ROTARY RADIAL INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

Abstract: An internal combustion machine in which radially aligned cylinders (3) are supported to collectively rotate about a first transverse axis and pistons commonly connected through a common rotor are supported to rotate about a second axis offset from the first, the degree of offset being adjustable so that the compression ratio can be adjusted while the engine is running. There is an integral rotor and each piston is slideably and rotatably secured to this to allow the appropriate relative movement. The arrangement allows also a four stroke cycle and has co-axial exhaust and inlet feeds.

Description: ROTARY RADIAL COMBUSTION ENGINE This invention relates to an internal combustion motor arrangement and in particular relates to a radial engine in which the cylinders are collectively held together in a fixed relationship and are rotated collec- tively about a transverse axis. The reciprocating motion of pistons within the cylinders is achieved by having a rotor pivotally supported about an axis which is parallel to the axis about which the cylinders rotate but which is offset from this. Significant advantages arise from such an arrangement including the fact that most of the forces are balanced so that the action of the engine can be very smooth and at the same time the mass of the cylinders themselves can be used as a fly wheel. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, it has now been discovered that there is value in very quickly altering the compression ratio within each cylinder and this can be achieved in a very easy manner with the arrangement proposed especially while the engine is operating. Furthermore, it becomes reasonable to supply a fuel/air mixture in vapour form in such a way that it will achieve some heat exchange from the exhaust gases and at the same time the supply path to each cylinder can be very closely the same both for the supply gases and the exhaust gases. Many other advantages of the specific arrangement and the overall concept will be apparent to those familiar with this art including the arrangement by OMPI which operation of valves in each cylinder can be effected making it suitable for a four stroke operation. According to this invention then there is proposed an internal combustion motor arrangement comprising a plurality of radially aligned cylinders collectively supported for common rotation about an axis passing transversely through a common radial centre of the said cylinders, a piston slideably retained within each cylinder, a rotor pivotally supported whereby to be rotatable about an axis offset from but parallel to the first said axis, and connecting means between each piston and the rotor, said connecting means being adapted to allow rotation of the cylinders and the rotor about their respective axes with a resultant relative reciprocal motion of each piston with respect to its cylinder. Having a rotor which is an integral device which rotates about an offset axis with respect to the axis of the cylinders requires accommodation of the relative positions of the rotor and each piston during their cycle. While this can be variously achieved, preferably the connecting means between each piston and the rotor are such as to allow relative motion of a connection portion of the rotor in a direction transverse to the axis of the piston. This transverse direction would preferably be perpendicular to the axis of the piston that is the central axis of the piston presuming that this is a cylindrical shape and the axis passes through the axis of the cylinder. O > In addition to a relative transverse motion, there can also be a change in relative direction between portions of the rotor and each piston. This could be accommodated by tolerances within bearing supports or even tolerances between the piston within the cylinder insofar that the piston can be slightly diverted during its passage along the cylinder. Neither of these several courses however are preferable from the point of view of long life and accordingly it is preferable that the connecting means between each piston and the rotor also are such as to allow rotational motion of each piston relative to a connecting portion of the rotor, about an axis parallel to the axis of the rotation of the cylinders collectively. Having a single rotor and a connecting means between each piston and the rotor can lead to different positions with respect to the connecting means between these two members. In one preferable arrangement then the rotor includes, for each piston, a fixedly secured arm having an outer end located within the piston, the connecting means including a joining member slideably engaging a gudgeon pin held within the piston and rotatably engaging the end of the rotor arm. An advantage of this arrangement is that the design of each piston can be kept relatively standard and while a gudgeon pin is used to allow for sliding freedom nonetheless the connecting means are wholly within the piston and lubrication of the relatively pRE t OMPI_ moving parts can be achieved by injection into the area within each piston which does not cause great difficulty. In another arrangement however which is also to be preferred with respect to other advantages, each piston has an arm fixedly secured to the piston and extending in the axial direction of the piston having an inner end engaging the rotor with a joining member the joining member being coupled between the said inner end of the piston arm and