JPH07158464A - Four cycle piston type internal combustion engine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perform suction, compression, ignition, expansion, and exhaust of combustion gas in sequence and to achieve simplification, weight reduction, and improvement of fuel consumption by rotating a piston every 90 deg. inside a cylinder, and moving the piston to dead center positions at both right and left ends in sequence by means of a guide means. CONSTITUTION: When a piston 10 first rotates 90 deg. clockwise inside a cylinder 2, the piston 10 is moved by a guide means 20 to a dead center position at a right end to cause suction of combustion gas into a work space 8 from an inlet passage 36 via an inlet opening 38. When the piston 10 rotates 90 deg. a second time, the piston 10 is moved to a dead center position at a left end to compress the combustion gas in the work space 8 and combustion chamber halves 32, 34. At the end of compression stroke, the combustion chamber halves 32, 34 complement each other to form a combustion chamber, and the combustion gas in the combustion chamber is ignited by a spark 35. As a result, the piston 10 is driven for rotation and shifted to expansion stroke, its rotary movement being transmitted to a drive shaft 16a via a shaft member 14a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to at least one cylinder which receives a cylindrical piston in a sealing-sliding manner.
A work space defined between one end wall of the cylinder and an adjacent end wall of the piston, an inlet opening connected to an inlet passage for supplying combustion gas to the work space, and the work space. The present invention relates to a four-cycle piston type internal combustion engine having a discharge opening connected to an outlet passage for discharging exhaust gas from the outlet and valve means for opening and closing the inlet opening and the discharge opening in a cyclic manner.

[0002]

Reciprocating piston type internal combustion engines have been highly developed. However, the disadvantage is that the reciprocating motion of the piston must be transmitted to the drive shaft by the crankshaft mechanism. Therefore, the reciprocating piston type engine has a relatively complicated structure, a large weight, a high space requirement,
This leads to high costs and high fuel consumption rates.

The rotary piston type internal combustion engine does not require a camshaft mechanism because the rotary motion of the rotary piston can be directly transmitted to the output shaft. However, rotary piston internal combustion engines have limited success due to sealing problems, excessive fuel consumption and other deficiencies due to triple load variations.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a unique four cycle piston type internal combustion engine that operates according to the new principles.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a four-cycle piston type internal combustion engine having a simple structure, a light weight and a minimum fuel consumption rate.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the internal combustion engine of the present invention, the piston has four piston cycles: a) suction, b) compression, c) expansion and d) discharge while the piston rotates about 360 °. 4 cycles, that is, four reciprocating motions are performed according to each cycle of. The rotary movement of the piston can be directly transmitted to the rotary output means. Combustion chamber halves, which are formed on the circumferential walls of the cylinder and piston and complement each other on ignition to form a combustion chamber, ensure that torque is exerted by the expanding combustion gas on the outer periphery of the piston. Therefore, the rotational force exerted on the piston substantially exceeds the axial force exerted on the piston.

The internal combustion engine according to the present invention has both advantages of a reciprocating piston type engine and a rotary piston type engine. Since the crankshaft mechanism is unnecessary, the engine of the present invention can have a relatively simple structure and can be lightweight. Since the force exerted by the expanding combustion gases acts primarily in the direction of rotation and on the outer surface of the piston, the engine is highly efficient, which results in a low fuel consumption rate. This is facilitated by the complete swirling action of the fuel gas in the combustion chamber mainly due to the rotational movement of the piston. The internal combustion engine is highly reliable and has a long life due to its simple structure.

The internal combustion engine of the present invention can be applied to both an Otto type and a diesel type. The internal combustion engine of the present invention is preferably, but not exclusively, used as a vehicle engine.

The constitutions of the present invention are listed below.

