ROTARY ENGINE

• US 3,744,926 A
• Filed: 05/22/1972
• Issued: 07/10/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Joseph Ross Hedges
• Original Assignee: Joseph Ross Hedges
• Inventors: Hedges, Joseph Ross
• Primary Examiner(s): Husar, C. J.
• Application Number:
  US05/255,376
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 415/92,85 60/39.44
• US Class Current: 415/92
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 1/34 characterised by non-bladed rotor, e.g. with drilled holes F01D1/32 takes precedence; sirens G10K7/00 ; impact turbines with buckets F01D1/026; hand-held tools with a non-bladed rotor F01D15/067

Abstract

A rotary engine or turbine which uses a pressurized gas to drive a rotor and thereby produce rotary motion. The turbine has a solid cylindrical shaped rotor containing a multiplicity of flutes formed around its periphery. It also has a unique porting arrangement which uniformly directs the gas onto the flutes through multiple inlet ports that are aligned with corresponding exhaust ports thereby utilizing the energy of the pressurized gas to the maximum extent.

Claims

1. A rotary engine powered by pressurized fluid and comprising a housing having outer and inner surfaces and an inlet port and an exhaust port each extending through said housing from said outer surface to said inner surface, a first sleeve positioned within said housing and having a plurality of inlet ports and a plurality of exhaust ports, first means providiNg communication between the inlet port of said housing and the inlet ports of said first sleeve and between the exhaust port of said housing and the exhaust ports of said first sleeve, a second sleeve positioned within first sleeve and having a plurality of inlet ports and a plurality of exhaust ports, second means providing communication between the inlet ports of said first and second sleeves and between the exhaust ports of said first and second sleeves, a third sleeve positioned within said second sleeve and having a plurality of inlet ports and a plurality of exhaust ports, third means providing communication between inlet ports of said second and third sleeves and between the exhaust ports of said second and third sleeves, a rotor received within said third sleeve, means for rotatably supporting said rotor within said housing, a power output shaft operatively connected to said rotor, and a plurality of flutes spaced around the periphery of said rotor and positioned thereon so as to be in communcation at selected times with selected ones of the inlet and exhaust ports of said third sleeve, as said rotor rotates, the ports of said first, second and third sleeves combined with said first, second and third means providing for distribution of said pressurized fluid onto a plurality of some of said flutes simultaneously and further providing for exhausting of fluid from said flutes.

2. The rotary engine of claim 1 in which said first, second and third sleeves are each hollow cylinders with the respective ports in each sleeve extending from the outer surface to the inner surface thereof.

3. The rotary engine of claim 2 in which both the inlet and exhaust ports of said first sleeve are circumferentially spaced, and said first means provides for flow of said pressurized fluid from said inlet port circumferentially to all of the inlet ports in said first sleeve and further provides independently for flow of said pressurized fluid from the exhaust ports in said first sleeve circumferentially to the exhaust ports in said housing, the inlet ports in said second sleeve being axially spaced apart in circumferentially spaced rows and the exhaust ports in said second sleeve also being axially spaced part in circumferentially spaced rows, said second means providing for flow of said fluid in an axial direction from the inlet ports in said first sleeve to the inlet ports of said second sleeve and further providing for flow of said pressurized fluid in an axial direction from the exhaust ports in second sleeve to the exhaust ports in said first sleeve, the inlet ports in said third sleeve being axially spaced apart in circumferentially spaced rows, the exhaust ports in said third sleeve being axially spaced apart in circumferentially spaced rows, and said third means providing for communication between respective ones of the inlet ports in said third sleeve and the inlet ports in said second sleeve and the exhaust ports in said third sleeve and the exhaust ports in said second sleeve.

4. The rotary engine of claim 3 in which said first means includes a plurality of annular grooves formed on the inner surface of said housing, said annular grooves being axially spaced and positioned relative to the inlet and exhaust ports of said housing and said first sleeve so as to provide communication between the inlet ports and between the exhaust ports, said second means including axial grooves formed in the inner surface of said first sleeve and circumferentially spaced and positioned so as to provide communication between the respective inlet and exhaust ports of said first and second sleeves.

5. The rotary engine of claim 4 in which said flutes are axially spaced apart in circumferentially spaced rows around the periphery of said rotor, the flutes in each row being off-set axially from the flutes in adjacent rows.

6. The rotary engine of claim 5 in which the inlet ports in a row of inlet ports of said third sleeve are in alignment with respective exhaust ports in a row of exhaust ports in said third sleeve, said alignment being along chordal lines, so that pressurized fluid flows from an inlet port to an exhaust port through a flute on said rotor.

7. The rotary engine of claim 6 in which there are three times as many flutes on said rotor as there are inlet ports in said third sleeve, one-half of said flutes being in alignment simultaneously with one-half of said inlet ports in each row, the other half of said inlet ports and flutes being simultaneously in alignment at different times during a complete revolution of said rotor.

8. The rotary engine of claim 7 in which said rotor is a solid cylinder and said flutes are formed in the peripheral surface thereof, each flute being triangular in cross-section.

9. The rotary engine of claim 1 in which each inlet port in said third sleeve is in alignment with a respective one of the exhaust ports in said sleeve, each pair of inlet and exhaust ports being along a chordal line.

10. The rotary engine of claim 9 in which the flutes on said rotor are axially spaced apart in circumferentially spaced rows around the periphery of said rotor, the flutes in a row being off-set axially from the flutes in adjacent rows.

11. The rotary engine of claim 10 in which said rotor is a solid cylinder and the flutes are formed in the peripheral surface thereof, each flute being triangular in cross-section.