the rotor in such a way as to allow the said relative movement capability between the rotor portion and the piston arm in a direction transverse to the axis of the piston and rotationally about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinders collectively. This of course has the advantage that access to the connecting means is easily achieved and generally the moving portions are less subject to high_,temperatures and supply of lubricant also would not be a great difficulty. The difficulty is of course that a piston must be made slightly non-standard but it is not considered that this is a significant problem. A feature of the arrangement described is that the rotor itself can be used with respect to its relative position concerning the cylinders to actuate the valves necessary to operate a four stroke cycle with respect to each cylinder. OM . IP Furthermore, it then becomes reasonable to provide a separate conduit for supply of fuel vapour to each cylinder and a separate conduit for removal of fuel vapour from each cylinder and these can be collectively coupled to co-axial supply and removal conduits which in themselves are co-axial with respect to a power shaft taking the rotational drive from the cylinders. An advantage of this arrangement firstly is that each of the paths considering that these radially extend from an axial location out to each outer end of a cylinder are of equal path length which contributes to an evenness in firing characteristics of each firing stroke and it also contributes to the ability to achieve in very easy manner a heatish exchange arrangement whereby at least some of the exhaust gases can assist in heating for more efficient use of fuel the incoming gases. It is considered that one of the difficulties namely the centrifugal force exerted on the gases either inlet or outlet can to some extent be mitigated by appropriate shaping of the paths of the conduit supplying the gases to the cylinders and taking the gases from these. Accordingly with respect to a supply conduit in each case it is arranged that this follows an arcuate path with the concave side of the conduit located so as to be behind the conduit when the cylinders are rotated in a forward direction. This accordingly works in the manner of an impellerassisting the urging and thereby almost super¬ charging of the fuel into each cylinder. Likewise with exhaust gases, it is arranged that preferably each exhaust conduit to each cylinder follows an arcuate path with the concave side of the conduit located so as to be in the front of the conduit when the cylinders are rotated in a forward direction. This provides a scooping effect and assists in causing the gases to counter the otherwise centrifugal force on the gases. With respect to the variable compression ratio feature, it will be apparent that there are necessarily means adapted to vary the amount of offset the axis of rotation of the rotor with respect to the axis of rotation of the cylinders. While this can be done manually, it would be of significant value to vary this during the operation of the motor in response to either the loading or other operating conditions of the engine. In a typical arrangement then the compression ratio can be varied in accordance with variations in speed of the engine, fuel octane rating, starting condition and in response to variations in load imposed on the engine during running. An important feature of the arrangement described is that the variation in compression ratio can be achieved within a very short time so that whereas this has previously been a problem with other configurations, it now becomes very easy and very economic to change the compression ratio within matters of a second or so or less upon a variation in the loading or speed characteristics of the engine. The invention will be better understood when referred to embodiments which shall now be described with the assistance of drawings. Accordingly in the drawings:- FIG. 1 is a side elevation in cross-section showing very much in schematic detail a functional arrangement incorporating the preferred embodiment, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view once again with part of the surrounding body removed and also once again in a very schematic form simply to show the functional elements without having these in an operating form other than in a manner to show the function as such of which the device is capable, in this case FIG. 2 being a cross-section along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective detail of a connecting means connecting each end of an arm of the rotor to the gudgeon pin within a piston as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG. 4 illustrates a connecting arrangement according to a second embodiment by which the rotor can be connected to a piston this also being schematic in detail, and F'IG. 5 also schematic in detail illustrates a second embodiment illustrating a further way in which in principle a piston can be connected to a rotor. Now referring to the drawings in detail and especially to the first embodiment as illustrated OMPI _ /., IPO , in the schematic drawings in FIGS. ' 1, 2 and 3, a frame member 1 which is common with the frame member 2 to provide a support base rotatably supports a plurality of cylinders 3 which are collectively held by side cheek plates 4 so that the cylinders are collectively held together in a fixedly secured relationship one with respect to the other. Each of the cylinders 3 is of circular cross- section and a central