Patent ID: 8689674
Filing Date: 2014-04-08
Classification: F01B,Y10T

Abstract:
1. 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 journal having an inclined crank axis that is oblique 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, each said cylinder including at least one cylinder opening to allow fluid inlet and/or outlet to/from said cylinder, in each cylinder, a complementary piston to reciprocate along a reciprocating axis defined by its respective cylinder, a reciprocator mounted to rotate about said crank journal about said inclined crank axis, said reciprocator operatively connecting said pistons with said crank journal 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 visa versa, and allows consistent and controlled reciprocating displacement of each piston within its respective cylinder between top dead centre (TDC) and bottom dead centre (BDC) at least one rotation restrainer operative between said cylinder cluster and said reciprocator to restrain relative movement therebetween about the crankshaft axis, each said rotation restrainer being comprised of two gimbal arms, said gimbal arms linked together by a gimbal link joint with multiple rotational degrees of freedom and that intersect at a point T, point T lying in a medial plane M being defined as the plane passing through point X to which the line that bisects angle A is normal, wherein each of said gimbal arms is pivotally mounted at an identical distance L from point T, one of said gimbal arms, hereinafter referred to as the “cylinder gimbal”, being pivotally mounted from said cylinder cluster about a cylinder gimbal pivot axis, the second of said gimbal arms, hereinafter referred to as the “reciprocator gimbal” being pivotally mounted from said reciprocator about a reciprocator gimbal pivot axis, said reciprocator gimbal pivot axis positioned equidistant from point X and point T respectively as is the cylinder gimbal pivot axis, the orientations of the pivot axes of the two gimbal arms being mutual reflections in the medial plane M resulting in the point T lying on the medial plane M as the crankshaft rotates with respect to the cylinder cluster, and thus ensuring homo-kinetic rotational restraint between said reciprocator and said cylinder cluster.