Rotor vane motor device

Claim 1

In an eccentric rotor, concentric vane motor device having: a. a main chamber having therewithin a substantially cylindrical interior surface that defines a vane assembly cavity; b. first and second ports spaced around and communicating with said main chamber and serving as inlet and discharge ports; c. a plurality of angularly related radial vanes, independently pivotal and rotatable within said vane assembly cavity about a vane axis therewithin; said vanes occupying substantially the total radial distance from said vane axis to said interior surface; d. a rotor that is eccentrically mounted with respect to said vane assembly cavity and rotatable about a rotor axis spaced from said vane axis; said rotor having follower means for interdigitating said vanes and effecting a change in volume of a subchamber intermediate respective said vanes as said rotor and said vanes are rotated within said vane assembly cavity; each subchamber being delineated by a pair of confronting vane faces and a corresponding follower means between said vane faces and the interior surface and varying from a minimum volume with the respective follower means having its outermost position with respect to said vane axis, the minimum volume position being arbitrarily referred to as the zero degree position, to a maximum volume with the respective follower means at its innermost position with respect to said vane axis, arbitrarily referred to as the 180* position; and e. a power delivery shaft connected with said rotor for delivering power from said rotor; the improvement comprising an improved seal means intermediate said vane and said follower means in which: f. said follower means is disposed intermediate said respective vanes and comprises vane guides that are substantially cylindrical rollers extending longitudinally of said rotor and having respective vane engaging surfaces on each side that are disposed symmetrically about and have a predetermined radius of curvature with respect to the central axis of each respective vane guide; g. said vanes have lateral faces that are concaved inwardly toward the central pLane of the vane such that said follower means is maintained in substantially uniform sealing engagement with said vane lateral faces as said follower means traverse inwardly and outwardly therealong during rotation of said rotor such that a satisfactory seal is maintained intermediate said follower means and said vanes so that said follower means can serve as a piston as well as an interdigitating means; said vanes being symmetrically contoured with respect to said central plane of the vane such that each said respective vane maintains said satisfactory seal at their respective points of contact with adjacent vane guides; and h. an integral and adjustable flow through and torque control means for controlling torque output without requiring a throttle and the throttle-caused losses in efficiency.

Claim 10

A system for drivingly powering a machine forwardly and reversely at the option of an operator, without requiring a transmission that includes a clutch and reversing gears, comprising: a. a high pressure source of working fluid at superatmospheric pressure; b. a low pressure receiver means for receiving said working fluid at a pressure that is sufficiently lower than said superatmospheric pressure to enable deriving useful work from said working fluid flowing from said high pressure source through a motor device to said low pressure receiver means; c. an eccentric rotor, concentric vane motor device having: i. a main chamber having therewithin a substantially cylindrical interior surface that defines a vane assembly cavity; ii. first and second ports spaced around and communicating with said main chamber and serving as inlet and discharge ports; iii. a plurality of angularly related radial vanes, independently pivotal and rotatable within said vane assembly cavity aBout a vane axis therewithin; said vanes occupying substantially the total radial distance from said vane axis to said interior surface; iv. a rotor that is eccentrically mounted with respect to said vane assembly cavity and rotatable about a rotor axis spaced from said vane axis; said rotor having follower means intermediate respective said vanes for interdigitating said vanes and effecting a change in volume of a subchamber intermediate respective said vanes as said rotor and said vanes are rotated within said vane assembly cavity; each subchamber being delineated by a pair of confronting vane faces and a corresponding follower means between said vane faces and said interior surface and varying from a minimum volume at the outer-most position of said follower means with respect to said vane axis to a maximum volume at the innermost position of said follower means; v. a power delivery shaft connected with said rotor for delivering power from said rotor; vi. a satisfactory seal means intermediate said vanes and said follower means; vii. an integral and adjustable flow through and torque control means for controlling torque output of said motor without requiring a throttle and the throttle-caused losses in efficiency; said flow through and torque control means comprising: A. an angularly adjustable torque control sleeve that encompasses the entire periphery and length of the periphery and tips of said vanes and has a plurality of apertures extending the length of said torque control sleeve and peripherally thereabout sufficient to subtend an arc greater than 90* and no more than 180*; each said aperture having a cross sectional dimension peripherally of said torque control sleeve less than the thickness of a vane tip so as to prevent flow back of a fluid around said vane tip and to prevent communication with a plurality of subchambers simultaneously; a first plurality of similarly angularly disposed said apertures serving as inlet apertures communicating in normal operation between said vane assembly cavity and the one port of said first and second ports serving as the inlet port such that advancing said torque control sleeve in a first direction will increase the effective flow area through said inlet apertures and said inlet port and retarding said torque control sleeve in a second direction opposite said first direction will decrease the effective flow area through said inlet apertures and said inlet ports; said first plurality being less than one-half of said plurality of apertures; a second plurality of similarly angularly disposed said apertures serving as discharge apertures communicating in normal operation between said vane assembly cavity and the other port of said first and second ports serving as the discharge port; said second plurality being more than one-half of said plurality of apertures; and a sealing portion of said internal surface of said main chamber sealingly engaging said torque control sleeve and any of said apertures included between said inlet and discharge ports; said sealing portion being of a peripheral extent greater than that of a subchamber at its minimum volume so as to prevent communication between said inlet and discharge ports yet allow flow of fluids into and out of respective subchambers over their entire length; said torque control sleeve being reversible so as to reverse the port communicating with said vane assembly cavity via the inlet apertures for reversing the direction of rotation of said motor device; and B. a discharge flow control means that includes adjustable exhaust rings disposed at the ends of said main chamber for controlling the volumetric rate of flow of fluid through the discharge port of said first and second ports such that pressure interiorly of said vane assembly cavity can be controlled and reduce losses from over-expansion and under-expansion of a working fluid flowing therethrough from said high pressure source to said low pressure receiver means; saiD exhaust rings having a plurality of discharge apertures communicating in normal operation between a discharge port in said vane assembly cavity such that advancing said exhaust ring in a first direction will initiate the discharge of working fluid from respective subchambers earlier in terms of the angular displacement from the minimum volume position and retarding said exhaust ring in the second direction opposite said first direction will retard the initiation of the discharge of working fluid from respective subchambers; said discharge flow control means being reversible so as to reverse the port communicating with said main chamber via said discharge flow control means; and viii. at least one means for reversingly positioning said torque control sleeve and said discharge flow control means; and d. reversing valve means for controlling the direction of flow of said working fluid through said motor device between said source and said receiver means.

