US 5,329,897 AGranted

Rotary valve with seal for internal combustion engine

AssigneeRenaissance Motor Works Co.

InventorsJeffrey A. Hemphill, Brian D. Hamphill

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Abstract

A rotary valve for an internal combustion engine comprising: a tapered valve body with a passage for flow of gas starting at one end of the taper and terminating in two places 180 degrees apart on the face of the taper; a pair of rigid seals, 180 degrees apart, which are carried by the valve body and alternately seal the opening to the combustion chamber; pressure cavities behind the pads, sealed by a flexible seal, which use the pressure of the compression stroke to bias the pad which is over the opening to the combustion chamber into contact with the area around this opening, forming a gas tight seal; and a drive shaft for rotating the valve body. A clutch is actuated intermittently by an external microcontroller to engage the drive shaft of the valve with a spinning pulley. During the moving portion of the valve cycle the intake or exhaust gases pass through the flow passage. During the stationary period of the valve cycle the compression and combustion strokes of the engine occur.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A rotary valve for use in an internal combustion engine comprising:

a valve bore, said bore located between a combustion chamber and a manifold, said combustion chamber having at least one opening into said valve bore and said manifold having at least one opening into said valve bore, said combustion chamber having an interior surface;
b) a valve body containing a flow passage, said flow passage having at least two ends, said flow passage providing intermediate communication between said opening in said combustion chamber and said opening in said manifold, said valve body having an outer surface, at least one portion of said outer surface configured to seal said opening to said combustion chamber and to form a substantially continuous surface with said interior surface of said combustion chamber when covering said opening to said combustion chamber, said portion of said outer surface of said valve body mounted so as to allow relative motion between said portion of said outer surface of said valve body and said valve body along radial lines from the axis of rotation of said valve body, said valve body rotatably mounted in said valve bore;
c) a gas tight pocket located between said portion of said outer surface of said valve body and said axis of rotation of said valve body, the square area of which is larger than the square area of said opening to said combustion chamber on parallel sections taken perpendicular to a radial line from said axis of rotation of said valve through the centroid of said opening to said combustion chamber;
d) means for allowing said combustion chamber to communicate with said gas tight pocket when said portion of said outer surface of said valve body is stationary and positioned over said opening to said combustion chamber;
e) means for transmitting torque to said valve body.

2 more elements

A method for controlling the flow of gases into and out of a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, said combustion chamber having an inside surface, comprising:

a) rotating a valve body of round cross-section, said valve body having an outer surface, said valve body containing a flow passage, said flow passage having at least two ends, in order to align said flow passage with openings to a manifold and a combustion chamber and allowing gas to flow through said flow passage;
b) stopping the rotation of said valve body when a portion of said outer surface of said valve body which is configured for sealing and which forms a substantially continuous surface with said interior surface of said combustion chamber when sealing said opening to said combustion chamber and is able to move in relation to said valve body along a radial line from the axis of rotation of said valve body, is aligned with said opening to said combustion chamber at a predetermined point;
c) allowing pressure to equalize between said combustion chamber and a cavity located between the axis of rotation of said valve body and said portion of said outer surface of said valve body;
d) utilizing said pressure to force said portion of said outer surface of said valve body into tight contact with said opening to said combustion chamber;
e) again aligning said flow passage with said manifold and said opening to said combustion chamber and repeating the cycle.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.