WO2014207282A1

WO2014207282A1 - Rotary engine actuatable by means of the pressure of a fluid

Info

Publication number: WO2014207282A1
Application number: PCT/ES2014/070516
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alfonso Cobos De La Fuente
Original assignee: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Priority date: 2013-06-27
Filing date: 2014-06-25
Publication date: 2014-12-31
Also published as: ES2423841B2; ES2423841A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a rotary engine actuatable by means of the pressure of a fluid, consisting of: an outer casing (15); a cylindrical rotor (21) which defines, from the surface thereof, a series of balanced axial recesses (22); and independent parts (23) housed in each axial recess (22), which parts, together with the inner surface of said recesses, define pressure chambers (24). The rotor (21) is secured to a coaxial tubular axle (17) which remains interconnected with the pressure chambers (24) via passages (29).

Description

ACTIONABLE ROTATING MOTOR THROUGH THE PRESSURE OF A FLUID

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a rotary motor that operates with the pressure of a fluid, and can be applied in any energy medium in need of driving force, either in electric generation, or in motorization of machinery in general and of transport, whether land, air or naval, etc. The proposed engine receives pressure from a fluid and with it obtains a force capable of producing a torque on an axis, in a simple, ecological and efficient way, which can be applied to any system that requires it regardless of the magnitude demanded of said pair. Thus, this type of motor in large dimensions can replace the turbines of a hydroelectric power station or operate, in smaller dimensions, a manual drill.

The simplicity of its elements entails low maintenance and great operational safety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most of the known engines, operable by means of a pressurized fluid, produce work for the expansion of the fluid, which is usually pressurized air, and deliver it without it, with the exhausted motor characteristics, so a continuous expense is required of pressurized fluid in exchange for work. In known engines the pressure can be produced with compressors and their increase is even favored by combustion. In this sense, Rudolf Diesel, Wankel or Robert Stirling engines are very frequent.

Without so much relevance, it can also be cited patent US-43591 18, which describes a series of external or internal combustion engines in cylinders arranged in series, and which they use fuel as fuel; US-734220 describes the gasification process in a heat converter, using the heat that comes out of a burning cylinder.

At the time, the use of fossil fuels in engines quickly resolved the energy needs of the civilized world in urgent situations, such as world wars, which led to the abandonment of research on other energy sources. But the massive combustion in these engines entails the return to the atmosphere of large amounts of C0 ₂ , which are causing a serious problem of climate change and the solid micro waste generated a significant increase in allergies and cancers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves the problem posed and has a large number of advantages over traditional systems.

The present invention relates to a new type of rotary engine that has chambers with pressurized fluid, specially designed so that in them the pressure acts on certain driving surfaces and produces forces whose resulting originates the torque that rotates the rotor of the engine. Various cameras arranged balancedly increase this pair.

The acting fluid can be liquid, such as water from a dam whose geometric height produces at its base the appropriate pressure for the operation of the pressure engine, or hydraulic oil, or it can be pressurized air by normal means such as a compressor (10 bar), or better, from pressurized liquid air by means of high-pressure pumps (200 bar) or very high pressure (500 bar), to be subsequently gasified in an exchanger, which receives the necessary heat from the environment. In addition, in engines with air for high motor demands, occasional energy support may exist through external combustion to the pressurized air circuit with a heating element that will ensure, at all times, the gasification of liquid air and guarantee the requested power demand. The fuels used can also have a liquefied origin and be gasified in tandem with the liquefied air in the same exchanger. The high pressures, indicated above, which will allow large powers with a reduced engine volume in the new engine, are obtained by pumping liquid air and are impossible to achieve profitably following traditional compression methods, even accompanied by cooling stages.

The liquefaction of the air and gaseous fuels has another great advantage, the possibility of storage in a reduced volume, thus, the liquid air occupies a volume nine hundred times less than if it is in the atmosphere, which is a very interesting feature when we need mass storage of energy or when the pressure engine is used to drive vehicles. Liquid air and liquefied fuels can be stored in an insulated tank with two adjacent cells. The liquefied fuel cell is closed, for safety and to avoid contaminating vapors, keeping its temperature (natural gas -160 ° C) by heat transfer to the liquefied air, since the intermediate wall is flexible and conductive, and in the other cell exists liquefied air at a temperature of -200 ° C. Both liquids coexist in their cells and are maintained by self-cooling of the liquefied air, which can be stored even at atmospheric pressure and thus of the entire tank, with its two cells, only air vapors will be emitted, achieving high safety.

