US2771860A - Hydraulic machine - Google Patents

Description

HYDRAULIC MACHINE FIG. 2

JNVENTOR. v 523 vwis/enum R FALK AGENT Nov. 27, 1956 v w. P. FALK 2,771,860

HYDRAULIC MACHINE Filed Aug. 21, 1951 :s sheets-sheet 2 A AGE/vr Nov. 27, 1956 w. P. FALK HYDRAULIC MACHINE:

415 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 21; 1951 60a 609 f 605/ 6&4

' IN VEN TOR. WERNER R FA'LK M f 79d AGENT HYDRAULIC MACHINE Werner P. Falk, Jackson Heights, N. Y.

Application August 21, 1951, Serial No. 242,905

Claims priority, application Brazil 'August 22, 195i) 10 Claims. (Cl. 123--16) My invention relates to a hydraulic machine operable as fa iluid pump or compressorY or yas an internal-combustion engine.

The general object of the present inventiouis to provide a hydraulic engine of the rotary type, i. e. a machine wherein `the working medium either acts upon or'is -acted upon by a rotor without the intermediary ofconventional reciprocating .pistons [and crank shafts, which is of -greater efficiency than similar m-achines hitherto proposed and wherein :friction and wear are greatly reduced.

It is another object of this invention to provide means for more effectively lubricating and cooling a machine of the character referred to.

A more particular object of my invention is to.' provide ahigh-ly eicient multi-stage uid'pump in which the several stages are combined ina single rotor;

It is also' an object of the instant invention ltoprovide a machine of the .character described which i-s Iadapt/ed to be used, with minor modifications, eitherna'sl a .pump of substantially constant delivery nate or' pressure or as a motor with substantially const-ant'torque.

The above `and other objects, which wi-ll subsequently appear, lare realized in .accordance with the invention' by the provision, in combination with .a housingiand arotor in said housing having one or more chambers', of'ia fluid piston movable in each chamber in radial direction with respect to the rotor axis, such radial movement -being due to the cam shape of the housing (which may be noncircuiar, or circular Ibut eccentric with respect tothe rotor axis) @and to the centrifugal force of the moving rotorV Atending Vto displace the uid outwardly. The fluid-constituting the p-iston, which advantageously is constituted by a liquid also serving as a lubricant and/or coolant, is in direct contact with a second fluid, representing the working medium, which in the case of la' pump lis drawn in through suitable intake ports and expelled throng-h suit- -able outlet ports by the reciprocating motion of the piston flu-id. In the 4case of a motor the working fluid, constituted by a combustible mixture (or air in the case of a diesel engine), lis aspirated, ycompressed .and expelled bythe fluid piston during the non-working strokes of an operating cycle land is exploded during :a workin-g stroke, thereby acting upon sa-id piston `to cause the uid thereof to exert .pressure upon the chamber walls -with .a peripheral component imparting rotary movement to the rot-or. The constancy of the pump output or of the motor torque can be enhanced -by increasing the number of piston' chambers in the rotor; if this numberis even and greater than two, then the .chambers can -be'so arranged as to balance the radial forces acting upon the rotor shaft, thus' reducing wear and stress. By intercala-ting a plurality of sets of :chambers of different sizes it ispossible -to obtain a multi-stage pump or compressor operating-in the same manner as the simple one-stage pump described above.

The invention will be better understood from'the tollowing description ofy certain embodiments", reference being had to the accompanying drawing'inwhieh':

Fig. l is a cross sectionthroughtheihousingfand'Iparts States Patent 0 "ice 2;' of"ftl1e.rotorv of an internal. combustion engine representinga -rst' embodiment ofthe invention;

Fig. 3`isa sectionfthrough the housing and parts of the rotor of a pump or compressor according to the invention;

Fig. 4 is a section ontheline4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig.- 5 is `a sefctionfthrough the housing of v.another form of compressor embodying the invent-ion; and

6 is a section on the line 6-6y of Fig. 5.

