CA1044604A

CA1044604A - Rotary engine

Info

Publication number: CA1044604A
Application number: CA228,709A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Alexander W. J. Hogarth
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-06-07
Filing date: 1975-06-06
Publication date: 1978-12-19
Also published as: FR2273947B1; GB1512021A; DE2525363A1; JPS517313A; IT1035958B; FR2273947A1

Abstract

TITLE
ROTARY ENGINE
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A rotary internal combustion engine having a first rotor with vanes which rotates in a first cavity. The first rotor, vanes and first cavity co-operate to undergo a four-stroke cycle of induction, compression, power stroke and exhaust. Compressed fuel-air mixture charges are transferred one at a time via a first port to a second rotor with vanes which rotates in a second cavity. The charges are individ-ually ignited in the second cavity and are transferred one at a time via a second port to the first rotor to cause the power stroke and thereafter to be exhausted. Ignition may be by sparking means. Alternatively, initial ignition may be by glow plug means and thereafter subsequent ignitions may take place through a leakage path between chambers defined by the second rotor, vanes and second cavity.

All but British group - 1 - 28th. April, 1975.

Description

0~
This invention relates to ~nternal combustlon engines.
The present invention provides a rotary internal combustion engine comprising a f~rst rotor having vanes and located in a first cavity; wherein the first rotor, vanes and first cavity co-operate to undergo a four-stroke cycle of induction, compression, power stroke and exhaust; a second rotor having vanes and located in a second cavity; first port means operative in use to transfer, individually, compressed ignitable charges from the first cavity ~ the second cavity;
wherein, in use, the individual charges are revolved in the second cavity by the second rotor and vanes and individually ignited in the second cavity; and second port means operative in use to transfer, individually, the ignited charges from the second cavity to the firs-t cavity to therein act on the first rotor and vanes in the power stroke.
It is preferred that individual chambers defined by ~ the second rotor, vanes and secon~ cavity and to which the ; - individua~ charges are transferred remain of substantially constant volume during being revolved by the second rotor.
The present invention also provides a rotary intern-al combustion engine comprising a casing having a first and ; second cavities therein, a first rotor within the first cavity and having first vanes wh1ch, with the first rotor and casing, divide the first cavity into a number of first chambers which, , ~ . .
~ as the first rotor rotates from a first angular position, in . ~ . - . .
; turn undergo a first increase, a first decrease, a second increase and a second decrease in volume prior to the first ro-tor again reaching said first angular position, a second rotor , .

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within the second cavity and having second vanes which, with the second rotor and casing, divide the second cavity into a number of second chambers which, as the second rotor rotates from a first angular position, do not u~dergo substantial changes in volume and are revolved about the axis of the second roto'r, fuel inlet means, exhaust means, means adapted to cause the first and s'econd rotors to rotate in synchronism and first and second transfer port means; and constructed and arranged whereby, in use, fuel is inducted via the fuel inlet ;~ 10 means into and compressed in the first chambers each in turn . ~ . . . . .
while respectively undergoing the first increase and first decrease in volume, so compressed fuel is passed via the first ~; transfer port means to, in turn, the second chambers, revolved ' ~' . .
therein about said axis, ignited therein, passed via the second 15 ' transfèr port means to the first chambers each in turn while ~' respectively undergoing the second increas'e in volume whereby -.
to induce rotation of the first rotor and thereafter exhausted '~
from the first chambers each in turn while respect~ively under-going the second decrease in volume.
It is preferred that the~e be an odd number of the .
P ~ first chambers and it is particularly preferred that there are five first chambers. '' It is also preferred that there are as many of the second chambers as there are of the first chambers and that the "~
second rotor is constructed to rotate at the same angular ; velocity as the first rotor.
The'inlet and/or the exhaust means may be located in ~' a peripheral wall or an axial wall of the casing.
' - The first cavity may be circularly cylindrical or : . .