After the heating element, a small accumulator keeps the pressure variations in the engine, controlled by a regulator.

Any other imaginable means in which a pressure differential can be established between the chambers and their exterior can be used.

In accordance with the invention, the pressure motor is constituted by an external housing and a rotor, which is housed inside the housing with the power to rotate thereon. The external housing has grooves and through holes in its wall through which the pressure inside the engine is balanced with the outside, which can correspond to the atmospheric pressure. This housing is closed at its bases by two covers that have bearings or bearings for the rotation of the shaft. One end of the shaft is tubular to connect the source of pressurized fluid and on the other the motor load is applied. An additional cover that encloses the housing can be arranged so that the engine is seen externally without grooves or fluid movements.

The rotation of the rotor is centered by the shaft, to which it is jointly and severally attached. The rotor has a series of symmetrical axial recesses in which two moving parts are housed. Each moving part leaves with its recess at least one intermediate chamber that will be subjected to the corresponding working pressure.

In the chambers the pressure of the fluid originates on the surface of the recesses of the rotor some forces whose result produces the motor rotation, but also on the other side on the moving parts another counterforce of the same direction and opposite direction is produced, which drives these moving parts in the same direction until it hits the inner surface of the housing. The moving parts to reduce friction are totally or partially crowned by one or more rolling needles or by balls aligned with the straight lines of the resulting ones, whose function is to discharge as far as possible the counterforce on the inner surface of the outer shell. The rotor only touches the inner race surface of the housing with these rolling needles.

The moving parts, embedded in the base of the recesses by terraced surfaces, have a degree of freedom of movement in the direction of the line of action of the force and counterforce. Therefore between moving parts and base of the recesses there are cameras with constant width and variable height according to the free space with the rolling surface.

The inner surface of the housing has a closed section and must be carefully designed so that the rolling needles or balls, when acting on it, discharge most of the counterforce as a normal component to that rolling surface, minimizing the effects of the tangential component that opposes the turn. This tangential component at each point of contact is reduced by lowering the angle of incidence that forms the direction of the counterforce and the normal one to the designed surface. In order to obtain the best driving torque and therefore achieve the highest power, it is necessary that the counter force originates as small a torque as possible with that of the driving force, ideally that should be zero, but the relationship between the torque of the driving force and that of the Buttress depends on the geometric design of the engine and mainly on the tread.

With the rotation of the rotor, the needles of the independent parts cover mixed rolling surfaces that have sectors with net power creation, where the chambers increase in volume by displacement of the independent parts, combined with other sectors of surface closure, negative with respect to power, at which step the fluid volume of the chambers is reduced. The rolling sectors with negative torque have the rolling surface with large angles of incidence of the counterforce or high distances to the center of rotation. These mixed surfaces, with areas of positive net torque and other areas with zero or negative net torque are not an inconvenience to use, provided that the total energy balance of a complete turn with all its cameras is positive. There may therefore be mixed rolling surfaces with chambers that work at a uniform pressure. In favor they have to say that the handling of fluids in this type of engine is simple and needs a low flow replacement, since the fluid will pass from the chambers whose volume is reduced to those that are enlarged and thus efficiency is improved the motor.

The rolling surface will be totally or partially spiral, elliptical or composed of sections of different geometry. It can also be circumferential centered on the rotor shaft or at any other point, depending on the uses and performance requested. The operation of the engine can be summed up like this, the pressure chambers produce forces on the surfaces that form them. The forces in the chambers acting on the rotor, integral with the shaft, give rise to a result that produces the rotation of said rotor, transmitting its driving power to the shaft. The independent moving parts collect the back pressure of the chambers, producing an equal and opposite force to the previous one, but, given their mobility, they transmit it to the inner surface of the outer shell, the effect of which will be minimized with the anti-friction elements or rolling necessary. The other surfaces, which do not make up the chambers or their ducts, they will be at a different pressure, communicated by the holes and grooves of the housing, which will normally be the environmental pressure.

