Reciprocating machine & other devices

Abstract

The disclosure relates to reciprocating fluid working devices including internal combustion engines, compressors and pumps. A number of arrangements for pistons and cylinders of unconventional configuration are described, mostly intended for use in IC engines operating without cooling. Included are toroidal combustion or working chambers, some with fluid flow through the core of the toroid, a single piston reciprocating between a pair of working chambers, tensile valve actuation, tensile links between piston and crankshaft, energy absorbing piston-crank links, crankshafts supported on gas bearings, cylinders rotating in housings, injectors having components which reciprocate or rotate during fuel delivery. In some embodiments pistons mare rotate while reciprocating. High temperature exhaust emissions systems are described, including those containing filamentary material, as are procedures for reducing emissions during cold start by means of valves at reaction volume exit. Also disclosed are improved vehicles, aircraft, marine craft, transmissions and exhaust emission systems suited to the engines of the invention.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The disclosure relates to improved pumps, compressors and combustion engines; the thermal management of the fluids being worked by such hardware and the thermal management of the hardware itself; combustion engine exhaust emissions control devices; components and ancillary equipment for pumps and engines; emissions control devices; vehicles, aircraft, marine craft and continuously variable transmissions.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Today's piston-and-cylinder engine hardware was first commercialized in the mid-18th century, using then available technology. Early internal combustion (IC) engine designers like Gottfried Daimler and Rudolf Diesel adapted the steam expansion chamber to a combined combustion and expansion chamber, leaving hardware essentially unchanged. One could say that a transformed twenty-first century embodiment of the reciprocating IC engine is overdue. This disclosure focuses on improved thermal management in reciprocating devices, including pumps, com...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The inventions comprise commercial long-life reciprocating internal combustion (IC) engines, pumps and compressors having high power densities, and having absolutely no cooling whatever. Principal components are generally made of ceramic materials. A preferred layout comprises a reciprocating component located between two toroidal working volumes in a cylinder surrounded by an exhaust processing volume, with charge air passing through the interior of the reciprocating component. Main objectives are to substantially improve efficiency and to reduce CO2 emissions. In most embodiments, the number of moving parts per cylinder, and the number of cylinders required for a desired output, are greatly reduced. Additional objectives are to improve power-to-weight and power-to-bulk ratios many fold, and to make reciprocating IC engines more silent and vibration-free. In many embodiments, all the principle components are of ceramic material. The inventions further comprise using high-temperature and optionally high-pressure exhaust from such un-cooled engines to power another engine, such as a turbine, steam or Stirling engine. New configurations of pistons, cylinders and cylinder heads are disclosed, which form the basis for improved pumps and compressors. The inventions further comprise adapting today's designs to embody engines at all times operating at a

Problems solved by technology

The expansion drives the piston and consequently engine while the heat product of the cycle is almost wholly unused—in fact considered undesirable since efforts are made to dissipate it as effectively as possible, by means of conduction through cylinder walls and head, to general radiation and to the cooling system.

At all other times the engine is running colder and therefore less efficiently.

Today, almost all engines during most of their operating life time run at temperatures substantially below the peak temperatures they are designed for, and so at lower efficiency because of the lower temperature.

It

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