Rotary ramjet engine
First Claim
1. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising:
- a thruster disposed for rotary motion along a substantially circular thruster path positioned in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said shaft axis, said thruster being capable of generating a thruster torque about said shaft axis, said thruster generating a thruster centrifugal force acting thereon when rotating along said thruster path;
a thruster-to-shaft coupling means operatively coupled to both said thruster and said output shaft for transmitting said thruster torque to said output shaft;
an independent centrifugal force compensating means operatively coupled to said thruster for reacting to said centrifugal force and compensating for the latter so as to maintain said thruster in said thruster path when said thruster is rotated in said rotary plane;
whereby said thruster-to-shaft coupling means and said centrifugal force compensating means are allowed to perform their respective force transmitting and compensating function substantially independently from each other so as to substantially reduce the need for said thruster-to-shaft coupling means to react to and compensate for said centrifugal force.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An engine for providing rotary power about an output shaft with a high power-to-weight ratio includes a plurality of flow guiding blades mounted on the inner surface of an annular thruster base. The flow guiding blades cooperate with the peripheral surface of a rotor for forming a plurality of ramjet-like thrusters. The configuration of the flow guiding blades allows for optimization of the number of thrusters. The centrifugal forces generated by the rotating components is compensated by an annular reinforcement wall made with high strength materials allowing for downsizing of the rotor and associated components.
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Citations
64 Claims
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1. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising:
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a thruster disposed for rotary motion along a substantially circular thruster path positioned in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said shaft axis, said thruster being capable of generating a thruster torque about said shaft axis, said thruster generating a thruster centrifugal force acting thereon when rotating along said thruster path;
a thruster-to-shaft coupling means operatively coupled to both said thruster and said output shaft for transmitting said thruster torque to said output shaft;
an independent centrifugal force compensating means operatively coupled to said thruster for reacting to said centrifugal force and compensating for the latter so as to maintain said thruster in said thruster path when said thruster is rotated in said rotary plane;
whereby said thruster-to-shaft coupling means and said centrifugal force compensating means are allowed to perform their respective force transmitting and compensating function substantially independently from each other so as to substantially reduce the need for said thruster-to-shaft coupling means to react to and compensate for said centrifugal force. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft using a combustible fluid, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising:
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a casing having a substantially cylindrical casing inner wall;
a substantially cylindrical thruster base defining a thruster base axis, said thruster base axis extending in a substantially collinear relationship relative to said shaft axis, said thruster base being disposed for rotary motion relative to said casing inner wall in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said thruster base axis, said thruster base defining a radially outwardly located thruster base outer surface and an opposed radially inwardly located thruster base inner surface, said thruster base extending between a circumferential thruster base intake peripheral edge and an axially opposed circumferential thruster base exhaust peripheral edge;
said thruster base and said casing inner wall being in a substantially concentric relationship relative to each other so as to define a casing inner wall-to-thruster base radial spacing therebetween;
at least one pair of flow guiding blades extending from said thruster base towards said casing inner wall, said flow guiding blades being configured, sized and spaced relative to each other so as to define together with portions of said thruster base and casing inner wall extending therebetween a ramjet thruster;
a thruster-to-shaft coupling means for operatively coupling said ramjet thruster and said output shaft. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft using a combustible fluid combustible into a product of combustion, said output shaft extending substantially along a rotational axis, said engine comprising:
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a stationary casing;
a rotor rotatably mounted to said casing for rotation relative thereto about said rotational axis;
a plurality of flow guiding blades extending substantially radially from a rotatable blade base coupled to said rotor for rotation solidarly therewith;
said flow guiding blades cooperating with said casing and said blade base for forming a plurality of ramjet thrusters allowing shock wave induced combustion therein of said combustible fluid;
said ramjet thrusters being configured so that said product of combustion flows out of said ramjet thrusters with an exhaust velocity having a tangential component. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising:
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a thruster disposed for rotary motion along a substantially circular thruster path positioned in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said shaft axis, said thruster being capable of generating a thruster torque about said shaft axis, said thruster generating a thruster centrifugal force acting thereon when rotating along said thruster path;
a thruster-to-shaft coupler operatively coupled to both said thruster and said output shaft for transmitting said thruster torque to said output shaft;
an independent centrifugal force compensator operatively coupled to said thruster for reacting to said centrifugal force and compensating for the latter so as to maintain said thruster in said thruster path when said thruster is rotated in said rotary plane;
whereby said thruster-to-shaft coupler and said centrifugal force compensator are separate from each other so as to substantially reduce the need for said thruster-to-shaft coupler to react to and compensate for said centrifugal force.
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64. A rotary engine for producing an output power about an output shaft using a combustible fluid, said output shaft extending substantially along a shaft axis, said engine comprising:
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a casing having a substantially cylindrical casing inner wall;
a substantially cylindrical thruster base defining a thruster base axis, said thruster base axis extending in a substantially collinear relationship relative to said shaft axis, said thruster base being disposed for rotary motion relative to said casing inner wall in a rotary plane substantially perpendicular to said thruster base axis, said thruster base defining a radially outwardly located thruster base outer surface and an opposed radially inwardly located thruster base inner surface, said thruster base extending between a circumferential thruster base intake peripheral edge and an axially opposed circumferential thruster base exhaust peripheral edge;
said thruster base and said casing inner wall being in a substantially concentric relationship relative to each other so as to define a casing inner wall-to-thruster base radial spacing therebetween;
at least one pair of flow guiding blades extending from said thruster base towards said casing inner wall, said flow guiding blades being configured, sized and spaced relative to each other so as to define together with portions of said thruster base and casing inner wall extending therebetween a ramjet thruster;
a thruster-to-shaft coupler for operatively coupling said ramjet thruster and said output shaft.
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Specification