The cameras are enlarged when the rolling needles of the independent parts follow surfaces with open shapes that seek to reduce the angle of incidence on them of the counterforce and improve performance, but the cameras must also be reduced so that the independent parts reach the initial situation and this occurs by giving the rolling surface one or more closing arcs, in which the shape of this rolling surface pushes the rolling needles so that the independent parts reduce the volume of the chambers. However, the pressure in all the chambers is kept approximately constant by compensation between the inlet flow of the chambers that are enlarged and the outflow of those that reduce volume for which fluid exchange passages are established between all of them, being guaranteed by the action of the regulator and the accumulator through the tubular portion of the shaft, which through various series of passages interconnect the external driving pressure with that of the chambers. Therefore, in the chambers that reduce volume, the pressure will never rise or exceed that of the rest of the chambers. The energy necessary for this circulation in the form of loss of load is necessary to provide it through the tubular axis.

Another great advantage of the engine of the invention is in the low fluid consumption and therefore with maximum efficiency. It is of great application in machines such as generators, engines for land transport, or ships and propeller planes. New applications appear through pressure taps in dams or for submarines in waters at a certain depth. The operation is balanced, without noise or vibration.

In another alternative, the chambers to reduce volume in the closing sector discharge the fluid to the outside for what will be done on the covers of the bases the necessary passages of connection to the atmosphere. After this sector, the rest of the chambers expand volume and pressure flow must be recovered through another series of holes, also made on the covers, which load and maintain the positive power sectors. The direction of rotation of the motor depends on the side of the notched rotor that is used to arrange the chambers, but they usually rotate clockwise.

Another application of the motor is to connect depression through the holes in the enclosure, keeping the chambers at a higher pressure, for example the atmospheric one. This alternative would be very useful for space stations, connecting the depression to the external vacuum and the pressure to that of the spacecraft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complete the description of the engine of the invention and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics thereof, an integral part of said description is accompanied by a series of drawings where, for illustrative and non-limiting purposes, a embodiment example. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a possible installation of pressurized air supply for the motor of the invention.

Figures 2 and 3 show, in side elevation and plan, a motor constituted according to the invention.

Figure 4 shows a section of a motor type, according to the line VI-VI of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a detail of Figure 4, where the forces produced in an engine chamber are depicted.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

The features and windows of the engine of the invention will be better understood with the following description, made with reference to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. In the example depicted in the drawings, the pressurized fluid that will feed the motor of the invention is high pressure air, which is provided by the installation shown in Figure 1, which comprises: An insulated combined tank (1), with a cell (2) of liquefied air and another (3) of liquefied fuel gas, equipped with their corresponding pumping groups (4 and 5).

An exchanger (6) where the liquid air and the liquefied fuel are gasified with heat from the environment, in our case of the air, although where seas, lakes and rivers are available, the water of the medium can be used.

A heating element (7) where the combustible gas is burned to overheat the pressurized air with the necessary auxiliary elements. A pressure engine (8) in which the pressurized air is injected to produce a job.

The combined tank (1) is thermally insulated from the outside, but the separation wall (9) between its cells (2 and 3) is partially conductive, with the function of maintaining the temperature of the liquefied fuel (-160 ° C) in a closed cell, without emission of polluting fuel vapors, because the heat absorbed by the fuel is removed by the liquefied air (-200 °) maintaining the temperature of both cells by self-cooling of the liquefied air and with emission to the outside only of gaseous air .

A small pipe (10) collects the possible fuel vapors from the top of your cell and passes them through the liquid air tank, liquefying them and returning them to your cell. The upper part (11) of this intermediate wall is flexible, as an accumulator, to act as a compensator for the pressures in the fuel cell when its vapors are liquefied or when fuel is pumped. The liquefied air cell by means of a regulating valve (12) works at low pressure or at atmospheric pressure.

