Engine with no connecting rods

Abstract

The invention relates to engine design, and more particularly to internal combustion engines with no connecting rods. The present engine comprises a housing, cylinders, pistons disposed inside the cylinders and fastened to rods such as to be capable of translational motion, an output shaft, and a mechanism for converting translational motion into rotational motion of the output shaft. Said mechanism comprises an internally toothed ring gear which is fastened inside the housing; and a drive gear which is fastened to a rod such as to be capable of eccentric rotation and is disposed inside the ring gear. The drive gear has half as many teeth as the ring gear. First and second externally toothed planet gears are disposed inside the ring gear; the first planet gear meshes with the drive gear, and the second planet gear meshes with the first planet gear and with the ring gear. The axles of the planet gears are connected by a planet carrier. A timing gear on a central shaft is rigidly connected to the planet carrier and meshes with a gear on the output shaft.

Description

[0001] CONNECTING ROD ENGINE

[0002] Field of technology

[0003] The invention relates to the field of engine building, namely to connecting rod-less internal combustion engines.

[0004] State of the art

[0005] A connecting rodless engine is a piston internal combustion engine in which the drive is transmitted to the crankshaft without creating lateral pressure on the cylinder wall. Typically, such engines use a piston rod, rigidly connected to a coaxial piston rod, instead of a connecting rod.

[0006] The closest analogue of the invention is a connecting rod-less engine, disclosed in Russian patent RU2398121, issued August 27, 2010. The engine comprises a housing, cylinders, pistons with rods, an output shaft mounted for translational movement, and a gear mechanism for converting piston motion. The gear mechanism comprises: a crown gear of internal engagement, fixedly secured in the housing, a double drive gear of external engagement, secured eccentrically on the cylinder rod and located eccentrically relative to the crown gear, a first satellite gear of external engagement, engaged with the drive gear, a second double satellite gear of external engagement, located eccentrically relative to the crown gear, engaged with the first satellite gear and with the crown gear, a carrier rigidly connecting the axes of the drive, first and second satellite gears, and connected to the output shaft.

[0007] The use of dual pinions in the analog under consideration results in the engagement areas being in different planes, increasing the pressure on the ring gear teeth. The analog also has a rigidly defined gear ratio of 2 / 3 for the dual drive pinion. The presence of such a pinion reduces the number of pinion teeth relative to the ring gear. Consequently, the drive pinion radius decreases, increasing the torque on the pinion teeth and significantly reducing the effect of gear unloading and the reduction in pressure on the teeth achieved by using two satellite gears. Thus, the main technical problem addressed by the claimed invention is the increased load on the teeth of the gear mechanism that converts the piston's reciprocating motion into the shaft's rotational motion.

[0008] Disclosure of the essence of the invention

[0009] The technical result of the invention is to reduce the load on the gear teeth of the linear-to-rotary conversion mechanism, easing the requirements for gear materials and manufacturing precision without compromising performance. Additional technical results include arranging the timing mechanism drive from the central shaft and enabling forced cylinder scavenging.

[0010] The said technical result is achieved in the claimed invention due to the fact that the connecting rod-less engine includes a housing, cylinders, pistons placed in the cylinders and rigidly fixed on rods with the possibility of translational movement, an output shaft, and at least one mechanism for converting the translational movement of the pistons into rotational movement of the output shaft. The said conversion mechanism includes: a ring gear of internal engagement, fixedly fixed in the housing; a drive gear attached to the rod with the possibility of eccentric rotation and placed eccentrically inside the ring gear in its plane, wherein the drive gear has half as many teeth as the ring gear; at least one first satellite gear of external engagement, placed inside the ring gear in its plane, which is in engagement with the drive gear;at least one second external engagement satellite gear located inside the ring gear in its plane on the side opposite to the center of the drive gear and engaged with the first satellite gear and the ring gear; a carrier connecting the axes of the first and second satellite gears, and a timing gear located on the central shaft, rigidly connected to the carrier and engaged with the output shaft gear.

[0011] The said result is also achieved in particular embodiments of the invention due to the fact that:

[0012] - the engine comprises two cylinders with pistons placed opposite each other, the piston rods of which are rigidly coaxially connected, as well as two specified conversion mechanisms placed on both sides relative to the axis of the piston rods; - the engine additionally comprises a valve timing mechanism containing spool valves placed in the lower part of the cylinders and a drive mechanism for rotating the spool valves, connected to the central shaft.