1. At least one cylinder for sealingly and slidingly receiving a cylindrical piston; a work space defined between one end wall of the cylinder and an adjacent end wall of the piston; An inlet opening connected to the inlet passage for supplying to the work space, a discharge opening connected to the discharge passage for discharging exhaust gas from the work space, and opening and closing the inlet opening and the discharge opening in a cyclic manner. A four-stroke piston internal combustion engine, comprising: (a) the piston mounted in the cylinder for axial and rotational movement, and having a serpentine shape. Guide means are mounted between the piston and the cylinder so that the piston travels four reciprocations over approximately 360 ° for each revolution according to four cycles of the internal combustion engine. And (b) the cylinder and the piston each include combustion chamber halves formed on their respective circumferences adjacent to the end walls facing each other, and these combustion chamber halves are When the combustion gas is ignited, the combustion gas expanding in the combustion chamber exerts a rotational force on the piston, so that the combustion gas is ignited so as to complement each other to form one combustion chamber,
(C) The piston includes a shaft member coaxially arranged for transmitting the rotational movement of the piston to the output means.
Cycle piston type internal combustion engine.

2. The meandering guide means has a semi-circular cross-section meandering groove formed in the circumferential wall of the piston, and a portion of the piston facing the diameter in the circumferential wall of the cylinder. The internal combustion engine according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of spheres mounted so as to engage with the groove.

3. The combustion chamber halves have substantially triangular shapes in a plane orthogonal to the axis of the cylinder and complement each other to form one substantially rectangular combustion chamber, which combustion chamber A drive surface in the piston extending substantially transverse to the direction of rotation of the piston;
The internal combustion engine of claim 1, including a reaction surface in the cylinder that is substantially parallel to the drive surface.

4. The shaft member is axially movable and non-rotatable with respect to the drive shaft so as to allow reciprocating motion of the piston and transmission of rotational motion of the piston to the drive shaft in the drive shaft. 2. The internal combustion engine according to claim 1, wherein the drive shaft is mounted in the cylinder so as to be rotatable and axially stationary.

5. 5. The internal combustion engine according to 4, wherein the shaft member and the drive shaft have a polygonal cross-sectional shape.

6. 5. The internal combustion engine according to 4, wherein the shaft member and the drive shaft are arranged on the axial side of each of the pistons.

7. The valve means includes a valve flange formed with a valve orifice therethrough, the valve flange rotatably mounted in one end wall of the cylinder, the inlet The internal combustion engine of claim 1, wherein the internal combustion engine is rotatably coupled to the piston so as to open and close the opening and the discharge opening in a cyclic manner.

8. In order to prevent or reduce gas leakage, a sealing disc having a sealing disc orifice formed therethrough is axially movably mounted in the recess of the valve flange and supported against the valve flange. Resilient means are arranged to bias the sealing disc towards the adjacent end wall of the cylinder, and an axial projection of the valve flange surrounding the valve orifice causes the sealing disc to seal. 8. The internal combustion engine according to the above 4 or 7, which is slidably mounted in a stop disk orifice.

9. 2. The internal combustion engine according to claim 1, wherein another space is arranged between the piston and the cylinder on the axial side of the piston remote from the work space.

10. The further space is connected to the inlet passage and the discharge passage by means of respective re-supply conduit means, whereby a portion of the exhaust gas from the discharge passage to the further space and from there with fresh combustion gas the inlet. 10. The internal combustion engine according to 9 above, which is re-supplied to the work space via a passage.

11. The internal combustion engine according to claim 4, wherein the drive shaft is connected to a piston of another cylinder.

12. 2. Internal combustion engine according to claim 1, wherein the internal combustion engine is of the Otto type and the ignition means is arranged in the combustion chamber half of the cylinder.

[0022]

1 shows a cylinder-piston assembly of a four-cycle internal combustion engine operating according to the Otto process. Each part of the internal combustion engine (not shown) such as fuel air mixing means (carburetor means or fuel injection means), electronic control means, lubrication means, ignition means and the like may be of a conventional type. Therefore, they are not necessary for an understanding of the invention and will not be described here.

The cylinder-piston assembly shown in FIG. 1 comprises a housing formed as a cylinder 2 with a cylindrical circumferential wall 4 and a pair of end walls 6a, 6b. The end walls 6a, 6b are fixedly and sealingly connected to the peripheral wall 4 so as to define a cylindrical space in the cylinder 2.

