| 摘要 |
An internal combustion engine comprising an engine block comprised of a main cavity, an intake plenum, and an exhaust plenum; a crankshaft supported within the main cavity of the engine block; a rotating piston assembly contained within the main cavity of the engine block and comprised of a rotatable cylinder housing having a housing axis of rotation and comprised of a plurality of pistons contained in combustion cylinders; and a rotating valve ring contained within the engine block and surrounding the rotating piston assembly, and comprised of intake ports, ignition energy ports, and exhaust ports corresponding to each of the plurality of combustion cylinders. The rotatable cylinder housing has an axis of rotation that is parallel to and offset from the crankshaft axis of rotation. |
| 主权项 |
1. An internal combustion engine comprising:
a) an engine block comprised of a main cavity, an intake plenum, and an exhaust plenum; b) a crankshaft supported within the main cavity of the engine block and having a crankshaft axis of rotation; c) a rotating piston assembly contained within the main cavity of the engine block and comprised of a rotatable cylinder housing having a housing axis of rotation and comprised of a plurality of pistons contained in combustion cylinders, the cylinder housing axis of rotation parallel to and offset from the crankshaft axis of rotation, each of the plurality of combustion cylinders comprising a cylindrical side wall and a top wall formed in the cylinder housing, and each piston operatively connected by a piston rod to the crankshaft and reciprocable along the central axis of the cylindrical side wall, wherein for each of the plurality of pistons in combustion cylinders, the piston and the cylindrical side wall and top wall of the cylinder form a variable volume combustion chamber; d) a rotating valve ring contained within the engine block and surrounding the rotating piston assembly, the rotating valve ring comprised of valve port sets, each valve port set comprising intake ports, ignition energy ports, and exhaust ports communicable with each of the plurality of combustion cylinders; wherein: the rotating piston assembly and the rotating valve ring are operatively coupled to the crankshaft such that the rotating piston assembly and the rotating valve ring rotate synchronously with rotation of the crankshaft; rotation of the piston assembly around the rotatable cylinder housing axis of rotation causes the distance from the crankshaft to the cylindrical side wall of each combustion cylinder to vary periodically, thereby causing each piston to reciprocate within its cylindrical side wall in repeated intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes; for each respective combustion cylinder, during the intake stroke of the piston contained therein from a distal end of the cylinder to the proximal end of the cylinder, the rotating valve ring positions an intake port for the respective combustion cylinder so that the combustion chamber of the cylinder is in communication with the intake plenum, thereby causing a gas contained in the intake plenum to flow into the combustion chamber; and during the compression stroke of the piston from the proximal end of the cylinder to the distal end of the cylinder, the rotating valve ring positions a first barrier wall that seals the top wall of the combustion cylinder, thereby causing compression of the gas in the combustion chamber as the piston moves from the proximal end of the cylinder to the distal end of the cylinder; and at substantially the end of the compression stroke of the piston, the rotating valve ring positions an ignition energy port in communication with the combustion chamber and an ignition energy source, thereby delivering ignition energy to the gas, thereby causing the gas in the combustion chamber to ignite; and during the power stroke of the piston from a distal end of the cylinder to the proximal end of the cylinder, the gas combusts while the rotating valve ring positions a second barrier wall that seals the top wall of the combustion cylinder, thereby causing an increase in pressure within the combustion chamber, thereby applying a force on the piston and the connecting rod in the proximal direction, and thereby applying a torque on the crankshaft to cause crankshaft rotation; and during the exhaust stroke of the piston from the proximal end of the cylinder to the distal end of the cylinder, the rotating valve ring positions an exhaust port for the respective combustion cylinder so that the combustion chamber of the cylinder is in communication with the exhaust plenum, thereby causing combustion gas contained in the combustion chamber to flow into the exhaust plenum. |