[0013] - the drive mechanism for rotating the spool valves contains a central gear mounted on the central shaft, intermediate gears engaged with the central gear, and spool gears rigidly connected to the spool valves;

[0014] - the cylinders include a compressor space located under the piston for forced purging of the cylinder.

[0015] The solution under consideration utilizes a gear reducer (conversion mechanism), which places lesser demands on gear materials and manufacturing precision without compromising other characteristics. By using two satellite gears, the proposed invention eliminates the limitation on the drive gear radius and allows the engagement load to be transferred to the opposite side of the ring gear, significantly increasing the leverage. Using more than one satellite gear allows for even greater load reduction in this transmission.

[0016] Unlike its counterpart, which uses dual gears, the entire planetary mechanism lies in a single plane, reducing the load on the engagement points and allowing for a larger drive gear radius. The gear ratio from the drive gear to the ring gear is 1 / 2, since only in this case will the drive gear rotate in the opposite direction to the rotor (output shaft) and make the same number of revolutions, while the piston rod axis will perform linear reciprocating motion. The claimed mechanism layout also allows for the use of the space under the piston as a compressor space for forced cylinder scavenging. Furthermore, the engine uses spool valves near the bottom dead center, where temperature and pressure permit, to control the cylinder scavenging process. Placing the spool valves in this location allows for their simple drive from the central shaft.

[0017] Brief description of the drawings

[0018] The invention is illustrated by figures, where:

[0019] Figure 1 shows a general view of the engine using a test model as an example,

[0020] Figure 2 shows a side view of the engine,

[0021] Figure 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the engine, Figure 4 shows the engine in disassembled form,

[0022] Figures 5-8 show variants of the implementation of satellite gears in a gear mechanism.

[0023] The elements are designated on the figures by the following positions:

[0024] 1 - body,

[0025] 2 - cylinder;

[0026] 3 - piston;

[0027] 4 - rod;

[0028] 5 - output shaft;

[0029] 6 - ring gear,

[0030] 7 - drive gear,

[0031] 8 - first satellite gear,

[0032] 9 - second satellite gear;

[0033] 10 - driver;

[0034] 11 - timing gear;

[0035] 12 - central shaft;

[0036] 13 - spool valve;

[0037] 14 - central gear;

[0038] 15 - intermediate gear;

[0039] 16 - spool gears;

[0040] 17 - output shaft gear;

[0041] 18 - bushing;

[0042] 19 - guide;

[0043] 20 - compressor space;

[0044] Implementation of the invention

[0045] The claimed invention is illustrated using a two-stroke connecting rod-less engine as an example. The engine comprises a housing (1) in which two cylinders (2) with pistons (3) are arranged opposite each other, the piston rods (4) of which are rigidly and coaxially fastened with the possibility of synchronous reciprocating movement along the axis of the pistons (4) (see Figs. 3, 4). In the upper part of the housing (1) there is an output shaft (5) connected to the pistons by means of two crank gear mechanisms for converting the reciprocating motion of the pistons (4) into rotary motion of the output shaft (5). The said mechanisms are arranged symmetrically on both sides relative to the axis of the pistons (4) and are synchronized with each other.

[0046] Each of the specified conversion mechanisms includes a crown gear

[0047] (6) internal engagement, a drive gear (7) external engagement, one or more first satellite gears (8) external engagement, one or more second satellite gears (9) external engagement, a carrier (10), a central gear (11) external engagement and a central shaft (12).

[0048] The crown gear (6) is mounted fixedly in the engine housing (1). The drive gear (7) is mounted on the rods (4) with an eccentricity such that its axis is located perpendicular to the rods (4) in the bushing (18) located in the connecting part of the rods (4). In this case, the drive gear (7) itself is attached to the axis of rotation with an offset relative to the center of the gear and is located eccentrically inside the crown gear (6) in its plane. The drive gear (7) has half as many teeth as the crown gear (6) (gear ratio 1 / 2).

[0049] The first satellite gear (8) is also located inside the ring gear (5) in the same plane with it and is in engagement with the drive gear (5). The second satellite gear (9) is located inside the ring gear (6) in its plane on the side opposite to the center of the drive gear (7) and is in engagement with the first satellite gear (8) and with the ring gear (6).

[0050] The number of satellite gears (8,9) may be different. In particular, the following schemes may be provided: with one first satellite gear (8) and one second satellite gear (9) (see Fig. 5), with two first satellite gears (8) and with two second satellite gears (9) (see Fig. 6), with two first satellite gears (8) and one second satellite gear (9) (see Fig. 7), with three first satellite gears (8) and two second satellite gears (9) (see Fig. 8), etc. Increasing the number of satellite gears (8,9) makes it possible to reduce the load on the gear teeth and relieve the gear transmission. The number of teeth of satellite gears (8) and (9) is not of fundamental importance, since it does not affect the gear ratio.

