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US 9,103,333 B2Granted
Axial piston machines
AssigneeDuke Engines Limited
InventorNoel Stephen Duke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to an axial piston machine of a kind that has a plurality of pistons each reciprocating in a respective cylinder in a direction substantially parallel or at an angle less than 30 degrees to a crankshaft axis. The crankshaft axis presents a crank that is at an angle to the crankshaft axis and to which a reciprocator is mounted. The reciprocator effects the controlled movement of the pistons in their cylinders via a connection mechanism that connects each said piston with said reciprocator. The machine includes at least one pair of rotational constraint mechanisms to constrain the movement between the reciprocator and the pistons.
Claims33
An axial piston machine acting as a thermodynamic engine, compressor, motor or pump comprising;
- a crankshaft rotatable about a crankshaft axis and carrying a crank having an inclined crank axis that is at an angle to the crankshaft axis but aligned to intersect therewith at an acute angle A at a point (point X) on the crankshaft,
- a cylinder cluster comprising at least two cylinders rigidly located with respect to each other, each cylinder spaced relative to the other(s) about a cylinder cluster axis that is coincident to said crankshaft axis, each said cylinder including at least one cylinder opening to allow fluid inlet and/or outlet to/from said cylinder controlled in a manner to allow the machine to operate as a thermodynamic engine, compressor, motor or pump,
- in each cylinder, a complementary piston to reciprocate along a reciprocating axis defined by its respective cylinder,
- a reciprocator mounted to rotate relative to said crank about said inclined crank axis, said reciprocator operatively connected to said pistons by a respective connection rod, such that the rotational motion of the crankshaft with respect to the cylinder cluster drives the reciprocal motion of the pistons within their respective cylinders or vice versa in a sinusoidal or near sinusoidal manner, and allows controlled reciprocating displacement of each piston within its respective cylinder between top dead centre (TDC) and bottom dead centre (BDC),
- a plurality of pairs of rotation constrainers operative between said cylinder cluster and said reciprocator,
- each pair of rotation constrainers comprising of:
- a. a first member mounted with or by said cylinder cluster, and
- b. a second member mounted with or by said reciprocator, and positioned to allow the first member and second member of each pair to come in and out of engagement with each other in a manner to ensure homokinetic rotational constraint between said cylinder cluster and said reciprocator at the point of engagement of each respective first and second members so that at least one pair is in operative engagement at any one time,
- wherein each pair of rotation constrainers are positioned such that:
- (a) their relative movement does not clash with adjacent connection rods nor with the reciprocator to connection rod connection, yet
- (b) each second member is positioned at a distance from point X that, if moved by rotation about said crank axis sufficiently close to a notional plane radially extending from said crank axis and on which (a) said crank axis lies and (b) passing through the reciprocator to connection rod connection, the pair of rotation constrainers would start to clash with one or both of the reciprocator to connection rod connection or the respective connection rod.
8 more elements
The machine as claimed in 24 wherein each drive element of said second series comprises of a receptacle and each drive element of said first series comprises a receptacle receivable member.
A motion conversion mechanism comprising:
- a primary element mounted to rotate about a primary crank axis and comprising a primary crankshaft mounted z-crank having an operational axis that intersects the primary crankshaft axis at point X at an angle A;
- a stator element relative to which said primary element can rotate and comprising a plurality of engagement elements (herein after “stator elements”) arranged in an annular manner about the primary axis and about the base circumference of a notional cone having a primary axis coaxial to said primary crankshaft axis and apex coincident at point X;
- a nutator body mounted to the z crank to rotate freely about the operational axis, the body having a centre of nutation at point X;
- a plurality of reciprocating engagement elements (herein after “nutator elements”) carried by said nutator body at points:
- 1. on or near an equatorial plane normal to the operational axis and including point X, and
- 2. at an equal distance from point X, said points moving on a symmetrical or near symmetrical lemniscate locus during movement of said nutating body;
- wherein said nutator elements are arranged in an annular spaced apart configuration about the base circumference of a notional cone identical in shape to that of the stator elements and having a primary axis coaxial to the operative axis and apex coincident with point X, said spaced apart configuration complementary to that of said stator elements,
- wherein the stator elements and nutator elements are adapted and positioned so that at any one time during operation of the motion conversion mechanism, at least one nutator element and at least one stator element are in operative engagement with each other (the engagement point“) such that the sequential reciprocation of the stator and nutator elements causes the nutator to nutate homokinetically about point x, with corresponding sequential engagement and disengagement of the stator and nutator elements, that in turn causes the primary element to rotate about the crankshaft axis at 1 rotation per nutation cycle—or vice versa
- wherein the engagement point is located on or about the same radial distance from point X as the radial distance from point X of the reciprocating elements.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.