Four-stroke Cycle Patents (Class 123/55.4)
  • Patent number: 10012145
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine using a two stroke cycle includes a pair of opposing cylinder units, each of which are located on opposing sides of a crankcase. In each cylinder unit is a cylinder with a piston disposed in the cylinder. Each piston is coupled to a piston rod that is aligned along an axis that passes through the center of each cylinder bore. The piston rods pass through the crankcase wall into the crankcase chamber, and are further coupled to a yoke. Each cylinder unit has an intake channel from the crankcase chamber to a cylinder intake port in the cylinder. As the piston traverses its upstroke in its cylinder, it creates a vacuum under the piston. At the top of its stroke a piston intake port becomes aligned with the cylinder intake port, allow fuel to be drawn into the cylinder under the piston. As a result, a continuous vacuum is experienced in the crankcase without the need for mechanical valving arrangements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Inventor: Alberto Francisco Araujo
  • Patent number: 9816378
    Abstract: A compressor/motor has fluid processing stages, each having ports through which a fluid is accepted in one volume and expelled in another volume. A system of valves selectively couples the ports to define, for a first process of a cycle, a unidirectional fluid path through the fluid processing stages that expels the fluid from path-adjacent fluid processing stages in incrementally smaller volumes. In a second process of the cycle, a reverse unidirectional fluid path is defined by the valves where the fluid expelled from path-adjacent fluid processing stages is in incrementally larger volumes. A mechanical interface coupled to the fluid processing stages conveys a force to the fluid processing stages to compel the fluid through the fluid path in the first process or conveys the force from the fluid processing stages that is compelled by the fluid traversing the reverse fluid path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Harris Corporation
    Inventor: Keith C. Sneddon
  • Patent number: 8763583
    Abstract: An opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder OPOC engine is disclosed in which the central axis of the two cylinders is collinear. In four-stroke engines, this is possible with a built up crankshaft. Disclosed are connecting rod configurations that are suitable for a two-stroke engine that can be assembled to a unitary crankshaft, including both pullrods in tension and pushrods in compression. The configuration includes pistons arranged symmetrically, but with offset timing of the intake and exhaust pistons. The offset timing leads to a slight imbalance which can be partially overcome by having the center of gravity of the crankshaft offset from the axis of rotation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: EcoMotors, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Hofbauer, Adrian Tusinean
  • Patent number: 8590497
    Abstract: A split-cycle air-hybrid engine includes a rotatable crankshaft. A compression piston is slidably received within a compression cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft. An expansion piston is slidably received within an expansion cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft. An exhaust valve selectively controls gas flow out of the expansion cylinder. A crossover passage interconnects the compression and expansion cylinders. The crossover passage includes a crossover compression (XovrC) valve and a crossover expansion (XovrE) valve therein. An air reservoir is operatively connected to the crossover passage. An air reservoir valve selectively controls air flow into and out of the air reservoir. In an Air Compressor (AC) mode of the engine, the XovrE valve is kept closed during an entire rotation of the crankshaft, and the exhaust valve is kept open for at least 240 CA degrees of the same rotation of the crankshaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Scuderi Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Riccardo Meldolesi, Nicholas Badain, Ian Gilbert
  • Patent number: 8534240
    Abstract: An improvement to the Waissi type opposed piston internal combustion (IC) engine is proposed. The engine has at least one pair of aligned and opposed cylinders with one reciprocating double-headed piston assembly in each cylinder pair. The reciprocating motion of the piston is transmitted to the driveshaft by a rotating crankdisk, which is off-centered mounted to the driveshaft. The high friction metal to metal contact between the crankdisk and the piston contact wall is replaced by a combination of a roll resistance and friction under hydrodynamic conditions resulting to a significantly reduced total resistance between the piston and the crankdisk. This is accomplished by utilizing a bearing ring assembly slidably installed on the annular perimeter surface of the crankdisk. When the crankdisk rotates the bearing ring is held in its designed place in a slot bounded laterally only by the connecting members of the integrated double-headed piston assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Inventors: Gary Ray Robert Waissi, Robert Waissi
  • Patent number: 8499728
    Abstract: A cylinder linkage method for a multi-cylinder internal-combustion engine comprising connecting piston rods (27) and pistons (28) of four or more linkage combustion and compression reversible cylinder blocks (14A, 14B, 14C, 14D, 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D) and of reversible precompression cylinder blocks (3, 8) simultaneously by one linkage rod (26), such that the linkage rod (26) is able to drive the linkage pistons (28) to move in the same direction simultaneously and to arrive at a top dead center or a bottom dead center or any same stroke position between the two dead centers of all the linkage cylinder blocks simultaneously. The cylinder linkage method for a multi-cylinder internal-combustion engine can be used to manufacture a multi-cylinder linkage compound internal-combustion engine, and further used to manufacture internal-combustion engines such as gasoline internal-combustion engine, diesel internal-combustion engine, natural gas internal-combustion engine etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Inventors: Shengli Xie, Linghui Xie
