaced radially from one another around said stator, each of said first and said second radially movable wall members being movable in respective directions that extend substantially between a retracted position at which faces of the wall members lying radially innermost with respect to said cylindrical chamber are respectively flush with the inner peripheral surface of said chamber and an inserted position at which said faces contact the outer peripheral surface of the hub of said rotor;
- an air receiving means, and respective compressed air outlet ports, one of which is associated with one of said wall members and the other of which is associated with the other of said wall members, said air outlet ports extending between said cylindrical chamber and said air receiver means;
- selector means for moving said first wall member to the inserted position and said second wall member to the retracted position when said rotor is to be rotated in a first rotational direction within said cylindrical chamber during operation, and for moving said first wall member to the retracted position and said second wall member to the inserted position when the output of the combustion engine is to be reversed and said rotor is to be rotated in a second rotational direction within said cylindrical chamber that is opposite to said first rotational direction,
- a combustion chamber being defined within said cylindrical chamber between one side of the one of said wall members that is at the inserted position and said rotor, and an air compression chamber being defined between the other side of the one of said wall members that is at the inserted position and said rotor;
- fresh air introduction port means open to said air compression chamber and comprising an air pump for pumping fresh air into said cylindrical chamber;
- opening and closing means for opening the one of said compressed air outlet ports that is associated with the one of said wall members that is at the inserted position to place the cylindrical chamber in communication with said air receiver means and for closing the other of said compressed air outlet ports;
- inlet means operatively connected between said air receiver means and the combustion chamber defined within said cylindrical chamber for introducing air from said air receiver means into said combustion chamber and for introducing fuel into said combustion chamber with the air introduced therein,
- such that the air and the fuel in said combustion chamber when ignited generate combustion gases which expand to force said rotor to rotate in said first rotational direction if said first wall member is at the inserted position and to force said rotor to rotate in said second rotational direction if said second wall member is at the inserted position thereby compressing the fresh air pumped into the compression chamber through said fresh air introduction port means, most of which passes through the open one of said compressed air outlet ports to said air receiver means;
- exhaust means communicating with said cylindrical chamber;
- and
- timing means synchronized with the rotation of said rotor for retracting the one of said wall members that is at the inserted position from the inserted position to the retracted position after the rotor has rotated a predetermined amount within said stator that corresponds to at least 80% of the engine cycle such that the fresh air pumped into the compression chamber and compressed by the rotor that remains in the cylindrical chamber expands through said cylindrical chamber to scavenge the expanded combustion gases within the cylindrical chamber from said cylindrical chamber through said exhaust means, and said timing means for reinserting the same said one of said wall members after it has been retracted to the retracted position back to the inserted position after said rotor arm of said rotor has rotated past the space within said cylindrical chamber that is occupied by the same said one of said wall members when at the inserted position.