Positive displacement rotary vane engine
OwnerRoy J. Hartfield, Jr.inventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is an engine, which includes a positive displacement compression process, a variably fueled, continuous combustor and/or heat exchanger, and a positive displacement, work-producing expander. This arrangement avoids the traditional stochiometric mixture requirements utilized in spark-ignition based engines and the emission problems associated with diesel engines.
Claims18
In a rotary vane internal combustion engine having an external housing and an eccentrically mounted rotor therein, the rotor being operable for rotational movement within the external housing to define compression and expansion cavities, the improvement comprising:
- a plurality of splines arranged in a radial array defining slots between successive splines of the radial array, and further comprising sealing elements confronting the slots defined therebetween;
- a plurality of blades in mechanical communication with the rotor and extending radially therefrom, each blade being arranged between an adjacent pair of the splines with the sealing elements of the splines forming a seal with the associated blade therebetween, the blades being expandable for engagement with at least one interior confronting face of the external housing;
- wherein each blade comprises a first blade component, a second blade component adjacent the first blade component, and at least one expansion wedge at least partially seated between the first and second blade components operable to expand the width of the blade when the blade is subjected to centrifugal forces, each blade further comprising a blade tip seal for sealing engagement with the at least one confronting face of the external housing and first and second side seals for sealing engagement with the at least one confronting face of the external housing.
A rotary vane engine comprising:
- a cowl defining an internal chamber;
- a rotor rotatably mounted within the internal chamber, the rotor having a plurality of radially configured splines spaced to define slots between successive splines;
- and
- a plurality of rotary blades, each of the rotary blades being received in a corresponding one of the slots, the rotary blades being in sliding engagement with the splines;
- wherein each of the rotary blades comprises a first blade component, a second blade component removably coupled to the first blade component, and at least one expansion wedge slidably received between the first and second blade components operable to expand the surface area of the rotary blade when the rotary blade is subjected to centrifugal forces;
- and
- wherein a positive seal is formed between the rotary blades and seal elements located on the splines, and between the rotary blades and the cowl.
A rotary vane engine comprising:
- a cowl defining a hollow chamber therein, wherein a portion of the interior face of the cowl defines a curvature defined by the equation:
- (r=roekθ), where “r” is the radius of the curve at a given angle “θ”, “ro” is the radius of the rotor and “k” is a constant;
- and
- a rotor eccentrically mounted within the chamber, the rotor having a plurality of rotary blades extending radially outwardly therefrom with an end of each of the plurality of rotary blades angled to match the curvature of said portion of the interior face of the cowl for sealing engagement with an interior confronting face of the cowl.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.