Throughout the drawing, corresponding elements in the several embodiments have been indicated by similar reference numerals differing, only in their hundreds digit.

il-Tigs. 1 and 2 show an internal-.combustion engine. 500 adapted to aspira-te Athrough -the inlet portv 511 a motive fluid, such .as air or ia combustible mixture, which after compression in one of the chambers 505'is brought to explosion by suitable means here shown 'by way of exampleas'a -f-uel injection nozzle 531 positioned substantially at a point of maximum compression. The spent gases yare expelled via=exhiaust port 5112.v It will be obvious that the. nozzle 53.1 may. |be replaced -by other explosive-promoting. means,.such asa spark plug. Ports S11l 'and 512 are connected, respectively, to ducts '509 and'510 both provided in right-hand end plate 502:1 (asviewed in. Fig. 2) which also carries the fuel injector 53d, The ducts communicate with-the chambers 505 by Way ofI .apertures 508", 508, respectively, provided in stationary pack-ing disk 5210 adjacent end plate 502m VariousA features shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are ias applicable to a motor .as to a pump or compressor. Thus the number of operating cycles per revolution of the rotor 503 is made double Ithat of a compressor as shown in Figs. `3 and 4, described below, modifying the shape of the housing; 501 so yas to give a -roughly cloverleafshaped configuration, with tour high points and four low points in place cf Ithe two high points 'and two low points of' `the elliptical housing shown in subsequent iigures.

The housing, accordingly, .is formed with four lobes shown atk 532:1, 53212, 532C and 532d,.respectively. Whereas, however, in a pump-or compressor .all of these lobes would preferably be equal, it 4will be understood that in an internal-combustion engineV alternate lobes, such as the lobes 532e and 532C, each correspond to the suctioncompression half-cycle while the remaining lobes, such as the lobes-53% a-nd 51320', each correspond -to the explosion-expulsion half-cycle;l prefer to enlarge the latter over the former. by increasing the maxim-um radius of each lobe 532b and 532d over that of each lobe 5320 `and 532e, as shown.

The housingfStll. is tilled with a piston fluid 13, e. g. w-ater, which during rotationof rotor T503 moves alternately away` -from` ,and Itoward the rotor yaxis as a result of centrifugal iforces and the shape of the peripheral housing wall; this motion of the piston fluid, in turn, imparts the necessary suction and compression to the aspirated workinguid. The piston lluid S13 is contined between slides S07 which-are guided at their forward sides merely.

by projections '514, the rear surface of each slide yabutting a solid backing member `5G53. In operation, the preissurev exerteddur-ing the explosion stroke .upon the piston fluid 5-113 of a chamber, as the latter rotates clockwise, say, from the nadir point of ythe housing -to the high point of the next lobe 532b, acts in opposite tangential directions upon the two chamber walls each formed by a backing member 533 extended by the associated yslide 507; since, however, the leading slide :during that par-t of a cycle will project further outwardly than the trailing slide, there lwill -be arlarger surface exposed to this pressure forwardly-than rearwardly of the chamber, hence a resultan-t torce `will come" into play which drives-the rotor forwardly.

Figs. l and 2 also show how the piston tuid, which in this case may also ,be a heavy oil or other liquid not combustible at the operating temperatures of the motor, is also utilized vfor purposes of lubrication and cooling. The liquid yfrom tank 523 (which may be equipped with cooling appara-tus well known per se) lenters the machine through feeder pipe 524 'and vallve S2-8, reach-ing the inlet S32d by way of ran extension pipe 5242 The liquid then enters the :chambers *505, part of Ithe excess returning directly to the tank via drain pipe 525. F[lhe cham-bers 505 also communicate, however, with a conduit 534 leading over a valve 543 to shaft bearing 535b in end plate 15 B2b, the liquid thence pass-ing along the .splined portion of shaft `504 toward end p1ate50'2a and shaftybearing '535:1 thereof. At the left-hand side of the rotor 503 (as viewed in Fig. 2) the liquid also reaches, via .a :channel S36, an annular pressure chamber 537; at the right-hand side of the rotor it accumulates yin `an annular chamber 538 whence a drain 'S39 returns it to the tank via la valve 540. =In order that `the Irequired pressure be developed in chamber 537 `i-t is, of course, necessary for the :conduit 34 to enter the housing S01 at a suitable angle, e. g. tangentially in the manner illustrated for the highpressure port leading to pipe 52S. A pressure-equalizing channel l541, interconnecting diametrioally opposite minimum-radius points of the housing, also communi-I cates with 4t-he tank A52.3 :by way of a safety valve 542.

The piston liquid 513, apart from lubricating and cooling the Imachine through the channel system just described,l

also exerts pressure upon the rotor 503, by virtue of its accumulation in chamber 537, in a direction such as to urge this rotor rmly against Ithe valve disk 5211a. This pressure, it may be noted, may be regulated with the aid of valves 543 and S40, such pressure regulation being either manual or automatic. Valves 528 and 542, as will be observed, have been illustrated as self-adjusting in response to fluid pressure within housing 501.

