Rotary vane motor
AssigneeRare Industries Inc.
InventorAron Regev
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotary vane motor uses a gear train arrangement for controlling the position of the vanes as well as the compression ratio of the motor. The motor includes a first pair of vanes namely a leading and trailing vane defining a working chamber therebetween and an opposed second pair of vanes namely a leading and trailing vane defining therebetween a second working chamber. Preferably the motor uses a pair of second order elliptical gears for controlling movement of the vanes to define an intake stage, a compression stage, an expansion stage, and an exhaust stage. In a preferred structure of the motor both the intake port and the exhaust port are movable to change or alter the intake stage and the exhaust stage respectively.
Claims22
A rotary type motor comprising a first rotary member having a pair of leading vanes and a second rotary member having a pair of trailing vanes with each rotary member having a common central rotation axis, each leading vane having an associated and trailing vane which define therebetween a working chamber such that two opposed working chambers are defined on opposite sides of said common central rotation axis, said vanes rotating within a cylindrical chamber and during each revolution each leading vane and associated trailing vane complete an intake stage, a compression stage, a power stage, and an exhaust stage of a combustion cycle;
- said cylindrical chamber including an exhaust port and an intake port, said vanes each including a drive shaft with said drive shafts being interconnected by gear train, said gear train including a pair of second order elliptical gears which determine the relative movement of said trailing vanes towards and away from said leading vanes as said vanes rotate about said common central rotation axis and define said stages of said combustion cycle;
- said gear train further including an adjustment mechanism for varying the position of said trailing vanes relative to said leading vanes at any point in said combustion cycle to thereby vary the compression ratio, and wherein said adjustment mechanism for varying the relative position of said trailing vanes is a planetary gear system with a movable outer ring gear, a central sun gear and a pair of planetary gears, whereby movement of said ring gear varies the position of said trailing vanes relative to said leading vanes and depending upon the direction of rotation of said ring gear the compression ratio is increased or decreased.
A rotary type motor comprising a first rotary member having a pair of leading vanes and a second rotary member having a pair of trailing vanes with each rotary member having a common central rotation axis, each leading vane having an associated and trailing vane which define therebetween a working chamber such that two opposed working chambers are defined on opposite sides of said central rotation axis, said vanes rotating within a cylindrical chamber and during each revolution each leading vane and associated trailing vane complete an intake stage, a compression stage defining a compression ratio of said motor, a power stage, and an exhaust stage of a combustion cycle;
- said cylindrical chamber including an exhaust port and an intake port, said vanes each including a drive shaft with said drive shafts being interconnected by a drive train, said drive train controlling relative movement of said trailing vane towards and away from said leading vane as said vanes rotate about said common central rotation axis to define said stages of said combustion cycle;
- said drive train further including an adjustment mechanism for varying the position of said trailing vanes relative to said leading vanes to vary the compression ratio of said motor and wherein said adjustment mechanism comprises a planetary gear system with a rotatable outer ring gear, a central sun gear and a pair of planetary gears, whereby rotary movement of said ring gear in a first direction varies the position of said trailing vanes relative to said leading vanes to increase the compression ratio and rotary movement in an opposite direction varies the position of said trailing vanes relative to said leading vanes to decrease the compression ratio.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.