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Rotary valve for internal combustion engine

  • US 5,941,206 A
  • Filed: 03/20/1998
  • Issued: 08/24/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/22/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A rotary valve for controlling the supply and exhaust of fluid to and from a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, comprising:

  • a valve rotor having a cylindrical rotor body with an inlet and an outlet channel extending therethrough and which channels respectively end in an inlet and an outlet port formed in circumferentially spaced apart relationship on a circumferential surface of the body and in an inlet and an outlet opening formed in opposite axial end surfaces of the body;

    a valve bore having a transfer port in its circumferential surface communicating the interior of the bore with the combustion chamber, the valve rotor being received co-axially within the valve bore so as to maintain a small radial clearance gap between the circumferential surface of the rotor body and the facing valve bore surface, the valve rotor arranged for synchronised rotation with the stroke timing sequence of the operating cycle of the engine such that the inlet and outlet ports pass over the transfer port for periodically enabling fluid exchange therethrough; and

    a sealing system comprising at least two sealing rings mounted on the rotor body on opposite axial sides of the inlet and outlet ports and a plurality of longitudinal sealing blades mounted on the rotor body and extending between the sealing rings, the sealing rings and blades disposed to bridge the radial clearance gap and rub against the bore surface;

    wherein the circumferential surface of the rotor body is notionally subdivided into four circumferentially successively arranged zones corresponding to an induction, a compression, a combustion and an exhaust stroke of the engine operating cycle, wherein the intake port located in the induction zone extends for an arc length of about 1.571 to 2.094 radians, wherein the compression and combustion zones include an ignition zone overlapping both said zones and which has a circumferential length greater than that of the transfer port, and wherein at least one of said sealing blades is located at the beginning of the induction zone, at the beginning and one at the end of the ignition zone, at the beginning of the exhaust zone and between the exhaust and induction zones, respectively, whereby the arrangement of sealing rings, sealing blades and thereby framed valve rotor zones is such that charge compressed during the compression stroke and combustion gases created during the combustion stroke are substantially prevented during these strokes from passing from the transfer port into the inlet and outlet ports and openings of the rotor body and fluid exchange between the inlet and outlet ports of the rotor body is also substantially prevented during these strokes.

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