  • Patent number: 8464671
    Abstract: The horizontally opposed center fired engine improves on the traditional design of the horizontally opposed engines and center fired engines with a better engine geometry. The present invention utilizes four pairs of opposing pistons to compress a larger volume of air-fuel mixture within four different cylinders. The four different cylinders are radially positioned around a center axle in order to achieve a perfectly symmetric engine geometry. The center axle consists of two different shafts spinning in two different directions, which could drastically reduce engine vibrations in the present invention. Engine vibrations are caused by a change in engine speed and result in a loss of energy. Due to the design, the present invention will only experience energy loss in the form of entropy and friction. Thus, the present invention can convert a higher percentage of chemical energy into mechanical energy than any other internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Inventor: Bo Zhou
  • Patent number: 8245673
    Abstract: An engine comprising: a shaft (6) having a first multilobate cam (5a) axially fixed to said shaft (6) and an adjacent second multilobate cam (5b) differentially geared to said first multilobate and a pair of diametrically opposed pistons (1a, 1b) which pistons of a pair of pistons are rigidly interconnected by a connecting plate (4) and wherein, reciprocating motion of said pistons imparts rotary motion to said shaft via contact between said pistons and the camming surfaces of said multilobate cams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Revetec Holdings Limited
    Inventor: Bradley Howell-Smith
  • Patent number: 7874949
    Abstract: In a power unit, a counter shaft of a transmission and a crank shaft of an internal combustion engine, both located below a main shaft of the transmission, are arranged parallel to each other on a separating plane H of a crankcase. In a transmission mechanism T which drives an oil pump located below the separating plane H, a drive sprocket is placed on the main shaft of the transmission and a driven sprocket is placed on a drive shaft of the oil pump. An endless chain slidably touches a slender long chain guide along the running direction of the endless chain. The chain guide is fitted only to an end wall of an upper crankcase at its fitting part. The chain guide stretches across the end wall of the upper crankcase and an end wall of a lower crankcase, and effectively suppresses vibration of the endless chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yuichi Tawarada
  • Publication number: 20070215076
    Abstract: A V-engine (10) having two banks of cylinders (30) each comprising at least one cylinder (20) and a cylinder head (40) is envisaged, wherein the banks of cylinders (30) each comprise at least one inlet valve (12) and also at least one outlet valve (14) for each cylinder (20), while the at least one inlet valve (12) and the at least one outlet valve (14) are arranged in pairs opposite one another on opposite sides of the cylinder head (10), and each cylinder head (10) and its connections to the other engine components are constructed such that it can be mounted in a first position relative to the respective bank of cylinders (30) and in a position rotated through 180° relative to the first position on the same bank of cylinders (30).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Inventor: Christian Weber
  • Patent number: 7134418
    Abstract: A four-stroke internal combustion engine is provided that is capable of use in many power tools, including those power tools subjected to tippable applications. The engine includes an oil reservoir and a crank chamber separated by a divider. The divider includes a slot that allows lubricant to move from the oil reservoir into the crank chamber and from the crank chamber into the oil reservoir in response to pressure fluctuations of the engine. The engine can include an insert positioned within the slot to at least partially restrict the slot thereby modifying the lubricant communication between the crank chamber and the oil reservoir through the slot. The insert can be wedge-shaped and at least partially define a passage such that when the insert is positioned within the slot the transfer of lubricant between the crank chamber and the oil reservoir occurs through the passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2006
    Assignee: Briggs & Stratton Corporation
    Inventors: John Jerome Nagel, John Alan Zbiegien, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7066140
    Abstract: A crankcase scavenged and lubricated four-stroke engine (1) comprising especially: a mixture-preparation device (15) for supplying an air-fuel-lubricant mixture; an intake channel (16) connecting to the crankcase or cylinder to supply at least air (13) to the crankcase volume (12); an overflow channel (17) connecting to the crankcase or cylinder and to the intake opening (7) with intake valve (8) to supply to the intake at least air and lubricant from the crankcase volume; a valve drive assembly (18) driven by a crankshaft (4) for actuating the intake valve (8) and the exhaust valve (10); a valve drive assembly housing (19, 20, 21, 21?, 22) comprising one or more sections (19, 20, 21, 21?, 22) which is/are separate from the crankcase but in communication exclusively with the crankcase volume via at least one small size passage (23, 24, 25, 26, 27), and each section (19, 20, 21, 21?, 22) of the valve drive assembly housing has a lowest part situated closer to the combustion chamber, than the lowest part of the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Aktiebolaget Electrolux
    Inventors: Lennart Emanuelsson, Peter Gunnarsson, Esbjörn Ollas, Tore Aronsson