FR2671583A1 - Internal combustion (explosion) engine of the type with a barrel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an internal-combustion engine of the type which comprises a cylindrical barrel pierced with an even number of holes, the axes of which are parallel to the axis of the barrel and angularly equidistant, the holes forming cylinders which receive pistons connected by connecting rods to a driving wheel designed to have a rotational movement. The said holes (2) respectively form driving cylinders (C2 and C4) and intake cylinders. A transfer system (4) makes it possible, in a way which is synchronised with the rotation of the engine, to take an air/fuel mixture into the intake cylinders, and to transfer, into the driving cylinders (C2 and C4) the gases taken into the intake cylinders. The cylinders (C1 to C4) are capped by a cylinder head (20) which forms chambers (21) above the cylinders. The cylinder head (20) is designed to receive spark plugs which emerge into the combustion chambers (21) of the driving cylinders (C2 and C4). The wheel (17) is mounted on a journal (9) designed so that it can rotate about an axis in a radial plane of the barrel (1) and which is inclined by an angle (a) with respect to the main axis of the barrel (1). The journal (9) is mounted at the end of a shaft (8), the axis of which is coincident with that of the barrel (1). The shaft (8) is secured to the chassis (5) on which the engine is mounted. The wheel (17) is secured to a bevel gear (18) coaxial with the journal (9) and the teeth of which mesh with the teeth of a bevel gear coaxial with the axis of the engine block and secured to it. The barrel (1) is designed to rotate about its main axis, and includes driving means (12) for transmitting its rotational movement.

Description

 The present invention relates to a barrel type combustion engine.

Barrel type explosion engines are already known, and there may be mentioned, by way of example, patent documents FR-A-2 232 951,
FR-A-2 538 853, and FR-A-2 608 212. These documents describe internal combustion engines which comprise a cylindrical barrel pierced with an even number of holes with axes parallel to the axis of the barrel and angularly equidistant, said holes forming the cylinders of internal combustion engines. These cylinders receive pistons connected, by means of connecting rods to a drive wheel performing, during the operation of the engine, a nutation movement around the axis of the barrel.

 The present invention relates to a motor of this type which has a particular structure, which means that the barrel and the drive wheel are rotatably mounted around the main axis of the barrel, and not fixedly, which results in a substantial improvement energy efficiency of the engine.

 An engine according to the invention is characterized in that the holes in the barrel respectively form two-to-two diametrically opposed cylinder-engines and also two-to-two diametrically opposite intake cylinders, the barrel being pierced with an axial hole receiving a transfer system allowing, in synchronization with the rotation of the engine, the admission of an air-gasoline mixture into the intake cylinders and the transfer, into the engine cylinders, of the gases admitted into the intake cylinders, the cylinders being capped with a cylinder head which protects the chambers above the cylinders, the said cylinder head being designed to receive spark plugs which open into the combustion chambers of the engine cylinders, the said wheel being mounted on a journal provided so that it can rotate along an axis in a radial plane of the barrel and inclined relative to the main axis of the barrel, said journal being mounted at the end of a shaft e whose axis coincides with that of the barrel, said shaft being integral with the chassis on which the motor is mounted, said wheel being provided with a bevel pinion coaxial with the journal and whose teeth mesh with another pinion coaxial with engine block and integral with it, the barrel being designed to rotate around its main axis and comprising drive means for transmitting its rotational movement.

 The fact that the barrel rotates along its axis has many advantages among which we can cite the fact that it does not require a flywheel since it is the barrel which plays this role. Furthermore, the supply of the engine cylinders is not carried out by a valve system such as that which is present in conventional engines, but by intake-compression cylinders and a transfer system, which presents the advantage of simplicity of construction and low construction cost.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, each engine cylinder comprises, in its lower part, an exhaust port which is completely uncovered by the corresponding piston when it is in neutral and whose main axis is directed towards the outside tangentially to the cylinder, the gases escaping creating a reaction effect the result of which is to contribute to the driving movement of the engine.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the transfer system consists of a tube integral with the chassis on which the motor is mounted and in which an internal partition is mounted, the external end of said tube being provided with a carburetor for make an air-petrol mixture intended for the engine.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, the links are mounted on ball joints.

 According to another characteristic of the invention, an engine comprises a lubrication system comprising a pipe connected, by one of its ends to lubrication channels respectively provided in the journal, the wheel and the sleeve, the other free end having its axis in the lower part of the casing under the barrel and directed tangentially so that the oil contained in the casing is brought under pressure into said lubrication channels under the effect of the driving force generated by the rotation of the engine.

The characteristics of the invention mentioned above, as well as others, will appear more clearly on reading the following description of an exemplary embodiment, said description being made in relation to the accompanying drawings, among which:
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an engine according to the invention,
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of an engine according to the invention, the cutting plane being orthogonal to the cutting plane of FIG. 1, and
Figs. 3a and 3b being cross sections along the section plane III / III of FIG. 1, these cuts being made at two different times and the barrel then having turned a quarter turn between the two Figs 3a and 3b.