axis of the cylindrical shape thus defined establishes a common radial centre of the said cylinders insofar that each of the axes of each cylinder are arranged to pass through a common meeting point centrally and this is also a meeting point of a transverse axis about which the cylinders are collectively supported for rotation. A shaft 5 is secured to the cheek plate 4 and is adapted to be positively secured thereto and rotate therewith so as to transmit the rotational force effectively from the cylinders 3 to the shaft 5. There is a single integral rotor 6 which is rotationally supported about an axial support 7 which is supported in such a way that its position can be varied by being eccentric to a support shaft 8 the rotational position of which is governed by control arm 9 so that in effect, the position of control arm 9 governs the degree of offset of the rotational axis as determined by spigot 7 with respect to the rotational axis of the shaft end 5 and the cylinders 3. The rotor 6 has a plurality of arms 10. O /,, W At the outer end of each of the arms 10 is . a joining member 11 best shown in FIG. 3 at which comprises a boss 12 having slipper bearings 13 and outwardly extending shafts at each side 14. The outer end of each of the rotor arms 10 has a yoke shape with each leg of the yoke being adapted to be rotatably secured about each shaft 14. A keeper member 15 is secured by bolts 16 and 17 so as to. hold the yoke with respect to the shaft 14 so as to allow pivotal motion about the axis of the shaft 14. The slipper bearing 13 is adapted to slideably engage the gudgeon pin 18. Each gudgeon pin 18 is secured in conventional manner with respect to piston 19 so that joining member 11 will allow the outer end of each arm 10 of the rotor 6 to move to one side or the other and to also turn at a relative angle with respect to the piston 19. The mechanism by which the power cycle of each piston and cylinder combination is effected can include as is shown especially in FIG. 2 an inlet valve arrangement 20 and an exhaust valve 21 both shown most simplisticly more to illustrate the point rather than to illustrate how a very conventional practice needs to be carried out as it will be apparent to those familiar with this art. The arrangement 22 incorporates appropriate cam mechanisms whereby the appropriate sequencing of the valve either the inlet valve 20 or the exhaust valve 21 is effected appropriate to a four stroke cycle. This necessarily includes a variation of action upon each operation of the push rod 23 acting against spring 24 but in any event the mechanism within the block shown at 22 for the inlet and at the block 22A shown for the outlet valve 21 are such as to effect the appropriate valve operation. Operation of the exhaust or inlet valves can therefore be both powered and also caused to be correctly sequenced by direct action of the push rod 23 having an engaging foot 25 acting against a face 26 of the rotor 6. This applied therefore both to the exhaust and inlet valves and in the case of the exhaust valve . this is powered and sequenced by push rod 27 acting through foot 28. Ignition of the fuel vapour mixture within the cylinder can obviously be achieved in any prefer¬ able ways but in this arrangement typically there is shown a spark plug 29 connected to lead 29A to contact ring 29B which is appropriately segmented and is supplied with appropriate high voltage current by suitable synchronously operated means which are not shown but are obviously very common to the art. Supply of fuel in the form of an air vapour mixture is achieved, by feeding this through in the first instance a common co-axial conduit 30 which then feeds each of the cylinders through an arcuately shaped conduit 31 where in the case of the supply -£T_ T conduit at 31 the conduit follows an arcuate path with a concave side of the conduit located so as to be behind the conduit when the cylinders 3 collectively are rotated in a forward direction. Obviously the so-called forward direction is that chosen as being a forward direction and likewise then the supply conduit is appropriately designed with this approach in mind. In addition, the exhaust conduit 32 in each case follows an arcuate path with a concave side of the conduit located so as to be in front of the conduit when the cylinders 3 collectively are rotated in a forward direction. The effect of this shape is believed to provide some assistance in moving the gases in the appropriate direction in the manner of an impeller upon the rotation of the engine. The exhaust gases likewise exit through exit conduit 33 within shaft 5 which is co-axial with co-axial conduit 30 and by reason of the interface at 34 effect some heat exchange which is of advantage. This then describes aspects relating to a first embodiment. In FIG. 4 there is shown in very schematic form once again a cylinder 35 which is one of six which would be each radially arranged around the rotor 37 and in each case arranged so that the axis of the cylinder passes through a common centre 38. Only one of the cylinders is shown for the sake of simplicity. The piston 39 has a downwardly extending arm 40 secured in this case by a conventional gudgeon pin 41 and a gudgeon bearing 42 although the manner in which the arm 40 is held can be differed and in fact fixed if this is considered more desirable. At the inner end 43 there is a joining member much the same as the joining member 11 as shown in FIG. 3 in which the inner end of the arm 40 has a yoke which is rotatable