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el1ptically cylindricali in which cases its axis will be : . respectively displaced from or coincident with the axis of rotation of the first rotor. Other multilobed shapes of the first cavity are possible but are not considered to be partic-ularly practicable.
: Ignition may be by a spark producing means or may be by glow plug.
It is preferred that ignition means is carried by . end closure means for said second cavity, said end closure means.being variably pos1tionable whe'reby to vary the angular posit10n of said ignition means.
' It is desirable that there be a leakage path operative to interconnect adjacent second chambers when in ~ ~' predetermined angular position~whereby to transfer ignition 15 -~ fro- the leading to the tra~ling of said adjacent~second.
cha;mber.
lt.is~p~art1cu7arly~prefe:rred that:the leakage path .~' ;.is~carrieqi~by end closu~re means for sa1d second CdVity, said ':
means be1ng var1abl~y pos1tionable whe~reby to vary the angular 20~ pos'ition~of:~said~ e~aka;ge~p~dth.:
; Coo~l~i.ng~-eans fo:r the engine will~be desirable and c~ooli~ng~:may:be~ef:fected by:~air, water or oil. Passing oil th.rough~the~cas1~Dg and rotor~is;particularly des1rable. In one~prefé:rred~ins~tanc;e,;~d~fu~el-~a~1r mixture~is passed thrDugh 2:5~ ':one~:.end~clo~sure~ mea~ns~for the~first cavity, through the rotor, into~another end~closure`means:for the first cavity and then nto~th;e`~:f~1r~st::ca;vity:for~induc'tion. By this means the fuel- .
a1~r~mixture can be used as:a coolant and be preheated. ~.' ::A:~sp:ecific construction of an enginein accordance . - . - , - - . , , ~ ~ ~ .

` ` 1~i~4~i~4 with this invention will now be described with the aid of the .. . .
accompanying drawi ngs .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the engine, 5i Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the engine tak-en on line 2-2 in Figure l, Figure 3 is a detail of part of the engine, and ; Figure 4 is a detail of part of the engine. ;:~
' DETAILED_ DESCRIPTION
CONSTRUCTION
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~ ' The engine shown in the drawing comprises a casing ' ~ ' ~ . :
:~ indicated generally by 1 which has a first cavity 2 of ~ '' .
eliptical cylindrical form 'and a second cavity 3 of circular :.
cylindrical-form. The casing is closed by end mewbers 4 and . Within the first cavity 2 is a~'first rotor 6 which is~pPovided with a number of~spring ~loaded vanes 7 which, . :~
w,ith~the rotor 6j d,1vide the cavi~y 2 into a number of first :chambers,a - e. It~is to be noted that the rotor 6 seals with ... ~
20~ the periphera1~wall 8 of cav:i~:ty 2 at poiDts~9 and ~11 so that . '' any~:one of the first chambers bridging points 9 and 11 will - ' ::
be'divided into s:yb-chambers; as illustrated, chamber c is W.. ~ divided~into sub.-chambers c' and c". This sealing, however, ~;
need~not be~perfect.~
25~ An~inlet po~rt 15 is:provided in peripheral wall 8 and :' an~exhaus~t.port~l~O is provided in peripheral wall 8. It is not ~-.
co;nsidered material that these ports are in any particular one ~ .
of the end me~bers 4 and S or the peripheral wall 8.' . :-:Within the second cavity 3 is a second rotor 12 .;',,..,~,"''`'''`''' '' `; ;

1~J44f~l~)4 which has vanes 13 which, with the rotor 12, divide the cavity

3 into a number of second.chambers, f - i.
A fuel ignition device, 14, conveniently a glow plug. is provided.
The casing also has first (16) and second (17) transfer ports which communicate between cavities 2 and 3.
A recess 18 is provided in the peripheral wall of the cavity 3 ` Gears 19, 20 and 21 are provided; the first and last being interconnected to the rotors 6 and 12 and the middle being an idler gear.
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Bearings and bolt means for securing the casing 1 and end members 4 and 5 together are also provided.
Preferred guidance means for the vanes 7 is shown in ,:
Figure 3 and comprises rollers 23 carried by the rotor 6. The vanes 7 are urged toward the peripheral wall 8 by springs 24, the ends of the vanes 7 which contact the peripheral wall 8 .
are provided with rollers 26 and the ends of the vanes 7 are concave at 27 so as to cause turbulence which will assist in sealing.
Cooling means are provided but not shown.
. INTER-RELATION OF PARTS
The first and second rotors are interconnected by the~gears 19, 20 and 21 to rotate together in the same direction at the same angular velocity. However, rotation in opposite ; directions, provided that the transfer ports 16 and 17 cross without intersecting~ would be quite possible.
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It is to be noted that, as the rotor 6,~rotates clockwise in the casing 1 fro~ the position shown in the .~ .

