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US 8,356,585 B2Granted
Planetary rotary engine
AssigneePlanetary Rotor Engine Company
InventorsRichard B. Hathaway, Alex R. Hathaway Shields, David A. Sculthorpe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A planetary engine includes a charge compression system for compressing a charge of air and/or an air and fuel mixture that is precompressed by rotation of the rotors and supplied into a combustion chamber through a rotary valve that may be actively adjusted during operation of the engine to vary the intake valve opening size and/or timing. Exhaust valves may likewise be actively adjustable rotary valves for further engine control. A compression insert mounted between the end wall assemblies absorbs combustion forces and provides rigidity to the engine, as well as occupies all or nearly all of the volume between the rotors at the minimum volume of the combustion chamber to improve the compression ratio of the engine.
Claims26
A planetary rotary apparatus comprising:
- a pair of end walls and a housing having an interior sidewall, said end walls and said interior sidewall defining a housing chamber, one of said end walls including an intake port and a rotary intake valve operatively mounted to said end wall outside of said housing chamber, said rotary intake valve having a valve opening with said valve opening being selectively rotated into alignment with said intake port;
- a plurality of rotors, said rotors being rotatable in concert within said housing chamber with the axes of rotation of said rotors extending between said end walls;
- an inner chamber defined between at least a portion of said rotors;
- adjacent and overlapping first and second rotor chambers, said interior wall including a first chamber wall portion and an adjacent second chamber wall portion, said first and second chamber wall portions being approximately semicircular with said first rotor chamber being partially defined by said first chamber wall portion and said second rotor chamber being partially defined by said second chamber wall portion, one of said rotors comprising a first rotor rotating within said first rotor chamber and another of said rotors comprising a second rotor rotating within said second rotor chamber;
- said first rotor chamber including a compression intake port, said compression intake port selectively enabling a charge to be provided into an outer volume of said housing chamber where said outer volume expands between said first and second rotor chambers during rotation of said first and second rotors with said charge being drawn through said compression intake port during expansion of said outer volume, said charge comprising air or a mixture of air and atomized fuel;
- said second rotor chamber including a transfer port, said charge becoming a compressed charge when said outer volume is decreased by continued rotation of said first and second rotors with said compressed charge being discharged through said transfer port out of said housing chamber;
- and
- a charge manifold, said charge manifold extending between said transfer port and said rotary valve with said compressed charge being delivered through said charge manifold and said rotary valve into said inner chamber when said valve opening aligns with said intake port.
5 more elements
A planetary rotary apparatus comprising:
- a pair of end walls and a housing having an interior sidewall, said end walls and said interior sidewall defining a housing chamber;
- a plurality of rotors, each said rotor being mounted to a rotor shaft with said rotors being rotatable in concert within said housing chamber with the axes of rotation of said rotors extending between said end walls;
- said housing chamber including an inner combustion chamber, said combustion chamber being defined between said end walls and at least a portion of said rotors, the volume of said inner combustion chamber varying between a maximum volume and a minimum volume with rotation of said rotors defining said combustion chamber;
- and
- a compression insert, said compression insert being located within said inner combustion chamber and extending between and affixed to said end walls to occupy a portion of the volume of said combustion chamber whereby the minimum volume of said combustion chamber is substantially reduced relative to the minimum volume of said combustion chamber without said compression insert.
2 more elements
A planetary rotary apparatus comprising:
- a pair of end walls and a housing having an interior sidewall, said end walls and said interior sidewall defining a housing chamber, one of said end walls including a valve port and a rotary valve operatively mounted to said end wall outside of said housing chamber, said rotary valve having a valve opening with said valve opening being selectively rotated into alignment with said valve port;
- a plurality of rotors, each said rotor being mounted to a rotor shaft with said rotors being rotatable in concert within said housing chamber with the axes of rotation of said rotors extending between said end walls;
- an inner chamber defined between at least a portion of said rotors;
- said rotary valve being connected to one of said rotor shafts for rotation with said rotor shaft and for selective relative rotational movement of said rotary valve with respect to said one of said rotor shafts such that said valve opening is adjustable by relative movement of said rotary valve on said rotor shaft.
1 more element
A planetary rotary apparatus comprising:
- a pair of end walls and a housing having an interior sidewall, said end walls and said interior sidewall defining a housing chamber, one of said end walls including an intake port and a rotary intake valve operatively mounted to said end wall outside of said housing chamber, said rotary intake valve having a valve opening with said valve opening being selectively rotated into alignment with said intake port;
- a plurality of rotors, each said rotor being mounted to a rotor shaft with said rotors being rotatable in concert within said housing chamber with the axes of rotation of said rotors extending between said end walls;
- an inner chamber defined between at least a portion of said rotors;
- a compression insert, said compression insert being located within said inner combustion chamber and extending between and affixed to said end walls to occupy a portion of the volume of said combustion chamber whereby the minimum volume of said combustion chamber is substantially reduced relative to the minimum volume of said combustion chamber without said compression insert;
- adjacent and overlapping first and second rotor chambers, said interior wall including a first chamber wall portion and an adjacent second chamber wall portion, said first and second chamber wall portions being approximately semicircular with said first rotor chamber being partially defined by said first chamber wall portion and said second rotor chamber being partially defined by said second chamber wall portion, one of said rotors comprising a first rotor rotating within said first rotor chamber and another of said rotors comprising a second rotor rotating within said second rotor chamber;
- said first rotor chamber including a compression intake port, said compression intake port selectively enabling a charge to be provided into an outer volume of said housing chamber where said outer volume expands between said first and second rotor chambers during rotation of said first and second rotors with said charge being drawn through said compression intake port during expansion of said outer volume, said charge comprising air or a mixture of air and atomized fuel;
- said second rotor chamber including a transfer port, said charge becoming a compressed charge when said outer volume is decreased by continued rotation of said first and second rotors with said compressed charge being discharged through said transfer port out of said housing chamber;
- and
- a charge manifold, said charge manifold extending between said transfer port and said rotary valve with said compressed charge being delivered through said charge manifold and said rotary valve into said inner chamber when said valve opening aligns with said intake port;
- said rotary valve being connected to one of said rotor shafts for rotation with said rotor shaft and for selective relative rotational movement of said rotary valve with respect to said one of said rotor shafts such that said valve opening is adjustable by relative movement of said rotary valve on said rotor shaft.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.