Method and apparatus for diminishing the consumption of fuel and converting reciprocal piston motion into rotary motion

An engine comprising:

• an elongated drive shaft adapted for rotation on a shaft axis;
• a pair of spaced-apart cam disks each coupled to the shaft for rotation therewith and each presenting a curved cam surface, said curved cam surfaces facing generally inwardly towards one another;
• a plurality of reciprocating pistons positioned between the cam surfaces and adapted for linear reciprocal motion in a direction at least substantially parallel to the shaft axis, said pistons being spaced generally symmetrically around the shaft axis;
• a pair of bearing assemblies associated with each piston, each bearing assembly comprising a housing and a roller bearing supported for rotation relative to the housing, said roller bearing of each bearing assembly contacting a respective one of the cam surfaces, each of said pistons positioned generally between the pair of bearing assemblies associated with that piston;
• and
• a plurality of piston rod assemblies each coupling one of the pistons to the pair of bearing assemblies associated with that piston.

An engine comprising:

• a housing at least partly defining an inner chamber;
• a cylinder assembly disposed in the inner chamber and at least partly defining an internal cylinder chamber disposed generally within the cylinder assembly and an external chamber disposed generally outside the cylinder assembly, said internal cylinder chamber and said external chamber at least substantially fluidly isolated from one another, said cylinder assembly presenting an internal cylinder wall which at least partly defines the internal cylinder chamber;
• a piston shiftably disposed in the internal cylinder chamber and presenting a sealing surface at least substantially sealingly contacting the internal cylinder wall, said piston separating the internal cylinder chamber into a working chamber and a piston rod chamber, said working chamber and said piston rod chamber at least substantially fluidly isolated from one another,
• said cylinder assembly defining a fluid inlet for providing a first lubricating fluid to the piston rod chamber,
• said first lubricating fluid providing lubrication of the sealing surface,
• said first lubricating fluid comprising water;
• a piston rod at least partly disposed in the piston rod chamber and coupled to the piston for movement therewith;
• a bulkhead coupled to the housing and separating the housing into at least one outer chamber and the inner chamber,
• said outer and inner chambers at least substantially fluidly isolated from one another;
• said cylinder assembly coupled to the bulkhead,
• said bulkhead defining a rod-receiving opening,
• said piston rod slidably received in the rod-receiving opening and extending into the outer chamber;
• and
• a rod seal disposed at least partly in the rod-receiving opening and operable to at least substantially inhibit the passage of the first lubricating fluid into the outer chamber through the rod-receiving opening.

A cylinder assembly for a Stirling engine, said Stirling engine utilizing thermal energy transferred between a working fluid and a heat transfer fluid to generate mechanical energy via a reciprocating piston, said cylinder assembly comprising:

• a piston chamber wall at least partially defining an internal cylinder chamber, said internal cylinder chamber adapted to shiftably receive the reciprocating piston, said piston chamber wall adapted to cooperate with the piston to at least partly define a working fluid chamber of variable volume within the cylinder assembly;
• a heat transfer chamber fluidically isolated from the working fluid chamber;
• a heat exchanger at least partly disposed in the heat transfer chamber and defining a working fluid passageway fluidically communicating with the working fluid chamber, said heat exchanger is adapted to facilitate the transfer of heat between the heat transfer fluid in the heat transfer chamber and the working fluid flowing through the working fluid passageway;
• and
• a thermally conductive wall defining at least a portion of the heat transfer chamber and physically coupled to the piston chamber wall, said thermally conductive wall operable to conduct heat between the heat transfer chamber and the piston chamber wall.

A Stirling engine having an expansion piston positioned for linear reciprocal movement in an expansion cylinder and a compression piston positioned for linear reciprocal movement in a compression cylinder, said pistons reciprocating at substantially the rate, wherein the reciprocal motion of one said pistons trails the reciprocal motion of the other of said pistons in accordance with a piston phase angle, said Stirling engine comprising:

• a first member adapted to be rotated by the expansion piston;
• a second member adapted to be rotated by the compression piston;
• an output member cooperatively rotated by the first and second members and providing a power output;
• and
• means for selectively shifting one of the first or second members relative to the other members so that the piston phase angle is charged, thereby varying the power output of the Stirling engine,
• said Stirling engine having a barrel-type configuration,
• said first member comprising an outer cam disk presenting a curve outer cam surface,
• said second member comprising an inner cam disk presenting a curved inner cam surface,
• one of said cam disks being rigidly coupled to the output member for rotation therewith,
• the other of the cam disks being rotatable relative to the output member by the means for selectively shifting.

A Stirling engine according to claim 45;

• and
• an outer bearing assembly rollingly contacting the curved outer cam surface and adapted to be coupled to one of the pistons for linear reciprocal movement therewith;
• and
• an inner bearing rollingly contacting the curved inner cam surface and adapted to be coupled to the other of the pistons for linear reciprocal movement therewith.