| FR2539814A1 | 1984-07-27 | |||
| DE2624640A1 | 1977-12-08 | |||
| DE102006050204A1 | 2008-07-03 | |||
| SI21856A | 2006-02-28 | |||
| SI21856A | 2006-02-28 |
| Claims 1. Internal combustion engine (1) with a swivelling piston, consisting of an engine block, a piston (5) fitted on one side to a bearing, swivelling around its axis (5c), a cogged shaft (6), a crank (8), a connecting rod (9) and a crankshaft (10), characterised by featuring a three-part engine block (2, 3, 4) and by the fact that the piston (5), which swivels inside the operating area (3a) of the central part of the block (3), functioning in four combustion chambers (1 1 , 22, 33, 44) and using the crank (8) and connecting rod (9) to drive the crankshaft (10). 2. Engine according to Claim 1 , characterised by the piston (5) in its central section featuring a hub with a central through hole with internal rim cogging, attached onto a cogged shaft (6). 3. Engine according to any of the previous Claims, characterised by the sharp angles of the piston (a) being between 8° and 60°, preferably between 20° and 40°. 4. Engine according to any of the previous Claims, characterised by the sharp angle of the piston (a) being 30°. 5. Engine according to any of the previous Claims, characterised by both parts of the engine block (2, 4) being essentially the same. |
Field of the invention
The subject of the invention is an internal combustion engine with a swivelling piston, fitted on one side onto a bearing and oscillating in its housing, turns the engine's central shaft via the connecting rod and crankshaft.
Current state of the technology
Generally speaking, there are two types of internal combustion engines. The most common type uses a cylindrical piston that moves longitudinally, turning the main shaft via the connecting rod and crankshaft. The second type is a rotary engine where the piston (different shapes) rotates or rolls, thereby producing the rotation of the central shaft (e.g. the Wankl engine).
The problem with cylindrical piston engines is mainly their size, as well as the large number of parts and vibrations. The problem with rotary engines lies mainly in the sealing of the pistons and the vibrations.
Slovenian Patent No. 21856 (P-200400232; inventor: Hrzenjak N.) describes a swing- piston internal combustion engine that is smaller in size than the abovementioned types, is very compact and is assembled with fewer components, produces fewer vibrations, more torque and enables the use of many existing components.
The engine combines the advantages of longitudinal piston motion engines and engines with rotating pistons, because the proposed engine's piston partly rotate or swing around their axis and have at the same time the properties of engines with longitudinally moving pistons.
According to this invention, the piston is placed in two combustion chambers located on its top left or top right, viewed from the pivot axis, while the space located on the bottom left or right, viewed from the pivot axis, remains unused. Consequently, the swivelling piston as described in patent No. SI 21856 only uses the energy of two chambers at each swing. Should one desire to double the number of chambers, this design requires the addition of another swivelling piston, which results in a considerably larger engine.
Description of the invention
The subject invention solves the aforementioned problem by introducing one further piston that functions in four combustion chambers, whereby the upper two combustion chambers, viewing from the pivot axis, are top left and top right and the lower two chambers are on the bottom left and right.
Short description of the attached figures
The invention will be described below on the basis of the attached figures displaying:
Fig. 1 : Cross-section of the invented engine;
Fig. 2: Longitudinal cross-section of the invented engine;
Fig. 3: Disassembled display of the invented piston assembly;
Fig. 4: Three-dimensional display of the piston with the axis, connecting rod and crankshaft.
Detailed description of the invention
The description that follows will use the terms "piston" and "cylinder" as an analogy to standard cylindrical piston-equipped engines, although the piston and the cylinder of the engine that is the subject of the present invention are designed/shaped differently.
Motor 1 , subject of the present invention, is displayed in Figures 1 and 2, namely its frontal cross-section in Fig. 1 its longitudinal cross-section in Fig. 2.
Engine 1 is composed of a three-part block, whereby the central part of the block consists of the cavity - 3a - where the swivelling piston is moving, while the upper part of the block - 2 - and its lower part are essentially the same, containing parts that are placed in the head of standard engines, namely valves, spark plugs and the like.
The remaining elements of the engine that is the subject of the invention are well- known standard technical elements; therefore, we do not describe them herein (filters, exhaust system, sump, etc.). The cross-section of the swivelling piston - 5 - that is the subject of the invention, is rhombus-shaped with rounded corners at the obtuse angles - 5a - and bevelled corners at its sharp angles - 5b.
The central section of the piston - 5 - consists of reinforcement grids and a hub with a central through hole that is cogged and connected to the shaft, also cogged at this section, running from the middle part of the engine block - 3 - to the rear part of the engine - 7 - where it ends with another cogged section, which in turn connects with the crank - 8 - itself articulately joined with the connecting rod - 9 - and on to the crankshaft.
The functioning principle or the transfer of movement via the crank, connecting rod and crankshaft is a well-known engineering solution, as is the role of the crankshaft, therefore we refrain from describing these characteristics herein.
The sealing of the piston - 5 - at its lateral surfaces is done by lateral seal lamellas as described in the Slovenian patent No. 21856 (P-200400232; inventor: Hrzenjak N.), therefore we do not describe this in detail herein.
The swivelling piston - 5 - that is the essence of the present invention is displayed in greater detail in Figures 3 and 4. As it is evident from the aforementioned Figures, the extreme edges at the piston's sharp angles - 5b - are rounded, which is reflected in the shape of the central part of the engine block.
The characteristic of the engine - 1 - according to the invention in question is that one swivelling piston - 5 - has four combustion chambers - 1 1 , 22, 33 and 44 - that operate in the sequence of the four strokes of a four-stroke engine (suction, compression, explosion, exhaust).
In Figure 1 , the piston - 5 - is in one extreme position so that the chambers 22 and 44 are fully open, while the chambers 1 1 and 33 are completely closed. According to the invention in question, the sharp angle of the piston a can be between 8° and 60°, preferably between 20° and 40°, and optimally 30°.
In the case displayed in Figures 1 and 2, the central part of the engine block - 3 - is a single piece, inside which is the operating area in which the piston - 5 - swivels around its axis - 5c - thereby travelling along a segment of a circle. It is also possible to design a version comprising several swivelling pistons, fitted linearly along a single axis. The increase in the number of pistons does generate more power, but at the other hand, it results in significantly larger dimensions of the engine.
The invention in question is described using the attached Figures displaying a particular mode of practising the invention, but the invention is by no means limited by it. Anyone with sufficient experience in this field of engineering will realise that it allows for many variants of the present invention, which the present invention encompasses in full.