The present invention relates in general to engines for vehicles and refers, more specifically, to an engine driven for attraction and repulsion electromagnetic forces that was especially conceived to be a viable alternative to the traditional combustion engines. Known State of art

The basic principle of the explosion engines comprises the transmission of the up and down movement of the pistons inside the cylinders for the wheels of the vehicle, using conventional mechanisms as crankshafts. The movement of the piston is caused by the explosion of a mixture of fuel and air at the top of the cylinder, whose impact drives the piston to the bottom. This movement is cyclical and in a four-stroke engine comprises the gases admission (when the piston moves away from the top of the cylinder), the gases compression (when the piston returns), the gases expansion (explosion) and discharge of the residues. The explosion can be caused by the compression of the gases associated to a spark generated by a sparkling plug (in most of the gasoline or alcohol engines) or only by the gases compression (diesel engine).

These conventional engines depend on fossil fuels that are not renewable (gasoline and diesel) or fuels from vegetal origin (alcohol and biodiesel) which involves the planting, harvest and industrial processing of grains to be produced. Another problem is the fact that these engines are highly polluting what, considering the great number of vehicles currently in operation around the world, means a serious environmental problem. There is also another kind of combustion engine known in the art. The rotational Wankel engine uses the same basic principles of the other explosion engines but presents a triangular configuration. This engine consists essentially of a chamber which internal shape is very close to the shape of an eight and is endowed with a triangular rotor that spins axially with a main axle and due to the explosion of the mixture of fuel and air injected in said chamber reproduces the classic cycle of the four-stroke engine in a smother way, with less vibration and less fuel consumption. However, it uses the same type of fuel and presents the same problems of pollution of the classic combustion engine.

There were some attempts to substitute the explosion engines for magnetic engines that use magnetic attraction and repulsion forces between magnetic bodies to generate mechanical movement. These engines however were too much complex and presented a conception so different of the combustion engines currently in use that requires the complete substitution of the engine as well as a series of modification to be carried out in the vehicle. These make the use of these engines economically impracticable. The inventor cites American patents US 6504285 and US

7466044 and the Brazilian applications BRPI0602084-4 and BRPI8200983. All of these documents describe magnetic engines with circular configurations, all destined to transform magnetic force into mechanical force. Novelty and objectives of the invention

The present invention comprises a magnetic engine for vehicles that maintains all transmission mechanisms of the conventional explosion engines, keeping the same set of pistons, cylinders, crankshafts and connecting rods, modifying only the method of drive the pistons, substituting the explosions for magnetic forces of attraction and repulsion. Thus it is possible to keep the basic structure of a conventional engine and to make a simple conversion to transform it into a magnetic engine, allowing the total or partial substitution of conventional fuels and obtaining an economically viable engine, since the user will not have to substitute it completely.

According to the teachings of the present invention any combustion engine can be converted into a magnetic engine including the rotational Wankel engine.

The converted engine will not need cooling systems - since it will not generate the same heat that an explosion engine - as well as will not need periodic changes like oil, exhaust, catalysts and other items related to fuel burning. The invention may also find applications in other sectors than not the automotive. The magnetic engines can be used in energy generators to substitute the blades of wind generators, creating small plants of easy maintenance, that can be locate next to the consumption points, reducing the costs associated with the construction, transmission and maintenance of the system.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the set of pistons and cylinder heads of the engine in a first embodiment of the invention where each piston generates a magnetic field and is associated to respective field generator in the cylinder head. Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the invention where both of the magnetic field generator elements are variable magnets.

Figure 3 is a schematic cross sectional view of the pistons and piston heads of a third embodiment of the invention where at least one of the magnetic field generator elements is a permanent magnet.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the cylinders with the pistons of a forth embodiment of the invention where the entire area above the cylinders is occupied for a large permanent magnet.

Figure 5 is a schematic view of the conversion of a Wankel engine.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Referring now to the drawings, the magnetic engine comprises magnetic field generator devices disposed in the pistons (1 ) and in the area above the cylinders (2) to generate magnetic fields of same polarity to create mutual repulsion forces that push the pistons

(1) downward within their respective cylinders (2), basically reproducing the same movement of a combustion engine that will be transmitted to wheels of the vehicle for conventional means. Thus the engine will be a two stroke engine, one of magnetic repulsion with the downward movement of the piston and another neutral with the upward movement of the piston.

The first embodiment of the invention provides that the piston (1) is composed by an element generator of a fixed magnetic field (permanent magnet) or variable (winding) and it is also inserted another element generator of magnetic field (2) fixed or variable in the engine head (3). The elements generators of magnetic field (1 and 3) are electrically powered by the cables of the spark plug and also by the fuel injector, wherein the time and intensity is programmed by the electronic injection. It should be remarked that during the rising of the piston (1 ) it may be programmed the polarity reversion of one of magnetic field generator devices (1 or 3) in order to generate reverse polarities and magnetic attraction forces between the head (3) and piston (1), increasing in this way the force and the yield of the engine.

The second achievement of the invention provides that the whole area above the cylinders (2) is filled with a permanent magnet (3 ') that acts over all pistons (1), as shown in Figure 2.

Another embodiment of the invention is designed to the application in Wankel engine using one or two fixed or variable magnetic fields generator devices, with one head or two opposing heads (4), and in this configuration the triangular element (1 ) acts like the piston.