[0051] The axes of the first (8) and second (9) satellite gears are connected to each other by a planet carrier

[0052] (10), which in turn is eccentrically attached to the timing gear

[0053] (11) of a larger size, mounted on the output shaft (5). Thus, the axes of gears (7), (8) and (9) move synchronously relative to the ring gear (8), transmitting rotation to the central shaft (12). In this case, the timing gear (11) is located coaxially with the ring gear (6) and is in engagement with the gear (17) of the output shaft (5), mounted parallel to the central shaft (12).

[0054] The engine also has a valve timing mechanism located in the side of the housing and containing four spool valves (13) located in the lower part of the cylinders (2), and a drive mechanism for rotating the spool valves (13), connected to the central shaft. The drive mechanism contains a small-diameter central gear (14) mounted on the central shaft.

[0055] (12), two intermediate gears (15) meshed with the central gear (1), and four spool gears (16) meshed with the intermediate gears (15) and connected to the movable part of the spool valves (13). The central shaft (12), the axles of the intermediate gears (15) and the spool valves (13) are mounted in guides (19) attached to the housing (1). In this circuit, the spool valve phase shifter mechanism is easily implemented.

[0056] Under the pistons (3) in the cylinders (2) a compressor space (20) may be provided for forced purging of the cylinder (see Fig. 3).

[0057] The engine functions as follows. As a result of detonation of the fuel mixture in the cylinder (2), the piston (3) and piston rods (4) move along the axis. This leads to a shift in the eccentric axis of the drive gear (7), which, being inside the ring gear (6) in contact with the satellite gears, performs an eccentric rotation. This rotation leads to the transmission of rotation to the first satellite gear (8) and then to the second satellite gear (9), interacting with the ring gear (6). Thus, the drive gear (7) rotates synchronously with the planet carrier (10) relative to the ring gear (6), which leads to the rotation of the central shaft (12) via the timing gear (11). From the timing gear (11), rotation is transmitted through the output shaft gear (17) to the output shaft (5).In this case, the rotation of the central shaft (12) leads to the coordinated rotation of the moving parts of the spool valves (13) through the gears (15) and (16) to control the opening and closing of the cylinder channels (12) for fuel injection.

Claims

CLAUSES OF THE INVENTION 1. A connecting rod-less engine comprising: a housing (1), cylinders (2), pistons (3) located in the cylinders (2) and rigidly fixed on rods (4) with the possibility of translational movement, an output shaft (5), and at least one mechanism for converting the translational movement of the pistons into rotational movement of the output shaft (5), wherein said conversion mechanism includes: - a crown gear (6) of internal engagement, fixedly secured in the housing (1); - a drive gear (7) attached to the rod (4) with the possibility of eccentric rotation and located eccentrically inside the crown gear (6) in its plane, wherein the drive gear (7) has half as many teeth as the crown gear (6); - at least one first satellite gear (8) of external engagement, located inside the crown gear (6) in its plane, which is in engagement with the drive gear (7); - at least one second satellite gear (9) of external engagement, located inside the crown gear (6) in its plane on the side opposite to the center of the drive gear (7) and engaged with the first satellite gear (8) and with the crown gear (6); - a carrier (10) connecting the axes of the first (8) and second (9) satellite gears; and - a distribution gear (I), located on the central shaft (12), rigidly connected to the planet carrier (10) and engaged with the gear (17) of the output shaft (5).

2. A connecting rod-less engine according to claim 1, characterized in that it contains two cylinders (2) placed opposite each other with pistons (3), the rods (4) of which are rigidly coaxially connected, as well as two of the said conversion mechanisms placed on both sides relative to the axis of the rods (4).

3. A connecting rod-less engine according to claim 1, characterized in that it additionally contains a valve timing mechanism containing spool valves (13) located in the lower part of the cylinders (2) and a drive mechanism for rotating the spool valves, connected to the central shaft (12).

4. A connecting rod-less engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive mechanism for rotating the spool valves comprises a central gear (1) mounted on a central shaft (12), intermediate gears (15) engaged with the central gear (14), and spool gears (16) connected to the spool valves (13).

5. A connecting rod-less engine according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylinders (2) include a compressor space (20) located under the piston (3) for forced purging of the cylinder.

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