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drawing, the c~lamber a is under'going a first increase in volume, the chamber b is a.bout to undergo a first decrease in volume, the chamber c has immediately previously undergone and will immediately afterwards undergo,'respectively, a first decrease and a second increase in volume and, as shown, the sub-chamber c' is undergoing'a decrease in volume whereas sub~
chamber c" is undergoing an increase in volume, chamber d is ~-undergoing an increase in volume (which will be its second increase relative to a starting position being the position of chamber a) and chamber e is undergoing a decrease in volume (which will be its second decrease relative to a start- - ' ing position being the position of cha~ber a).
Further, chamber f - j are being revolved about the axis of rotor 12 and are successively brought into and out of register with transfer ports 16 and 17.
OPERATION
The operation of the engine will be considered with particular reference to the position of the rotors 6 and 12 shown in the drawing.
' 20 Clockwise rotation of the rotor 6 from the position shown causes chamber a to increase in volume and hence a ' .partial vacuum is created therein. This causes a fuel-air mixture to be drawn through a carburettor or provided from other means, such as fuel injection means, into a chamber a yia inlet'15. It is to be noted that chamber e will 'be the next to commence inducting.
Chamber b has finished inducting and is closing off '~ from inlet 15. Chamber b will reduce in volume and hence the ' ;' fuel-air mixture therein will be compressed. ' _ 7 _ )4 ' Chamber c has immediately previously been reducing in volume and, when vane 7' passed transfer port 16, chamber c was put in communication with chamber f. As chamber c con-tinues to reduce in volume the fuel-air m;xture therein is transferred to chamber f. - -At the stage shown in Figure 1, sub-chamber c' is continuing to reduce in volume and transfer its fuel-air :
mixture to chamber f but sub-chamber c" is increasing in volume.
As will be realized, each of chambers a, b, c, d and e, after inductlng a fuel-air mixture and compressing that mixture, will transfer the compressed fue1-air mixture to, ; respectively, chambers i, j, f, h and 9.
~ Thus, chambers f - j can be considered as each containing a charge of fuel-air mixture.
Those charges are revolved by rotor 12 until the .
-respective chambers come into register with transfer port 17 . . -. -.
whereupon the respective charge is transferred to a respective ~ .
one of chamber a - e. r Thus, as shown, chamber i is about to transfer its charge of fuel-air mixture to sub-chamber c". In respect of transferrlng those charges the inter-relation of chambers a,b, c, d and e is,respectively, to chambers 9, h, i, j and f.
It is also to be noted that the charges in chambers . f - j are ignited by the ignition device 14 so that the chambers a - e receive a burning and expanding.mixture from chambers f - j.
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. It is to be noted that the ignition device 14 need only initiate ignition when the engine is started and there-. . .
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afte,r igni~ion in each one of the chambers f - j can be caused by some ignited fuel-air mixture in the immediately ~ ~
preceding second chamber leaking via the recess 18 when the ~ -leading vane 13 defining the respective chamber to be ignited is in a position across recess 18 permitting such leakage.
The expanding, ignited mixtures produced in chambers f - j are, as stated above, transferred to the chambers a - e.
These expanding mixtures will cause the rotor 6 to rotate and, as shown, the expanding mixture in chamber d is causing the rotor 6 to rotate.
As will be realized, sub-chamber c" and chamber d are increasing in volume.
Chamber e has finished increasing in volume and is decreasing in volume and is exhausting combustion products via exhaust 10.
Chamber e will then go on to induct and the cycle wil1 repeat.
Advantages which are believed to accrue from the-~;~ab~ove described engine include simplicity and ease of manu-facture,~ s~oothness of operation due to there being no recipro-cating parts~, high power output, economy and greater gas expansion utilisation due to the much longer radius at which power is pr~oduced compared with reciprocating piston engines.
25~ ~Gas leakage past the vanes would not be desirable but it is bel1eved that lt would not be critical. It is believed that ~ ~ -the above described engine will produce high torque at low re~vs. per minute and this would be of assistance in promoting long life.
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~ -1044~!~)4 ` ' Further, the use of rotor 12 is believed to produce improvements in the power stroke.
The engine is applicable to aircraft, automobiles, trucks, as stationary engines and in many other applications. '~' Modifications and adaptions may be made to the above described construction without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention which includes every novel feature and combination of features disclosed herein.
For ins~a'nce, the ignition device 14 may be -'-dlfferently angularly oriented with respect to cavity 3 as ' ~' ~ ~ shown and its particular position will depend to a large n~ extent on the explosion propagation characteristics of the fuel-air mixture; particularly explosion velocity. Thus, for, respectively, rapidly and slowly combusting fuel-air mixtures the ignition device would be placed, respectively, more and r-~
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less adjacent to transfer port 17.
- Alternative sealing means may be provided.
' It is to be n~ted that effective sealing at points 9 --'and ~ (the latter only being particularly importantj can be 20~ o~bta1ned by~means of rotor 6 havi~ng a roughened peripheral su~rfa~ce suc~h as a dimpled surface but other seal means may be provided. ~ ~ -:The rotor 12 may rotate at a multiple of the angular velocity of the rotor 6-.
25~ One of the end members 4 and 5 may carry one or more of the ig~nitlon device l4, ports 16 and 17 and recess 18 and in one instance an end member for the second cavity 3 is sepa~rate-from an end member for'cavity 2. That separate end member for cavity 3 can carry one or both of the ignition ~ 4 device 14 and recess 18 and, desirably, that separate end .
member is variably angularly positionable to vary 'che effective ignition timing.
In one particular modification, the rotors 6 and 12 S are slightly differently oriented so that chambers a, b, c, :
d and e pass compressed fuel-air mixtures to chambers, respectively, h, g, f, j and i and receive ignited mixtures from chambers h, i, j, f and g.
These and other modifications are to be considered to be within the scope of this invention.
The claims form part of the disclosure of this specification.

