Rotary engine with cam-guided rotor
AssigneeLiquidPiston, Inc.
InventorsAlexander Shkolnik, Nikolay Shkolnik
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rotary engine includes a housing having a working cavity, a shaft, the shaft having an eccentric portion, a rotor having a first axial face, and a second axial face opposite the first axial face, the rotor disposed on the eccentric portion and within the working cavity, the rotor comprising a first cam on the first axial face, the first came having an eccentricity corresponding to the eccentricity of the eccentric portion of the shaft, and a cover integral with, or fixedly attached to, the housing, the cover comprising a plurality or rollers, each roller engaged with the cam, wherein the cam guides the rotation of the rotor as the rotor rotates within the working cavity and orbits around the shaft.
Claims17
A rotary engine comprising:
- a housing having a working cavity;
- a shaft having an eccentric portion;
- a rotor having a first axial face, and a second axial face opposite the first axial face, the rotor disposed on the eccentric portion and within the working cavity, the rotor comprising a first cam on the first axial face, the first cam having an eccentricity corresponding to the eccentricity of the eccentric portion of the shaft;
- and
- a cover integral with, or fixedly attached to, the housing, the cover comprising a plurality of rollers, each roller engaged with the first cam, wherein the first cam guides the rotation of the rotor as the rotor rotates within the working cavity and orbits around the shaft.
A rotary engine comprising:
- a housing having a working cavity;
- a shaft having an eccentric portion;
- a rotor having a first axial face, and a second axial face opposite the first axial face, the rotor disposed on the eccentric portion and within the working cavity;
- a first cam rigidly attached to the rotor;
- a cover integral with, or fixedly attached to, the housing;
- and
- a plurality of cam followers rigidly attached to the cover, each cam follower engaged with the first cam,
- wherein the first cam guides the rotation of the rotor as the rotor rotates within the working cavity and orbits around the shaft.
A cycloid engine including:
- a rotor having N lobes and a first cam rigidly attached to the rotor;
- a housing having a corresponding set of N+1 lobe-receiving regions for successively receiving the lobes as the rotor rotates about an axis relative to the housing, the housing having:
- (i) a first cover and a second cover axially disposed on first and second sides of the rotor, respectively, and a plurality of cam followers rigidly attached to the first cover or the second cover, each cam follower engaged with the first cam, wherein the first cam guides the rotation of the rotor as the rotor rotates within the housing;
- (ii) a peak disposed between each pair of adjacent lobe-receiving regions, and
- (iii) an intake port and an exhaust port;
- a plurality of peak seals, at least one of the plurality of peak seals disposed on each peak and configured to maintain contact with the rotor throughout a period of rotation of the rotor, each peak seal being radially biased against the rotor throughout the rotation of the rotor, on account of a cycloidal geometry of the rotor and the lobe-receiving portions;
- a first passageway defined in the rotor to communicate cyclically between the intake port and a working chamber, the first passageway configured to allow air to enter from a radial face of the rotor into the working chamber, the working chamber defined as a volume lying between two peak seals, the housing and the rotor;
- and
- a second passageway, distinct from the first passageway, defined in the rotor to communicate cyclically between the exhaust port and the working chamber, the second passageway configured to allow exhaust gas to exit from the working chamber through the radial face of the rotor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.