Liquid air is pumped by the high pressure pump (4), which can reach 200 or 500 bar, while the fuel does not require a high pressure pump (5). The heating element (7) is a boiler that uses the combustible gas to reheat the pressurized air automatically, guaranteeing the entrusted gasifications and adequate pressure at the power demanded by the engine. The heat of the gases resulting from combustion is reused by passing them through the exchanger (6) to improve their performance.

After the heating element, a small accumulator (13) retains pressurized air from the heater or chambers for immediate engine needs. And then a regulator (14) of the pressure in the engine adjusts it to the power demand requested from said engine. This regulator takes fluid from the accumulator to raise the pressure in the chambers, maintains it or lowers it by discharging fluid to the accumulator or outside. The regulator is essential for uses of the engine in non-continuous services, such as cars, trucks, subway trains, etc., that require full power at startup and minimum in other situations such as downhill, so being able to load and unload the engine is at full load or without force, facilitating the arrest of the march and braking. The motorizations in continuous works the pressure can correspond with the one of full load.

The pressure engine of the invention, figures 2 and 3, consists of an outer casing (15) that is closed by two covers (16) in its bases on which it is mounted through bearings or bearings, not shown, a shaft (17) protruding on one side in a tubular portion (18) with a fitting for the entrance of pressurized fluid. On the opposite side, another portion (19) protrudes, which will constitute the power take-off of the engine for driving a vehicle, a generator, etc. The covers (16) are fixed to the housing (15) by bolts (20) or other fasteners.

As can be best seen in Figure 4, a cylindrical rotor (21) that is integral with the tubular shaft (17) is housed inside the housing (15). This rotor forms, from its cylindrical surface, a series of recesses (22), which are symmetrical with each other with respect to the axis (17). An independent part (23) is housed in each rotor recess (21). This independent piece (23) fits in its base with the recesses and leaves a pressure chamber (24) between both pieces. In the example shown in Figure 4, the rotor (21) is one piece and has four axial recesses (22), housing the same number of independent parts (23) that delimit as many pressure chambers (24). However, the rotor (21) could consist of more than one piece and form a smaller or greater number of axial recesses (22), with the consequent variation in the number of independent parts (23) and pressure chambers (24) . The pressure in these chambers drives the moving parts (23) to contact the inner surface of the outer casing (15) and to achieve this displacement our motor example requires telescopic guide elements (25). The friction between moving parts (23) and the inner surface of the housing (15) is diminished by a special rolling preparation of said surface together with the use of balls or rolling needles (26) that crown the moving parts.

The outer casing (15) has on its wall a set of holes and through openings (28) so that the pressure on all the interior surfaces of the engine is at atmospheric pressure, except for the chambers (24) and ducts that have the sealing elements (27) necessary.

Various series of passages (29) start radially from the tubular end of the shaft (18), in coincidence and alignment with others of the rotor that guarantee the pressure in the chambers (24). Another series of passages communicates the cameras with each other to allow fluid exchange between them when they change volume. Thus the flow is carried out with the lowest loss of load and the pressure in all the chambers remains approximately constant. This feedback of the chambers allows its operation with the lowest fluid consumption, while the pressure in all of them is guaranteed by the regulator through the tubular part of the shaft.

This type of engine does not work with the energy of gas expansion, as it happens in alternative engines, but with the pressure on the walls of the chambers and the variation of its volumes is a condition imposed by the geometry of the tread surface. By maintaining the pressure in the chambers, the fluid does not lose its mechanical characteristics and allows its reuse with transit to other chambers and thus the external consumption of pressurized fluid is small, resulting in high engine efficiency. As indicated in the example shown in the drawings, the rotor comprises four recesses with as many independent parts delimiting the same number of pressure chambers that are consecutively perpendicular to each other, but taking into account that the number of recesses, independent parts and Cameras may vary.

The forces at play can be seen in Figure 5. The pressure originated in each chamber (24) produces forces against the walls. The resulting one, F, on the surface of the rotor, is normal to the base of the housing (22) and will produce a torque that rotates the rotor (21). The pressure also acts on the moving part (23) producing, in the opposite direction to the force F, the counterforce C, which is moved by said moving part to the inner race surface of the housing (15) on which the needle will act rolling (26).

