Low friction turbine engine

摘要

An internal combustion engine in the form of a frictionless turbine includes a piston and a combustion chamber with a combustion chamber wall, which is frictionless because it has no piston rings so that the pistons do not touch the combustion chamber wall. There is clearance between the piston and the chamber wall, so that no piston lubrication is provided or needed, and the absence of friction between the piston and chamber wall permits the turbine to reach very high speeds. Computer control preferably is provided to meter fuel into the combustion chamber as turbine revolutions per minute increase from starting speed to full speed to maximize engine smoothness of operation and efficiency.

主权项

1. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising:
a housing having a cylindrical central chamber of a predetermined diameter and cylindrical outer chambers extending parallel to and intersecting said cylindrical central chamber at circumferentially spaced locations, said cylindrical outer chambers being of the same diameter as each other and smaller than said predetermined diameter of said cylindrical central chamber; a central rotor rotatable in said cylindrical central chamber and having an outer periphery with a continuous circumferential groove therein said central rotor having a predetermined diameter at the bottom of said continuous circumferential groove; the inside of said housing at said cylindrical central chamber and the outside of said central rotor at said continuous circumferential groove therein defining a toroidal space between them; vanes coupled to said central rotor to move in unison with said central rotor, said vanes each blocking said continuous circumferential groove at circumferentially spaced locations along the periphery of said the central rotor and extending out from the central rotor to the inside of said cylindrical central chamber to divide said toroidal space into segments extending in succession circumferentially of said central rotor; means for introducing fuel and air into each of said segments of said toroidal space during each rotation of the central rotor, means for igniting the fuel/air mixture in each of said segments of said toroidal space during each rotation of the central rotor, and means for passing the products of combustion from said segments of said toroidal space; a plurality of outer rotors rotatable respectively in said cylindrical outer chambers, each of said plurality of outer rotors having a pair of circumferentially spaced lobes, each said lobe having a clearance fit with the inside of each of the corresponding cylindrical outer chambers, and a pair of peripheral recesses between said lobes, each said plurality of outer rotors having a diameter at said lobes substantially equal to said predetermined diameter of said central rotor at the bottom of said continuous circumferential groove therein, each said outer rotor having a clearance fit of said pair of circumferentially spaced lobes in said continuous circumferential groove in said central rotor when said central rotor rotates in one direction and said plurality of outer rotors rotate in an opposite direction, each of said pair of circumferentially spaced lobes completely blocking said means for introducing air during a respective predetermined part of each rotation of said outer rotor; said vanes on said central rotor passing circumferentially through said pair of peripheral recesses in each said outer rotor when said central rotor rotates in one direction and said plurality of outer rotors rotate in the opposite direction, and means acting between said central rotor and said plurality of outer rotors to cause said plurality of outer rotors to rotate in the opposite direction from the central rotor, with the surface speed of said pairs of circumferentially spaced lobes equal to the surface speed of said central rotor at the bottom of said continuous circumferential groove.