 The motor shown in section in FIG. 1 comprises a cylindrical barrel 1 pierced with an even number of cylindrical holes 2 with axes parallel to its main axis and forming cylinders C1 to C4. These cylinders are advantageously four, two engines C2 and C4 in the plane of FIG. 1, two other C1 and C3 in a plane normal to that of FIG. 1 and in the plane of FIG. 2 used to supply the engine cylinders C2 and C4. The barrel 1 is provided, on its outer surface, with cooling fins 3.

 The barrel 1 is axially pierced with a cylindrical hole which is designed to receive a supply tube 4 which is integral with the chassis (shown diagrammatically by hatching 5) on which the engine of the invention rests. At its outer end, the supply tube 4 receives a carburetor (not shown) which prepares the air-fuel mixture for each engine cylinder C2 and C4.

 Under the barrel 1, is fixed, by appropriate means (not shown) a casing 6 which also has, on its outer surface, cooling fins 7. In the bottom of this casing 6, substantially in the center of it, is mounted a shaft 8 whose axis is superimposed on the main axis of the barrel 1. The outer end of the shaft 8 is integral with the chassis 5 of the machine receiving the engine. At its other end, a journal 9 is mounted, the axis of which lies in a radial plane of the shaft 8 but forms, with the axis of the latter, an angle open on the casing 6. At the upper end of pin 9, a sleeve 10 is provided, the axis of which coincides with the main axis of barrel 1.

 It will be noted that the casing 6 contains a certain amount of oil 11 which rises along the side walls of the casing 6. This oil 11 ensures, as will be seen later, the lubrication of the various elements of the engine.

 The bottom of the casing 6 receives on its external face a pulley 12 or any other equivalent drive means allowing the transmission of the rotational movement of the barrel 1.

 In each cylinder C1 to C4, a piston 13 can slide alternately between a top dead center position and a bottom dead point position. Connecting rods 14 are mounted, by means of ball joints 15 at one of their ends, on the bottoms of the pistons 13. The other end of each connecting rod 14 is mounted, by another ball joint 16, on a wheel 17 which is intended to rotate on the pin 9 and perform a rotational movement relative to the axis of the pin.

 It will be noted that the inclination a of the journal 9 relative to the axis of the shaft 8 and therefore relative to the axis of the barrel 1 determines the stroke of the pistons 13.

 At its center, the wheel 17 is integral with a bevel gear 18 coaxial with the pin 9 and the teeth of which mesh with the teeth with a bevel gear 19 coaxial with the engine block and integral with it.

This gear allows the engine block to rotate the wheel at the same speed and in the same direction as it.

 Barrel 1 is capped by a cylinder head 20 in which are provided, on the one hand, coinciding with the engine cylinders C2 and C4, combustion chambers 21 and, on the other hand, coinciding with the intake cylinders C1 and C3 of chambers 22 (Fig. 2). Threaded holes 23 pass through the cylinder head 20 and overlook the combustion chambers 21. The holes 23 are provided for receiving spark plugs used for igniting the air-gasoline mixture with a view to its explosion.

 The feed tube 4 passes through the cylinder head 20 on which it is rotatably mounted.

 The two engine cylinders C2 and C4 are provided with exhaust ports 24 which are located above the corresponding piston 13 when the latter is in bottom dead center. Each exhaust port 24 has its main axis which leaves tangentially to a circle passing through it and whose axis is on the axis of the barrel 1.

 In Fig. ?, there is shown a partial section along a plane orthogonal to that of FIG. 1 and which shows the intake cylinders C1 and C3. We see in particular that each intake cylinder has a channel 25 below the joint plane of the cylinder head 20 on the barrel 1, in communication, at one end, with the corresponding chamber 22 and, at the other end, with the hole in which the tube 4 is mounted and forming a lumen 26.

 The tube 4 is provided with a partition 27 which, on the one hand, provides a transfer 28 which makes successively communicate between them the chambers 22 of the cylinders C1 and C3 and the chambers 21 of the engine cylinders C2 and C4 and, on the other hand, a passage 29 between the inlet of the tube 4 where the carburetor is located and the other light 26.

It will be noted that the transfer 28 is twisted along the main axis of the barrel 1.

 In Fig. 3a, due to the fact that the barrel 1 rotates in the direction shown by the arrow A, the piston P1 of one of the intake cylinders Cl is descending in its cylinder C1 while the piston P3 rises in its cylinder C3. The piston P1 creates a vacuum such that the air-fuel mixture from the carburetor is admitted into the intake cylinder C1. The piston P3 prepares the transfer of the mixture which it has just admitted into the engine cylinder C4. The piston P4 of the engine cylinder C4 will reach its bottom dead center and releases, by its exhaust 24, the gases resulting from the combustion of the air-gasoline mixture.

The piston P2 of the engine cylinder C2 rises and is in the process of compressing the mixture which it has just admitted.

 After a quarter turn of the barrel 1, Fig. 3b, the intake cylinder C1 is still in intake, the engine cylinder C2 has just passed top dead center and the explosion has taken place. The piston P2 then exerts a force on the wheel 17, which force is transmitted, via the wheel 17, to the barrel 1. The piston P3 is mounting in its intake cylinder C3 and is in communication with the cylinder P4 via transfer 28. Note the angle formed by the two openings at each end of transfer 28. There is transfer, in C4, of the air-petrol mixture previously admitted by C3.