The cylindrical piston 10 has a cylindrical space divided into a work space 8 on the left side (work side) and another space 9 on the right side (re-supply side) in FIG.
A piston ring 12 is sealingly and slidably mounted in the cylindrical space.

The cylinder-piston assembly shown in FIG. 1 is, in one respect, symmetrical about the center plane III-III.
Therefore, the parts which are arranged on both sides of the piston 10 and correspond to each other are indicated by the same reference numerals with alphabetic letters a and b.

The piston 10 has shaft members 14a and 14b extending coaxially on the opposite end faces thereof, and these shaft members are non-rotatable with respect to the drive shafts 16a and 16b. Further, they are connected so as to be movable in the axial direction. For this purpose, the shaft members 14a, 14b have a polygonal, in particular hexagonal or octagonal cross-section and extend into a polygonal recess inside the mating shape of the drive shafts 16a, 16b. . The drive shafts 16a, 16b are mounted rotatably but axially stationary in the front walls 6a, 6b by bearings 18a, 18b, respectively.

As a result, the piston 10 is capable of pivotal movement and axial reciprocating movement. The piston 10 has a relatively large diameter, as shown in FIG. The axial length of the cylindrical space exceeds the axial length of the piston 10 by about 50%.

The guide means 20 causes the piston 10 to simultaneously perform a rotational movement and a reciprocating movement (spiral movement).
It is arranged between the piston 10 and the peripheral wall 4 of the cylinder 2. The guide means 20 is provided with a meandering groove 22 formed in the peripheral wall of the piston 10. The groove 22 has a semicircular cross-sectional shape and is provided with a spiral portion having a substantially half-sine wave shape (see the development view of FIG. 5). A pair of spheres 24
The pair of bolts 26 allows the circumferential wall 4 of the cylinder 2 to
Inside, it is installed in a pair of places facing each other on the diameter,
The spheres 24 are fitted in the grooves 22 of the piston 10 such that half of each sphere 24 engages in the groove 22 of the piston 10. Therefore, as described in detail below, the piston 10 performs four reciprocating strokes in accordance with four cycles of the internal combustion engine, that is, each cycle of suction, compression, expansion and discharge strokes, while the piston 10 makes one complete rotation.

The working side of the cylinder-piston assembly (Fig. 1
On the left side), the circumferential wall 4 of the cylinder 2 and the piston 1
The circumferential wall of 0 is adjacent to the end faces of the cylinder 2 and the piston 10, respectively, and is defined by the combustion chamber half portions 32, 34.
Each is equipped with. The combustion chamber halves 32, 34 are such that when the piston 10 is in the position shown by the dashed line in FIG.
The combustion chambers 30 are formed in a mutually complementary manner. 3a, FIG.
As can be seen from b, each combustion chamber half 32, 34
Has a substantially triangular shape in a plane orthogonal to the cylinder axis. The combustion chamber halves 32, 34 are open to the work space 8 at their inner longitudinal sides, and the combustion chamber half 34 is also open to the work space 8 along one of its axial end faces. Has been done. In the combustion chamber half portion 32 in the cylinder 2, an ignition spark 35
The ignition means including is combined. The operation of the combustion chamber 30 will be described in more detail below.

The end wall 6a of the cylinder 2 comprises an inlet passage 36 having an inlet opening 38 open to the work space 8 for supplying combustion gas to the work space 8 (FIGS. 3a, 3b, (See FIG. 4). Furthermore, the end wall 6a is
A discharge passage 40 having a discharge opening 42 connected to the work space 8 for discharging exhaust gas is provided.

Valve means are provided for opening and closing the inlet opening 38 and the discharge opening 42, which valve means in the illustrated embodiment are a valve flange 48a arranged on the drive shaft 16a and a valve. And a valve orifice 54a passing through the flange 48a (see FIGS. 1, 3a, 3b, 6 and 7). The valve flange 48a rotatably mounted in the recess of the end wall 6a includes the drive shaft 16a and the piston 1.
Due to the drive connection between 0 and 0, it carries out the same rotational movement as the piston 10, so that the valve orifice 54a has an inlet opening 38 and an outlet opening 42 according to four cycles of a four-cycle engine.
Are sequentially aligned with inlet opening 38 and outlet opening 42 to open and close.