Figs. 3 and 4 show a twoestage compressor 400 whose slides 407 are so spaced as to form alternately wide chambers 40561 and narrow chambers 40Sb. Right-hand end plate 402e (as viewed in Fig. 1l) contains a rst inlet duct 40951 which is connected to entrance port 411 and communicates, in certain positions, of rotor 401, with the larger chamber 405e by way ot' side apertures 408a; this plate is also provided with a iirst `outlet duct 410a which is connected to the entrance side of an interstage coupling duct 430 and communicates, in other positions of the rotor 403, with the same chambers 405e by way of said apertures 408m Lett-hand end plate 402b contains a second inlet duct 40919 which is connected to the exit side of coupling duct 430 and communicates, in certain positions of the rotor, with the smaller chamber `40511 via said apertures 40811; this plate is also provided with a second outlet duct 410b which is connected to the discharge port 412 and communicates, in other positions of the rotor, with the same chambers 40Sb by way of said apertures 408b. lt will thus be seen that working fluid, entering by Way of low-pressure port 411, is tirst compressed in the stage formed by chambers 405e, then passes over duct 430 to the chambers 405i; whose volume is reduced, with respect to chambers 405e, in accordance with the precompression already imparted to the fluid land which represents the second stage, the output of the latter stage being delivered at the high-pressure port 412. Piston Huid .413 is again admitted and removed via ducts 426 and 427, respectively.

Figs. 5 and 6 show a compressor 600 characterized by n novel arrangement of its inlet and outlet openings. The piston iiuid 613 (e. g. water), coming from tank 623, rises through a pipe 624 (not visible but indicated in dotdash lines) and enters the chambers 60S through an inlet opening 643 located close to the chamber bottom in the valve disk 621m way of a peripheral channel 641 and an opening 646 in the housing 601. Admission of the'working tluidV (e. g. air), from an entrance port (not shown), is via a duct The return to the tank takes place by 609 in the housing and an opening 608 in disk 621a; the duid then leaves by way of opening 608" in disk 621a and duct 610 in housing 601 to reach the exhaust port 612 after passing through a liquid separator 644 communicating with the tank 623 through apertures 645. It will be noted from Fig. 5 that the entrance opening 608 widens from a point near the minor axis of the elliptical housing toward a point near the major axis thereof, thereby enabling the rate of working-fluid aspiration to increase with increases in eective chamber volume due to a receding of the piston fluid. A compressor of great suction power is thereby created.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the invention offers the following advantages not particularly pointed out hereinabove:

A pump or compressor may operate 'at a very lhigh volumetric eticiency (theoretically up the by virtue 'of the fact thatthe fluid piston can be caused not only completely lto lill lout the rotor chambers but also to penetrate adjacent channels such as, for example, the valve opening 608" and part of the discharge duct 610 ot Figs. 5 and 6. Such maximum volumetric eticiency may be attained by admitting sufficient liquid into the. rotor chambers, yet at the same time it will be apparent that a stepless adjustment of the pump output between 100% (full load) and almost zero (idling) may be obtained through the simple expedient ot changing the 'amount of liquid available inside the housing, thus altering the height of the uid piston and varying the rate of percentage variation of the chamber volume with each piston stroke.

The presence of liquid at the interfaces of all relatively movable elements associated with the rotor chambers furthermore provides a gas-tight seal at the boundaries of each chamber, thereby substantially preventing loss of output due to escaping working fiuid.

ln the case of 'a motor, as shown in Figs. l and 2, it will be possible to energize any number of piston chatn- Abers I505 with not more than two explosion-promoting devices, such as the nozzle 531 'and a similar nozzle, not shown, located at a diametrically opposite point of the housing. The presence 'of two nozzler (or sparkplugs) isl desirable for balancing purposes, yet even with a single nozzle lall chambers would successively pass by the lsame for ignition of their charges. Furthermore, the fuel injected by the nozzle mixes more intimately with the air content of the chamber, compared with conventional diesel engines, by virtue of the fact that said Iair moves rapidly past 'the nozzle in a direction perpendicular thereto.

With reference to the two-stage compressor of Figs. 3v

and 4 it may be stated that the two sets of chambers 405a, 40512 need not be serially interconnected but may be utilized independently, as where two 'outputs of diterent gases and! or different pressures are required. The same principle, furthermore, is also Iapplicable to internalcombuston engines of the type shown in Figs. l and 2, one set of chambers serving for the aspiration and compression, the other for the ignition and expulsion of the motive iluid.

various ways without thereby departing from its scope as -delined in the appended claims.

