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US 8,464,670 B2Granted
Guided bridge for a piston in an internal combustion engine
AssigneeEcoMotors International
InventorsPeter Hofbauer, Adrian N. Tusinean, Chou Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved configuration for internal combustion engine that reduces side forces on pistons during the engine cycle. The improvement is an intermediate and guided bridge element located between pull rods and pistons with articulated connections that allow side forces to be dissipated away from the pistons.
Claims22
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- an engine housing (900) with a cylinder (500) defined therein, a first pair of opposed, linear sliding surfaces (804, 806), and a second pair of opposed, linear sliding surfaces (808, 810);
- a piston (510) disposed in the cylinder (500) and adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder (500);
- a crankshaft (700) disposed in the engine housing (900);
- a first pullrod (515a) having a first end and a second end with the first end of the first pullrod (515a) coupled to the crankshaft (700);
- a second pullrod (515b) having a first end and a second end with the first end of the second pullrod (515b) coupled to the crankshaft (700);
- a bridge (800) having:
- a nose (802) that contacts a socket (315) in the piston (510) on one end of the bridge;
- and a base (801) on the other end of the bridge (800), the base (801) having:
- a first pair of guide surfaces (904, 906) that ride on the first pair of linear sliding surfaces (804, 806) during reciprocation of the piston (510);
- a second pair of guide surfaces (908, 910) that ride on the second pair of linear surfaces (808, 810) during reciprocation of the piston (510);
- a first boss (803a) extending outwardly from a first end of the base (801) that couples with the second end of the first pullrod (515a);
- and
- a second boss (803b) extending outwardly from a second end of the base (801) that couples with the second end of the second pullrod (515b).
10 more elements
An opposed-piston, internal-combustion engine, comprising:
- an engine housing (900) with a first cylinder (500) defined therein and a first pair of opposed, linear sliding surfaces (804, 806), and a second pair of opposed, linear sliding surfaces (808, 810) formed on the engine housing (900);
- a crankshaft (700) disposed in the engine housing (900) with the crankshaft (700) located between the first cylinder (500) and the second cylinder (600)
- an outer piston (510) and an inner piston (520) disposed in the cylinder (500) with the pistons (510, 520) adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder (500);
- a first pullrod (515a) having a first end and a second end with the first end of the first pullrod (515a) coupled to the crankshaft (700);
- a second pullrod (515b) having a first end and a second end with the first end of the second pullrod (515b) coupled to the crankshaft (700);
- a first bridge (800) having:
- a nose (802) that contacts a socket (315) in the piston (510) on one end of the bridge;
- and a base (801) on the other end of the bridge (800), the base (801) having:
- a first pair of guide surfaces (904, 906) that ride on the first pair of linear sliding surfaces (804, 806) during reciprocation of the piston (510);
- a second pair of guide surfaces (908, 910) that ride on the second pair of linear surfaces (808, 810) during reciprocation of the piston (510);
- a first boss (803a) extending outwardly from a first end of the base (801) that couples with the second end of the first pullrod (515a);
- and
- a second boss (803b) extending outwardly from a second end of the base (801) that couples with the second end of the second pullrod (515b).
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.