US 6,786,128 B1Granted

Fluid motor

OwnerRonald M. Gaudetinventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Abstract

A fluid motor has a rotor mounted within a housing internal space. A piston positioned within the rotor and may be mounted to an output shaft. The output shaft is driven by applying pressure difference from a fluid both across the rotor within the internal space and across the piston so as to bias the rotor against the housing and produce a camming action to rotate the rotor.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An apparatus for extracting work from a fluid passing between a pressure source and a destination comprising:

a housing having first and second side walls and a perimeter wall extending therebetween to substantially surround an internal space, the housing having at least one inlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the source and at least one outlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the destination;
a rotor mounted within the internal space and having a perimeter surface, first and second side surfaces, and a compartment, the perimeter surface including first and second flanks and first and second apexes;
a piston mounted within the compartment for relative reciprocal motion within the compartment and separating first and second portions of the compartment;
and
an output shaft mounted for rotation relative to the housing about a shaft axis and coupled to the piston to be driven by rotation of the piston about the shaft axis through a cycle including:
a first orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the source and the second compartment communicates with the destination so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a first direction relative to the piston and produces a first camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said first camming interaction applying torque of a first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a second orientation in which a first portion of the internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the source and a second portion of the internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the destination and wherein the rotor and shaft are non-concentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portions of the internal space applies torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a third orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the destination and the second compartment communicates with the source so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a second direction relative to the piston and produces a second camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said first camming interaction applying torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
and
a fourth orientation in which a first portion of the internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the destination and a second portion of the internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the source and wherein the rotor and shaft are non-concentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portions of the internal space applies torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft.

7 more elements

An apparatus for passing fluid between a source and a destination comprising:

a housing having first and second side walls and a perimeter wall extending therebetween to substantially surround an internal space, the housing having at least one inlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the source and at least one outlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the destination;
a rotor mounted within the housing internal space and having a perimeter surface and first and second side surfaces and a compartment, the rotor perimeter including first and second flanks and first and second apexes;
a piston mounted within the rotor compartment for relative reciprocal motion within the compartment and separating first and second portions of the compartment;
and
an output shaft mounted for rotation relative to the housing about a shaft axis and coupled to the piston to be driven by rotation of the piston about the shaft axis through a cycle including:
a first orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the source and the second compartment communicates with the destination so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a first direction relative to the piston and produces a first camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said first camming interaction applying torque of a first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a second orientation in which a first portion of the housing internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the source and a second portion of the housing internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the destination and wherein the rotor and shaft are non-concentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portions of the housing internal space applies torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a third orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the destination and the second compartment communicates with the source so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a second direction relative to the piston and produces a second camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said second camming interaction applying torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
and
a fourth orientation in which a first portion of the housing internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the destination and a second portion of the housing internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the source and wherein the rotor and shaft are acentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portion of the housing internal spaces applies a torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

An apparatus for extracting work from a fluid passing between a pressure source and a destination comprising:

a housing having first and second side walls and a perimeter wall extending therebetween to substantially surround an internal space, the housing having at least one inlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the source and at least one outlet port for establishing communication between the internal space and the destination;
a rotor mounted within the internal space and having a perimeter surface, first and second side surfaces, and a compartment, the perimeter surface including first and second flanks and first and second apexes;
a piston mounted within the compartment for relative reciprocal motion within the compartment and separating first and second portions of the compartment;
and
an output shaft mounted for rotation relative to the housing about a shaft axis and coupled to the piston to be driven by rotation of the piston about the shaft axis through a cycle including:
a first orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the source and the second compartment communicates with the destination so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a first direction relative to the piston and produces a first camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said first camming interaction applying torque of a first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a second orientation in which a first portion of the internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the source and a second portion of the internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the destination and wherein the rotor and shaft are non-concentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portions of the internal space applies torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
a third orientation in which the first compartment portion communicates with the destination and the second compartment communicates with the source so that a pressure difference between the first and second compartment portions biases the rotor in a second direction relative to the piston and produces a second camming interaction between the rotor and the perimeter wall, said first camming interaction applying torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft;
and
a fourth orientation in which a first portion of the internal space adjacent the first flank communicates with the destination and a second portion of the internal space adjacent the second flank communicates with the source and wherein the rotor and shaft are non-concentric so that a pressure difference between the first and second portions of the internal space applies torque of said first sense to the shaft via the rotor and piston to rotate the shaft.

7 more elements