Shuttle piston assembly with dynamic valve
OwnerHans-Georg G. Presselinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable, high capacity air compressor system for charging air tanks over wide pressure ranges with maximum volumetric efficiency is characterized by employing a shuttle piston assembly in which piston pairs are arranged with axially aligned cylinder pairs to reciprocate in response to precession of a wobble plate, and each of the pistons is further characterized by being of one-piece construction with a built-in leaflet-type intake valve in its piston head, and a universal connector between each of the piston pairs and wobble plate which is stabilized within a pair of guide rails.
Claims33
In an air compressor, a plurality of circumferentially spaced cylinders arranged in pairs with said cylinders of each of said pairs arranged on a common axis and facing away from one another, each of said cylinders including a cylinder head at one end and an exhaust valve therein;
- a piston assembly including a connecting rod extending between each of said pair of said cylinders and a pair of piston heads mounted on each of said connecting rods facing away from one another for extension through said cylinders of each said pair, each said piston head having an intake valve movable between open and closed positions in response to reciprocal movement of said piston head away from and toward respective said cylinder heads each of said exhaust valves movable to an open position as said piston head approaches said cylinder head at the end of its stroke;
- and
- motive drive means for imparting reciprocal motion to each of said connecting rods and respective of said piston heads including a drive shaft and a swash plate to impart reciprocal motion to said piston heads.
In a compressor, a plurality of circumferentially spaced cylinders arranged in pairs with said cylinders of each of said pairs arranged on a common axis and facing away from one another, each of said cylinders having a cylinder head at one end including an exhaust valve therein;
- a plurality of piston members arranged in circumferentially spaced pairs, each pair including a pair of piston heads facing away from one another for extension into one of said cylinders of each said pair and having an intake valve therein, and each of said pairs of piston members having piston rods extending away from connecting ends and terminating in said piston heads at opposite ends;
- each of said piston heads being of generally convex configuration having a valve seat in facing relation to said exhaust valve of an associated of said cylinders, and a valve element in the form of a leaflet mounted in normally closed relation to said valve seat, said leaflet including diametrically opposed leaflet portions surmounted on openings in said valve seat;
- and
- a power source having an output drive shaft and a swash plate mounted on said shaft to undergo reciprocal motion in response to rotational motion of said shaft.
In an air compressor having a plurality of cylinders with exhaust valves therein, the combination therewith comprising a unitary piston member for each of said cylinders including a piston rod and piston head at one end of said piston rod, each said piston head having an intake valve therein movable between an open and closed position in response to movement of said piston head through said cylinder, and a swash plate for imparting reciprocal movement to each of said piston members.
In an air compressor wherein a swash plate translates rotational motion of a shaft into precessional motion of said swash plate about said shaft, a plurality of pistons being reciprocal in response to the precessional motion of said swash plate to pressurize air introduced into a plurality of cylinders through which said pistons are advanced, the improvement comprising:
- a stabilizer member disposed in outer surrounding relation to a connecting end of said piston to said swash plate, said stabilizer member including at least one bearing surface;
- and
- a complementary bearing surface on said connecting end of said piston slidable along said at least one bearing surface in a direction substantially parallel to reciprocal motion of said piston.
An air compressor comprising a plurality of circumferentially spaced cylinders arranged in pairs, said cylinders of each of said pairs disposed on a common longitudinal axis and facing away from one another, each of said cylinders having a cylinder head at one end including an exhaust valve therein, a plurality of piston members arranged in circumferentially spaced pairs, each pair including a pair of piston heads extending into one of said cylinders of each said pair and having an intake valve in each said piston head, each of said piston heads provided with a generally convex outer peripheral edge portion having a seal disposed in said peripheral edge portion for sealed engagement with each respective one of said cylinders, each of said pairs of piston members having piston rods extending away from a common connecting end, and motive drive means including an output drive shaft and swash plate mounted on said shaft to undergo precessional motion in response to rotational motion of said shaft whereby to impart reciprocal motion to said piston members.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.