Patent EA-000883-B1 (EA)
Title: Rotary internal combustion engines
Inventor: RICHARDS RONALD LESLIE
IPC: F02B53/00
Filed: 1996-09-16
Abstract: 1. Rotary positive displacement apparatus of the type having a toroidal cylinder formed in a cylinder housing assembly about a driveshaft axis concentric with the axis of the toroidal shaped cylinder and coupled to juxtaposed rotor assemblies supporting pistons in the toroidal shaped cylinder whereby rotation of the driveshaft rotates the rotors in a manner which causes the pistons to move cyclically towards and away from one another during their rotation forming expanding and contracting working chambers therebetween within the toroidal cylinder and inlet and outlet port means extending through the cylinder housing assembly for entry and exit of fluid to and from the working chambers, and wherein the coupling means coupling the pistons in the toroidal shaped cylinder to the driveshaft includes: drive means for coupling one rotor assembly to the driveshaft; a crankpin offset from the driveshaft; a planetary member driven for rotation about the crankpin at a predetermined rotational speed relative to the driveshaft whereby the planetary member is supported on the crankpin for epicyclic movement about the driveshaft, and a direct drive connection between the other rotor assembly and the planetary member offset from their respective axes whereby the differential angular velocity of the direct drive connection about the driveshaft axis resultant from its epicyclic motion causes the pistons of the other rotor assembly to move cyclically towards and away from the pistons of the one rotor assembly as it rotates about the driveshaft. 2. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driveshaft extends through the rotor assemblies and is mounted rotatably in bearings in the cylinder housing assembly at opposite sides of the rotor assemblies and is in the form of a crankshaft having the crankpin intermediate its mountings in the cylinder housing assembly. 3. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the direct drive connection is a drive pin which is located fixedly in one of either the planetary member or the other rotor assembly and which is slidably engaged in the other. 4. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the planetary member is in the form of a drive yoke rotatable about the crankpin and having slide means thereon extending radially from the crankpin and engaged directly with the drive pin. 5. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the slide means includes a radially extending slot in the drive yoke and a slide block freely slidable along the slot and carrying the drive pin. 6. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the slide block is formed from a low friction material and nests within a slot having a part circular profile whereby the slide block is held captive in the slot. 7. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein the drive yoke is driven by a planetary gear fixed to the drive yoke for rotation therewith and meshed with a respective gear having its axis coaxial with the driveshaft. 8. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in one of the above claims (1-7), wherein the means for coupling said one rotor assembly to the driveshaft corresponds to the means for coupling said other rotor assembly to the driveshaft. 9. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 8, which is formed as an internal combustion engine whereby the pistons on the respective rotor assemblies alternately act as active and reactive pistons, wherein each drive yoke is formed with respective slide means extending radially away from diagonally opposite sides of the crankpin, and drive pins associated with the respective slide means engage with a respective rotor assembly. 10. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in an one of the above claims (4-9), formed as an internal combustion engine wherein includes duplicate drive yoke mounted on a further in-line crankpin at the opposite side of the rotor assemblies and wherein the drive pins extend beyond the opposite sides of the rotor assemblies and between respective opposed mountings of slide elements in the spaced drive yokes. 11. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the driveshaft has an intermediate journal on which the rotor assemblies are mounted. 12. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in one of the preceeding claims, wherein the driveshaft is constrained for counter-rotation relative to the rotor assemblies whereby the speed of rotation of the rotor assemblies is reduced relative to the speed of rotation of the driveshaft. 13. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in one of the preceeding claims, wherein the cylinder housing assembly includes respective opposed housing portions which mate along the centreplane of the toroidal cylinder; the driveshaft assembly extends between the housing portions and is rotatably mounted in the respective opposed housing portions by loading opposite ends of the driveshaft axially into the respective opposed housing portions from the interior thereof, and wherein the coupling means comprises components which may be operatively assembled over the driveshaft from one or respective opposite ends thereof by interengagement of components in an axial direction whereby the rotary positive displacement apparatus may be readily assembled by sequentially adding components in an axial direction into operative engagement with one another. 14. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the coupling means includes a drive yoke rotatable with a planetary gear about a crankpin of the crankshaft with a planetary gear meshed with an annulus gear fixed to the adjacent housing portion concentrically with the driveshaft axis. 15. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the drive yoke includes a radially extending slot and a slide block which may be fitted into the radially extending slot prior to assembly of the drive yoke onto the driveshaft and said slide block being associated with an axially extending drive pin extending axially into engagement with a rotor assembly for causing oscillation of that rotor assembly. 16. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the drive yoke is driven by a planetary gear fixed to the drive yoke for rotation therewith and meshed with a annulus gear having its axis coaxial with the driveshaft. 17. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 16, which is an internal combustion engine including a cylinder housing assembly having a toroidal shaped cylinder and an annular access opening to the cylinder, each rotor assembly including a body portion supporting pistons, the total number of pistons for the pair of rotors being a multiple of four, the pistons being disposed equidistant about the body portions of the respective rotors and sealably engaged with the cylinder and moveable therearound, each body portion extending into the access opening to operatively close the toroidal cylinder. 18. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein each four pistons is provided with an inlet port and an outlet port, said outlet ports are disposed at positions at which adjacent pistons form minimum working chamber volumes. 19. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 18, including a duplicate planetary member mounted on a further in-line crankpin at the opposite side of the rotor assemblies and coupling means coupling the duplicate planetary member to the rotor assemblies. 20. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 18 or 19, wherein said coupling means includes respective slide means associated with the planetary members having diametrically opposed slides engaging respective drive pins which extend parallel to the crankshaft axis and from opposite sides of each rotor assembly to each planetary member. 21. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the rotor assemblies are substantially centrally disposed within the cylinder housing assembly supported rotatably on a central journal of a crankshaft which has inline crankpins at opposite sides of the central journal for supporting the spaced pairs of aligned planetary members, and the access opening and the rotors are symmetrical about the centreplane containing the toroidal axis of the cylinder. 22. Rotary positive displacement apparatus as claimed in claim 1 configured as an internal combustion engine wherein each pair of rotor assemblies has at least the number of pistons which corresponds to the number of cycles of the engine type with increases in piston numbers being in multiples thereof, for each pair of rotors, the rotor assemblies are driven in the reverse direction to the crankshaft, each rotor assembly, and respective inlet and outlet ports are disposed in pairs of ports adjacent one another and adjacent the position of the pistons when disposed beside one another. 23. An internal combustion toroidal engine for a passenger car as claimed in claim, wherein the driveshaft rotates at three times the rotational speed of the rotor assemblies, and the toroidal cylinder has a radius of between 150mm and 200mm.