Rotary engine with variable compression ratio
OwnerDavid B. Wittryinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotary engine in which two rotors having interleaving radial vanes (3,4,8,9) revolve inside a cylindrical cavity and are connected to a planetary output gear system which causes them to alternately speed up and slow down. An axial shaft (5) attached to one rotor and passing through the other rotor contains a thrust bearing (10) to prevent the rotors from moving apart. The rotor vanes and disk-shaped end plates (1,6) which contain cooling means divide the cylindrical cavity into four chambers in which intake, compression, explosion and exhaustion occur. A passageway (39,39') containing an adjustable, pressure-sensitive valve (40) vents the compression chamber to the intake chamber to allow the compression ratio to be varied and to provide for a greater compression ratio than expansion ratio.
Claims40
An improved rotary engine comprising:
- a) a housing having a cylindrical cavity, a cooling means, and inlet and outlet ports terminating in said cavity,
- b) two interdigitated rotors rotatably movable in said cylindrical cavity, each of said rotors having a hub, a circular end plate, and two radial vanes, said vanes of the first of said rotors extending over the hub of the second of said rotors so that a seal is formed between the first said rotor and the second said rotor and between said rotors and said housing, whereby the cylindrical cavity is divided into four compartments,
- c) a passageway in said housing connecting a first of said compartments with a second of said compartments whereby gas can flow from the first said compartment to the second said compartment.
An improved rotary engine comprising:
- a) a housing having a cylindrical cavity, a cooling means, and inlet and outlet ports terminating in said cavity,
- b) two interdigitated rotors rotatably movable in said cylindrical cavity, each of said rotors having a hub, a circular end plate, and two radial vanes, said vanes of the first of said rotors extending over the hub of the second said rotor so that a seal is formed between the first said rotor and the second said rotor and between said rotors and said housing, the first said rotor having a rotor shaft movably passing through an axial hole in the second rotor,
- c) said rotor shaft containing in an antifriction thrust bearing whereby the axial play between said rotors may be preset but further axial motion of said rotors away from each other is inhibited while rotary motion of said rotors relative to each other is facilitated.
An improved rotary engine comprising:
- a) a housing having a cylindrical cavity, a cooling means, and inlet and outlet ports terminating in said cavity,
- b) two interdigitated rotors rotatably movable in said cylindrical cavity, each of said rotors having a hub, a circular end plate and two opposed radial vanes, said vanes of the first of said rotors extending over the hub of the second said rotor so that a seal is formed between the first said rotor and the second said rotor and between said rotors and said housing, each of said end plates having a cooling structure on a side thereof opposite said vanes,
- c) a rotor shaft fixed to the axis of one of said rotors and movably passing through an axial hole in the second rotor,
- d) a constraining structure located on said rotor shaft constraining the second rotor against axial movement away from the first rotor while permitting relative rotation between the two rotors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.