This invention relates to a rotary engine that functions without internal
gears, off-centered rotors, reciprocating pistons, crankshafts, trochoidal
chamber, chains, nor belts. (While no claim can be made on missing parts,
the fact that such conventional parts are missing is one of the reasons
that make this invention different from prior arts, and, therefore, it is
so listed.) The preferred embodiment, comprising multipurpose rotors,
paired dams, combustors, turbines, etc., could be made small enough to run
a lawn mower or large enough to fly a big air plane. It uses a modified
form of combustors, wherein combustion takes place amid ample air, thus
promoting a fuller combustion of fuel at a lower temperature than in
conventional rotary and reciprocating piston engines. Consequently, this
invention has a surprisingly low amount of CO, NO.sub.x, and unburnt
hydrocarbons in its exhausts. Each rotor has a compressing head, oil
reservoir, turbine blades protruding from its radial side, and cooling
means in its central part, and serves as a compressor, flywheel,
lubricator, engine cooler, and turbine. Exactly at the end of each
compressing cycle, each rotor releases its compressed gasses to the
combustors, wherein gasses are either mixed and ignited, or directly
ignited. The resulting expanding gasses passing through the combustors'
exhaust nozzles strike the turbines, causing the latters to spin. Each
turbine is attached to a rotor's radial side, and each rotor, in turn, is
keyed to the central power output shaft.
SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a rotary engine that has the good features
of rotary and air-breathing turbo-jet engines, but without the
off-centered geared rotating parts, jet disturbances, space taking axial
and radial compressors, and cumbersome heat exchangers. It has fewer
mechanical parts than the majority of the conventional hot-air, free
piston, gas turbine, and reciprocating piston engines, and consequently it
is lighter and takes less space than the majority of such engines of
comparable power. It is designed so that it could be constructed small
enough to run a lawn mower, or large enough to power a car, a boat, or an
electric generator of considerable size.
In designing the present engine, I have kept foremost in mind a power
source that will not become a threat to the environment. It is well known
that the conventional off-centered rotary, free piston, and reciprocating
piston engines have too much of the three major pollutants in their
exhausts: (1) carbon monoxide and (2) unburnt hydrocarbons, which are due
to a great extent to the incomplete combustion of fuels, and (3) nitrogen
oxides which are caused by too high a combustion temperature that is very
difficult or impossible to avoid in such engines. It is also known that
the combustions in the combustors of gas turbine and turbojet engines are
fuller and occur at a lower temperature than in the very limited
combustion spaces of the conventional off-centered rotary and the
reciprocating piston engines because more combustion supporting air and
space are available in the formers, and consequently there is very little
carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides in the exhausts
of combustor-equipped engines.
By using a new type of combustor, this invention provides a comparatively
large amount of air and space to sustain a fuller combustion at a lower
combustion temperature than are possible in the limited combustion spaces
of reciprocating piston and off-centered rotary engines now on the market,
thereby keeping the amount of carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, and
nitrogen oxides in its exhausts at a very low level that could hardly
become a serious threat to environment.
The present engine is made in a substantially cylindrical configuration,
which comprises, among others, a casing that is divisible into two
cylindrical parts, a pair of rotors that move in separate but parallel
paths, paired dams or gates, and combustors.
The two rotors, with a stationary cylindrical power chamber sandwiched
between them, are keyed to a common power output shaft. The forward wall
of each rotor serves as the piston head, and the heads of the two rotors
are separated from each other by 180.degree., which means that each piston
head will reach a given dam or gate in its path at a time different from
that of the other. Besides being a compressor, each rotor has a central
section that serves as an engine cooler and ventilator, a peripheral part
that contains an oil reservoir that serves as a supplier of lubricants to
the various contacting surfaces, a circle of turbine blades protruding
perpendicularly from its radial side, and sufficient weight that could
make it function as an energy conserving and rotation equalizing flywheel.
The said stationary power chamber contains the combustors, and separates
the paired dams and the paired rotors into the left and the right dams,
and the left and the right rotors. Each rotor's piston head compresses
gasses in its enclosed path against a leak-proof gate called dam. A dam is
mounted and securely attached to each end section of a common shaft with
the plane of each dam securely fixed in a position perpendicular to that
of the other. Consequently, if the right rotor's piston head, after
completing its side of the compression, pushes the right dam into a
horizontal or open position so that it could pass under it, the left dam
will, at the same moment, become vertical or closed so that the left
piston head could compress gasses in its path against the closed dam, and
vice versa. By virtue of the said perpendicularity of the paired dams and
the way the parts, the dams' shaft in particular, are structured and
arranged, the said dams open and close at the right time without any human
or electronic help.
Compression increases as each piston head approaches a closed or vertical
dam, and at the maximum or near maximum compression, the outlet ports in
each rotor's radial side, by virtue of the rotor's rotation, align with
the openings in the stationary passageways that lead to the power chamber,
thus giving the compressed gasses smooth channels that lead into the
combustors.
At low or lower medium speed, the combustors fire at regular or
comparatively short intervals, but the rotation of the output or power
shaft continues to be comparatively smooth due to the rotors that double
as flywheels. At the upper medium and high speeds, the intervals between
the compressions and firings become so short that the resulting rotation
of the engine, for all practical purpose, will be very near or about the
same as those of the continually firing jet engines.
The said combustors use compressed air and mix it with fuel, or use
compressed mixture of air and fuel, or even hydrogen. Ignition takes place
in the cone located in the paraboloidal nose of each combustor. The
resulting expanding gasses or jet strikes the turbines mounted and
attached to the radial side of each rotor, which is keyed to the central
power output shaft. Thus, the kenetic energy of the expanding gasses is
converted directly into usable rotary motion.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
For a fuller description of the parts, assembly, and operation of the said
engine, references are made to the following specification and to the
accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers are utilized to refer
to identical components throughout the several drawings. It is understood
that this invention is not to be construed as limited to the particular
forms described or illustrated herein, since the forms were chosen for the
purpose of the disclosure, and, therefore, should be regarded as
illustrative rather than restrictive.