with respect to a sliding bearing 44 which is adapted to slide along shaft 45. The rotor as such 46 which is an integral member is adapted to rotate about axial support 47. The joining member 43 has outwardly extending spigots which acts as shafts which are in fact not shown but by which the arm 40 can rotationally rotate relative to the shaft 45 about an axis generally transverse both to the direction of elongation of the arm 40 and the shaft 45. in FIG. 5 there is shown a third embodiment once again this being shown totally schematically and also being shown without all of the pistons and cylinders in place. Nonetheless typically then there are six cylinders as at 50 radially positioned around the rotor 51 the cylinders in each case being axially aligned with axial centre 52. The offset rotational position of the rotor 51 is achieved by the rotor being supported by spigot 53 the position of which is controllable as was previously described with respect to the first and second embodiments. In this case however the piston 54 has an integrally downwardly extending portion 55 which once again however is linked by a pivotal connection 56 with respect to a slot 57 so that there is both rotational and sliding freedom in the one joint connection. This then is a somewhat simpler connecting arrangement but illustrates once again how ' the connection can be made. This then describes the embodiments and illustrates how the invention can be put into practice at least with respect to the inventive aspects in a simple and effective way.

Claims: THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:- 1. An internal combustion motor arrangement comprising a plurality of radially aligned cylinders collectively supported for common rotation about an axis passing transversely through a common radial centre of the said cylinders, a piston slideably retained within each cylinder, a rotor pivotally supported whereby to be rotatable about an axis offset from but parallel to the first said axis, and connecting means between each piston and the rotor, said connecting means being adapted to allow rotation of the cylinders and the rotor about the respective axes with the resultant relative reciprocal motion of each piston with respect to its cylinder. 2. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in Claim 1 in which the connecting means between each piston and the rotor is such as to allow relative motion of a connecting portion of the rotor in a direction transverse to the axis of the piston. 3. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in Claim 2 in which the connecting means between each piston and the rotor also is such as to allow rotational motion of each piston relative to a connecting portion of the rotor, about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinders collectively. 4. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the rotor includes, for each piston, a fixedly secured arm having an outer end located within the piston the connecting means including a joining member slideably engaging a gudgeon pin held within the piston and rotatably engaging the end of the rotor arm. 5. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in either of Claims 1, 2 or 3 in which each piston has an arm fixedly secured to the piston and extending in the axial direction of the piston having an inner end engaging the rotor with a joining member, the joining member being coupled between the said inner end of the piston arm and the rotor in such a way as to allow the said relative movement capability between the rotor portion and the piston arm in a direction transverse to the axis of the piston and rotationally about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the cylinders collectively. 6. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims in which connecting conduits for supply of fuel vapour and removal of exhaust gases for each cylinder are connected by a separate conduit for each cylinder from a common supply conduit co-axially supported with respect to the axis of rotation of the cylinders, 7. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in Claim 6 in which each supply conduit to each cylinder follows an arcuate path with the concave side of the conduit located so as to be behind the conduit when the cylinders are rotated in a forward direction. 8. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in either of Claims 6 or 7 in which each exhaust conduit to each cylinder follows an arcuate path with the concave side of the conduit located so as to be in front of the conduit when the cylinders are rotated in a forward direction. -g TREA OMPI 9. . An internal combustion motor arrangement as in any one of Claims 6, 7 or 8 in which the co-axial common supply and exhaust conduits are in an adjacent heat exchange relationship. 10. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in any one of the preceding claims in which there are means adapted to vary the amount of offset of the axis of rotation of the rotor with respect to the axis of rotation of the cylinders. 11. An internal combustion motor arrangement as in the immediately preceding claim in which the offset is varied in accord with operating conditions and loading of the motor. 12. An internal combustion motor arrangement substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by any one or more of the accompanying drawings. ,

Inventors: GALL R
Applicants: GALL R, PRICE BATTEN PTY LTD
Application year: 1980
Main classification: F02B57
IPC codes: F02B57, F02B75, F02D15