 After a quarter turn again, we find ourselves in a situation symmetrical to that of FIG. 3a in which the pistons P1 and P2 respectively have the place of the pistons P3 and P4, and vice versa. Thus, the piston P1 has just left the bottom dead center and will transfer to the cylinder P2. The piston P4 is in the compression phase of the previously transferred mixture, the piston P3 in the intake phase and the piston P2 in the exhaust phase.

It will be noted that the engine is a two-stroke type engine, that is to say intake-compression at the rise of each piston P2 or
P4 and explosion-exhaust on the descent of each piston.

 It will also be noted that the intake being in the upper part of the cylinder and the exhaust in the bottom of the cylinder, there is a minimum of leakage of the air-petrol mixture by the exhaust port.

 By effecting, under the effect of the explosions, their movement from bottom to top, the pistons P2 and P4 of the engine cylinders C2 and C4 drive the wheel 17 in a rotational movement around the axis of the journal 9. This rotational movement takes place because the teeth of the pinion 18 mesh with the bevel gear 19 so that the wheel 17 rotates at the same speed as the barrel 1, the feet of the connecting rods 14 remaining in the axis of their respective cylinders. Barrel 1 rotates along the main axis of the engine. The movement is taken on the pulley 12, for example, by means of a belt.

 The pistons 15 having at the same time a rotary movement and a movement from bottom to top, describe in space, an ellipse. They therefore retain most of their kinetic energy at top dead center and bottom dead center in the cylinders.

 All the parts of this engine being in rotation, this engine can be perfectly balanced at all speeds, and it can thus admit high speeds of rotation.

 Lubrication is ensured by a lubrication system which comprises a pipe 30 connected, by one of its ends to lubrication channels 31 respectively provided in the journal 9, the wheel 17 and the sleeve 10. The other end of the pipe 30 has its main axis which is located in the lower part of the casing 6 and is directed tangentially so that the oil 11 contained in the casing 6 is brought under pressure into the lubrication channels 31 under the effect of the driving force generated by the rotation of the barrel 1. It will be noted that the wheel 19 has a groove 32 which forms an annular channel.

Claims (5)

 1) Internal combustion engine of the type which comprises a cylindrical barrel provided with cooling fins and pierced with an even number of holes with axes parallel to the axis of the barrel and angularly equidistant, the holes forming cylinders which receive connected pistons by connecting rods to a drive wheel intended to have a rotational movement, characterized in that said holes (2) of the barrel (1) respectively form two-to-two diametrically opposed cylinder-motors and cylinders intake (C1 and C3) also two to two diametrically opposite, the barrel (1) being drilled with an axial hole receiving a transfer system (4) allowing, in synchronized with the rotation of the engine, the intake d '' an air-petrol mixture in the intake cylinders (C1 and C3) and the transfer, in the engine cylinders (C2 and C4), of the gases admitted into the intake cylinders (C1 and C3), the cylinders ( C1 to C4) being capped with a cylinder head (20) which protects chambers (21 and 22) above the cylinders, said cylinder head (20) being designed to receive spark plugs which open into the combustion chambers (21) of the engine cylinders (C2 and C4) , said wheel (17) being mounted on a pin (9) provided so that it can rotate along an axis in a radial plane of the barrel (1) and inclined at an angle a relative to the main axis of the barrel 1, said pin (9) being mounted at the end of a shaft (8) whose axis coincides with that of the barrel (1), said shaft (8) being integral with the frame (5) on which is mounted the motor, said wheel (17) being integral with a bevel pinion (18) coaxial with the pin (9) and the teeth of which mesh with the teeth of a conical pinion coaxial with the axis of the engine block and integral with him, the barrel (1) being designed to rotate around its main axis and comprising drive means (12) for transmitting its rotational movement.  2) Engine according to claim 1, characterized in that each engine cylinder (C2 and C4) comprises, in its lower part, an exhaust port (24) which is completely uncovered by the corresponding piston (P2 or P4) when '' it is at bottom dead center and whose main axis is directed outward tangentially to the cylinder (C2 or C4), the gases escaping creating a reaction effect whose result is to contribute to the movement d 'barrel drive (1).  3) Motor according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transfer system (4) consists of a tube (4) integral with the chassis (5) on which the motor is mounted and in which an internal partition is mounted (27), the outer end of said tube (4) being provided with a carburetor for performing an air-gasoline mixture intended for the engine.  4) Motor according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the links (14) are mounted on ball joints (15 and 16).  5) Motor according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a lubrication system comprising a pipe (30) connected, by one of its ends to lubrication channels (31) respectively provided in the pin (9), the wheel (17) and the sleeve (10), the other free end having its axis which is located in the lower part of the casing (6) under the barrel (1) and is directed tangentially so that the oil (11 ) contained in the housing (6) is brought under pressure into said lubrication channels (31) under the effect of the driving force generated by the rotation of the motor.