To prevent or reduce leakage losses between the valve flange 48a and the end wall 6a, a sealing disk 50a is axially slidably mounted in the recess of the valve flange 48a. The sealing disc 50a has a sealing disc orifice 52a of the same shape as the valve orifice 54a and extending through the sealing disc 50a, with respect to the axial projection of the valve flange 48a surrounding the valve orifice 54a. , Is slidably guided (see FIGS. 6 and 7). Since the sealing disk 50a is pressed against the end surface of the end wall 6a by a plurality of (for example, three) arc-shaped leaf springs 56a supported by the valve flange 48a, the sealing disk 50a does not leak. Its sealing function can be bypassed to prevent it.

The operation of the cylinder-piston assembly of the four-cycle Otto type internal combustion engine described above is as follows.

Assume that piston 10 has just begun its suction stroke. The piston 10 is now in the rotational position shown in FIG. 3 with the orifices 52a, 54a beginning to overlap one another with the inlet opening 38. Since the piston 10 is at the left end dead position (in FIG. 1) at this time, the volume of the work space 8 is -unless considering the volume of the combustion chamber halves 32,34. Next, the piston 10
When you rotate 90 ° clockwise, the piston 10
Is guided by the guide means 20 at the right end (in FIG. 1),
Move toward the dead position at the same time. The combustion gases thereby pass through the open inlet openings 38 and the inlet passages 3
6 is sucked into the work space 8.

The combustion gas may be a combustion-air mixture if carburetor means (not shown) is provided. Alternatively, if there is a fuel injection means (not shown) combined with the work space 8, the combustion gas may be air.

When the piston 10 is rotated through the next 90 °, it makes an axial stroke towards its dead position at the left end (in FIG. 1) so that the work space 8 and the combustion chamber halves 32, 34 The combustion gas of is compressed. At the end of the compression stroke, the piston 10 is in the rotational position shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3b, where the combustion chamber halves 32, 34 complement each other to form the combustion chamber 30. At this point, maximum compression of the combustion gases has been achieved. Substantially all of the combustion gases
It is in the combustion chamber 30 and is ignited by an ignition spark 35.

The combustion chamber 30b has a substantially rectangular shape, as shown in FIG. 3a. The combustion chamber half portion 34 of the piston 10 has a drive surface 34 ′ that is substantially orthogonal to the rotation direction.
And the combustion chamber half 32 of the cylinder 2 has a drive surface 3
It has a reaction surface 32 'substantially parallel to 4'. Due to the structure and configuration of the combustion chamber 30, the expanding combustion gas exerts a rotational force on the piston 10, and these rotational forces are applied to the outer peripheral surface of the piston 10 so as to provide a substantial torque. To work.

The piston 10 is consequently driven in the rotational direction by the combustion gases and at the same time undergoes an expansion stroke (to the right in FIG. 1). The rotational movement of the piston 10 is directly transmitted to the drive shaft 16a via the shaft member 14a,
Allows the internal combustion engine to operate more efficiently.

When the piston 10 rotates 90 °, the expansion stroke (working stroke) ends, so that exhaust gas can be discharged. The piston 10 is moved to the left again (in FIG. 1) by the guiding means 20 during the discharge cycle, the valve orifices 52a, 54a sweeping over the discharge opening 42 in the meantime. Therefore, the exhaust gas is exhausted by the piston 10 into the exhaust passage 40. At the end of the discharge stroke, the piston 10 is again in the angular position shown by the broken line in FIG. 3, and the orifices 52a and 54a are located between the discharge opening 42 and the inlet opening 38.

The piston 10 therefore goes through four work cycles, suction, compression, expansion (work) and discharge cycles, which are characteristic of a four-cycle engine, each cycle being about 90 ° of the piston 10. Of rotation and its axial travel. Piston 10 is 4
One complete rotation of about 360 ° during one work cycle,
Perform four axial strokes.