, I claim: k v

l. In a. diesel-type engine, .in combination, a rotor, a housing enclosing said rotor and having a stationary side wall adjacent a face of saidrotor, said rotorhaving` a chamber-open at said face but closed by said wall, fuelinjector 'means in said-wall positioned for'periodic com-l munication with said chambena liquid in said housing partly received in said chamber and forming a piston therein, means including said liquid piston for compressing a charge in said chamber immediately prior to its passage past said fuel injector means and for ejecting an exploded charge from said chamber, and means including said liquid for urging said rotor into close contact with said wall.

2. In a hydraulic machine, in combination, a rotor, a housing enclosing said rotor and having a stationary side wall adjacent a face of said rotor, said rotor having a chamber open at said face but closed by said wall, said wall having an inlet port and an outlet port for iluid to be admitted into said chamber, said ports being positioned for alternate communication with said chamber, a liquid in said housing partly received in said chamber and forming a piston therein, means including said liquid piston for alternately aspirating said tluid through said inlet port and expelling said uid through said outlet port, and means including said liquid for urging said rotor into close contact with said wall.

3. 1n a hydraulic machine, in combination, a housing, bearing means in said housing, a rotor journaled in said bearing means within said housing, said rotor having a chamber open toward said housing, said housing having an inlet port and an outlet port for fluid to be admitted into said chamber, said ports being positioned for alternate communication with said chamber, a liquid in said housing partly received in said chamber and forming a piston therein, means including said liquid piston for alternately aspirating said fluid through said inlet port and expelling said uid through said outlet port, and conduit means in permanent communication with said chamber and with said bearing means for admitting part of said liquid to said bearing means, thereby lubricating the latter.

4. In a hydraulic machine, in combination, a rotor, a housing enclosing said rotor and having a peripheral portion of varying distance from the axis of said rotor, radially slidable vane means in said rotor dening at least one chamber in said rotor open toward said peripheral housing portion, stationary valve plate means in said housing in face-to-face contact with said rotor, said valve plate means having inlet port means and outlet port means for uid to be admitted into said rotor chamber, said rotor being apertured for communication of said rotor chamber with said inlet and outlet port means, respectively, in different angular positions of said rotor, a pressure chamber located in said housing at one side of said rotor, a duct extending from said pressure chamber toward said peripheral housing portion, thereby connecting said pressure chamber with said rotor chamber, a liquid occupying said pressure chamber, said duct and part of said rotor chamber, said liquid forming a piston in said rotor chamber reciprocating upon rotation of said rotor, thereby alternately aspirating and expelling said iluid through said inlet and outlet port means, respectively, and means including said liquid in said pressure chamber for urging said rotor into close contact with said valve plate means, said duct entering said peripheral housing portion at an acute angle to the path of rotation of said liquid piston.

5. The combination according to claim 4, further including storage means for said liquid, an overow connection and a return connection between said storage means and said peripheral housing portion, and valve means in said connections for regulating the pressure in said pressure chamber.

6. The combination according to claim 5, wherein said peripheral housing portion is symmetrical with respect to the rotor axis, one of said connections including a channel opening into said housing portion at diametrically opposite points for equalizing the pressure thereat.

7. The combination according to claim 4, wherein said housing is provided with bearing means for said rotor and with a channel connecting said bearing means with said pressure chamber, thereby admitting liquid under pressure to said bearing means for lubricating the latter.

8. The combination according to claim 4, wherein said rotor is provided with a plurality of sets of interleaved chambers, said inlet and outlet port means comprising a plurality of inlet ports and outlet ports each positioned for communication with a respective set of chambers.

9. The combination according to claim 4, wherein said inlet port means comprises a portion of said Valve plate means having an opening whose width increases in the direction in which the spacing of said peripheral housing portion from said rotor axis increases, thereby causing the rate of aspiration of said fluid to rise with increasing effective volume of said rotor chamber.

10. The combination according to claim 4, including storage means for said liquid, feed means connecting said storage means with said peripheral housing portion, and a connection between said outlet port means and said storage means, said connection including liquid separator means for returning liquid entrained by said iiuid to said storage means.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNrTED STATES PATENTS 1,094,919 Nash Apr. 28, 1914 1,206,001 Kuhl NOV. 28, 1916 1,249,881 Anglada Dec. 11, 1917 2,052,492 Seibold Allg. 25, 1936 2,164,888 Sassen et al July 4, 1939 2,186,556 Robbins Jan. 9, 1940 2,280,100 Singleton Apr. 21, 1942 2,292,181 Tucker Aug. 4, 1942

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