In the center of the section of the rolling needle we will study the counterforce C that can decompose into a component N normal to the surface of the housing (15) and another component T parallel to the tangent. The component N is absorbed by the inner surface of the housing (15) but the other component, T, cannot be transferred to the housing, acts on the independent part (23) opposing the rotation of the rotor. The balance of the torque with respect to the center of rotation (CG) of the force F and of the component T will result in the driving power. To reduce T in the presented motor, an extended spiral surface is designed to three quadrants during which the cameras increase in volume and the remaining quadrant that is closed will have volume reduction, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 4. So that when passing the closing quadrant the chambers do not increase their pressure must be interconnected by sufficient passages as well as those of the tubular axis and the gas in this quadrant before being overcompressed will pass to the rest of the chambers that increase volume. Likewise, the expanding chambers will need the flow inlet so that their pressure is not reduced. The pressure compensation in the chambers is ensured by the accumulator (13) and controlled by the regulator (14). The result in a complete turn of each chamber must produce a positive net torque. The existence of four cameras allows combining the power of the engine whose operation will be balanced, smooth and quiet. The pressure engine proposed in this preferred embodiment can be applied to various uses, requiring slight adaptations for its commissioning, and has many advantages, which have been shelling throughout this description. Many elements, such as check valves, command and control, etc. They have not been described because they are known and depend on the specific applications of the pressure engine. The safety requirements will also be taken care of, although the design advocated in this invention lacks fuel tanks in dangerous ways, as is the case today for gasoline or diesel combustion engines, as well as high pressure hydrogen tanks for fuel cells. In our engine only the chambers have fluid under pressure, the rest of the engine being at atmospheric pressure under the protective housing, so there is no danger.

The inner race surface of the housing will have a spiral, elliptical, circumferential section centered or not centered on the shaft, or composed, totally or partially, of any geometric shape that produces good performance to the engine.

The series of passages that start from the tubular shaft (29) and follow the rotor to the chambers have the function of properly maintaining the pressure of the chambers according to the regulator and are arranged along the tubular axis in appropriate number and distance, which They can be completed by other passages of direct intercom between the cameras.

The covers that close the bases of the housing, in some embodiments, can serve to regulate from outside the pressure of the fluid in the chambers by means of through holes in the covers that go directly to the chambers.

The direction of rotation of the motor is determined by the side used in the notched rotor to arrange the chambers.

Claims

1. - Rotary motor driven by the pressure of a fluid, which is fed from a pressurized fluid supply system, consisting of:

- an outer shell (15)

- a rotor (21) inside the housing connected to a shaft (17), whose rotor has from its surface a series of recesses (22) balanced evenly with respect to the shaft; Y

- independent parts (23) housed in each axial recess which are movable under pressure to the internal surface of the housing and delimit with each of their recesses a pressure chamber (24);

- whose outer casing is closed at its bases by two covers (16) through which the shaft protrudes in portions that define, on the one hand the power take-off of the motor (19), and on the other, of tubular structure ( 18), the connection to a source of pressurized fluid supply; Y

- whose rotor and coaxial axis have coincident series of first passages (29) for pressurized fluid that flow directly into the pressure chambers delimited between rotor and independent parts; Y

- whose independent parts are carriers of sealing means for each pressure chamber and rolling elements (26) to rest on the inner surface of the outer shell;

characterized by:

- The rotor (21) and its axis (17) are offset from the housing (15);

- The recesses (22) run in axial direction and with one of its side walls in coplanar position with the axis (17)

The pressure chambers are directly intercommunicated with each other through a second series of passages;

- The housing has holes and through slots in the wall

2. - Engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the elements for supplying pressurized fluid comprise: a combined tank (1) that stores liquefied air and liquefied combustible gas in adjacent cells that remain maintained by self-cooling of the air, with its corresponding pumping means;

a heat exchanger (6) configured for the gasification of liquefied air and fuel, by means of heat provided by the environment;

a heating boiler (7) that uses external combustion of the gasified fuel; an air storage tank (13)

a regulator (14) of the fluid pressure in the chambers;