Resupply conduits 60, 62, which communicate with the further space 9 through openings 64, 66, branch off from each of the discharge passage 40 and the inlet passage 36. Openings 64,6
In order to control the opening and closing of 6, the valve flange 48b and the sealing disk 50 having the same structure and operation as those on the work side.
An assembly consisting of b, orifices 52b, 54b, and spring 56b is provided on the refeed side.

Therefore, a part of the exhaust gas flowing through the exhaust passage 40 (for example, 1/3 to 1/1 of the exhaust gas volume).
4) via the resupply conduit 60 during the discharge cycle,
It is sucked into the other space 9. During the next suction cycle, the exhaust gas in the other space 9 is replenished by the resupply conduit 62.
Is led to the inlet passage 36 via the
It flows into the work space 8 via the inlet opening 38.

As a result, the combustion gases are preheated and the engine is heated so as to reach its operating temperature quickly, so that optimum ignition and combustion is obtained and the emission of pollutants is correspondingly reduced.

The proportion of gas diverted on the resupply side can be measured by sizing each of the resupply conduits 60, 62. It should be noted that this metering can be done by respective controlled valve means (not shown). The latter case has the advantage that the exhaust gas resupply is limited to operating conditions of insufficient temperature, such as when the engine is cold started.

The piston 10 is provided with a recess (not shown) for increasing the volume of the other space 9 in order to prevent an excessive vacuum in the other space 9 during the compression stroke. You can In addition, or as an alternative thereto, a valve means for supplying air from the inlet passage 36 or directly supplying air from the atmosphere may be prepared.

The drive shaft of another cylinder may be connected to the drive shafts 16a and 16b directly or via a transmission means.

A cooling fluid passage 68 for cooling the cylinder is shown in FIGS. 3a, 3b and 4. Detailed structural parts of the internal combustion engine, such as the lubrication method, which are not necessary for understanding the present invention, are not particularly described.

However, a longitudinal lubrication hole (not shown) may be formed in the bolt 26 to allow precise lubrication of the guide means 20 or sphere 24 and groove 22 and piston 10.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cylinder of a 4-cycle internal combustion engine.
It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of a piston assembly.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the cylinder-piston assembly shown in FIG.

3a and 3b are sectional views as seen in the direction of arrow III in FIG. 1, in which the pistons shown in broken lines are one with respect to the other.
It is a figure which shows the state in which it is in two positions shifted by 80 degrees.

4 is a cross-sectional view as seen in the direction of arrow IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a development view of the circumferential surface of the piston on a reduced scale.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing valve means of the cylinder-piston assembly of FIGS. 1-5.

7 is an end view showing the valve flange of the valve means shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 cylinder 8 working space 10 pistons 14a, 14b shaft member 22 groove (guide means) 30 combustion chamber 32, 34 combustion chamber half part 38 inlet opening 42 discharge opening

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A work space defined between at least one cylinder for sealingly and slidingly receiving a cylindrical piston and one end wall of the cylinder and an adjacent end wall of the piston. An inlet opening connected to an inlet passage for supplying combustion gas to the work space, a discharge opening connected to an exhaust passage for discharging exhaust gas from the work space, the inlet opening and the discharge opening Is a four-cycle piston internal combustion engine equipped with valve means for cyclically opening and closing, wherein (a) the piston is mounted in the cylinder so as to perform axial movement and rotational movement. And a meandering guide means is mounted between the piston and the cylinder so that the piston extends over about 360 ° for each revolution according to four cycles of the internal combustion engine. , It is to perform 4 reciprocal movement,
(B) The cylinder and the piston each include a combustion chamber half portion formed in each circumference adjacent to mutually facing end walls, and these combustion chamber half portions are provided at the time of ignition of combustion gas. When the combustion gas is ignited, the combustion gases expanding in the combustion chamber complement each other so as to exert a rotational force on the piston, thereby forming one combustion chamber, (c)
A four-cycle piston internal combustion engine in which the piston includes a shaft member coaxially arranged for transmitting a rotational movement of the piston to an output means.