Patent ID: 7337606

Claim:
A rotary ramjet engine for producing an output power about an output shaft, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising: an annular shape thruster base defining a radially inwardly located thruster base inner surface and an opposed radially outwardly located thruster base outer surface; the thruster base including at least one thruster extending substantially radially and inwardly from the thruster base inner surface; the thruster base being disposed for rotary motion along a substantially circular thruster path positioned in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said shaft axis, said thruster base being capable of generating a thruster torque about said shaft axis, said thruster base generating a thruster centrifugal force acting thereon when rotating along said thruster path; a mechanical thruster-to-shaft coupling means operatively coupled to both said thruster base and said output shaft for transmitting said thruster torque to said output shaft; a centrifugal force compensating and annular-shaped reinforcement wall operatively coupled to said thruster base for reacting to said centrifugal force and compensating for the latter so as to maintain said thruster base in said thruster path when said thruster base is rotated in said rotary plane; said annular-shaped reinforcement wall being a piece distinct from the thruster base and from the mechanical thruster-to-shaft coupling means; said annular-shaped reinforcement wall defining a radially inwardly located reinforcement wall inner surface; said annular-shaped reinforcement wall being so configured that at least a portion of said inner surface of the reinforcement wall is in abutting contact with said thruster base outer surface; said reinforcement wall including a one-dimensional carbon-based composite material, whereby said mechanical thruster-to-shaft coupling means and said centrifugal force compensating and annular-shaped reinforcement wall are allowed to perform their respective force transmitting and compensating function substantially independently from each other so as to substantially reduce the need for said mechanical thruster-to-shaft coupling means to react to and compensate for said centrifugal force.