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

A rotary piston internal combustion engine, comprising:
a casing having surface means therein defining a first cavity having a sidewall of elliptical cylindrical form extending between opposite end walls, and a second cavity having a sidewall of circular form extending between opposite end walls;
a first rotor having a plurality of angularly spaced, radially outwardly projecting vanes, said first rotor being mounted for rotation in the first cavity and dividing the first cavity into a plurality of first intervane chambers, each defined between the first rotor, a respective two angularly adjacent ones of said first rotor vanes, said opposite end walls of the first cavity and the sidewall of the first cavity; means resiliently biasing the first rotor vanes radially outwardly for engagement with the sidewall of the first cavity;
a second rotor having a plurality of angularly spaced, radially outwardly projecting vanes, said second rotor being mounted for rotation in the second cavity and dividing the second cavity into a plurality of second intervane chambers, each defined between the second rotor, a respective two angularly adjacent ones of said second rotor vanes, said opposite end walls of the second cavity and the sidewall of the second cavity;
said sidewall of said first cavity so closely approaching said rotor at two substantially angularly spaced locations as to substantially seal with said rotor at said locations, thus providing a first seal point and a second seal point;
means defining a first passage interconnecting the first and second cavities adjacent the first seal point angularly upstream of the first seal point;
means defining a second passage interconnecting the second and first cavities adjacent the first seal point angularly downstream of the first seal point;
the first and second passage communicating with the first cavity at respective sites that are angularly closer together than adjacent ones of said first rotor vanes, so that both transfer ports may simultaneously communicate with any same first intervane chamber, on opposite sides of the first seal point;
the first and second passages communicating with the second cavity at respective sites that are angularly further apart than adjacent ones of said second rotor vanes, so that said first and second passages must simultaneously communicate with at least two second intervane chambers, means defining an inlet port to the first cavity and an outlet port from the first cavity on angularly opposite sides of the second seal point;
an ignition device communicating with the second cavity at a site upstream from where the second passage communicates with the second cavity;
means defining a recess in said surface means of the second cavity in the vicinity of the ignition device for permitting some leakage around each second rotor vane as that second rotor vane passes the recess and ignition device so that ignition may transfer from each respective angularly adjacent trailing second intervane chamber after ignition is first initiated by the ignition device;
means linking rotation of the second rotor to rotation of the first rotor so that as both said rotors rotate, each first intervane chamber empties through the first passage into a respective one of the second intervane chambers upstream from the ignition device, and another respective one of the second intervane chambers which has already been exposed to the ignition means empties through the second passage into.
a first intervane chamber;
the ellipticality of the sidewall of the first cavity being such that:
an ignitable charge admitted to a first intervane chamber through the inlet port is first expanded, then is compressed and flows into a second intervane chamber, is ignited upon reaching the vicinity of the ignition device and said recess, the resulting combustion products flow into a first intervane chamber; are expanded thereby rotatably driving the first rotor and then are compressed to exhaust these combustion products out the exhaust port; and said recess defining means being so located as to effect ignition of ignitable fuel in each of said second intervane chambers prior to the opening of each second inter-vane chamber to its respective transfer port.