Claim 11

A system for drivingly powering a machine forwardly and reversely at the option of an operator, without requiring a transmission that includes a clutch and reversing gears, comprising: a. a high pressure source of working fluid at superatmospheric pressure; b. a low pressure receiver means for receiving said working fluid at a pressure that is sufficiently lower than said superatmospheric pressure to enable deriving useful work from said working fluid flowing from said high pressure source through a motor device to said low pressure receiver means; c. an eccentric rotor, concentric vane motor device having: i. a main chamber having therewithin a substantially cylindrical interior surface that defines a vane assembly cavity; ii. first and second ports spaced around and communicating with said main chamber and serving as inlet and discharge ports; iii. a plurality of angularly related radial vanes, independently pivotal and rotatable within said vane assembly cavity aBout a vane axis therewithin; said vanes occupying substantially the total radial distance from said vane axis to said interior surface; iv. a rotor that is eccentrically mounted with respect to said vane assembly cavity and rotatable about a rotor axis spaced from said vane axis; said rotor having follower means intermediate respective said vanes for interdigitating said vanes and effecting a change in volume of a subchamber intermediate respective said vanes as said rotor and said vanes are rotated within said vane assembly cavity; each subchamber being delineated by a pair of confronting vane faces and a corresponding follower means between said vane faces and said interior surface and varying from a minimum volume at the outer-most position of said follower means with respect to said vane axis to a maximum volume at the innermost position of said follower means; v. a power delivery shaft connected with said rotor for delivering power from said rotor; vi. a satisfactory seal means intermediate said vanes and said follower means; vii. an integral and adjustable flow through and torque control means for controlling torque output of said motor without requiring a throttle and the throttle-caused losses in efficiency; said flow through and torque control means comprising: A. an angularly adjustable torque control sleeve that encompasses the entire periphery and length of the periphery and tips of said vanes and has a plurality of apertures extending the length of said torque control sleeve and peripherally thereabout sufficient to subtend an arc greater than 90* and no more than 180*; each said aperture having a cross sectional dimension peripherally of said torque control sleeve less than the thickness of a vane tip so as to prevent flow back of a fluid around said vane tip and to prevent communication with a plurality of subchambers simultaneously; a first plurality of similarly angularly disposed said apertures serving as inlet apertures communicating in normal operation between said vane assembly cavity and the one port of said first and second ports serving as the inlet port such that advancing said torque control sleeve in a first direction will increase the effective flow area through said inlet apertures and said inlet port and retarding said torque control sleeve in a second direction opposite said first direction will decrease the effective flow area through said inlet apertures and said inlet ports; said first plurality being less than one-half of said plurality of apertures; a second plurality of similarly angularly disposed said apertures serving as discharge apertures communicating in normal operation between said vane assembly cavity and the other port of said first and second ports serving as the discharge port; said second plurality being more than one-half of said plurality of apertures; and a sealing portion of said internal surface of said main chamber sealingly engaging said torque control sleeve and any of said apertures included between said inlet and discharge ports; said sealing portion being of a peripheral extent greater than that of a subchamber at its minimum volume so as to prevent communication between said inlet and discharge ports yet allow flow of fluids into and out of respective subchambers over their entire length; said torque control sleeve being reversible so as to reverse the port communicating with said vane assembly cavity via the inlet apertures for reversing the direction of rotation of said motor device; and B. a discharge flow control means that includes adjustable exhaust rings disposed at the ends of said main chamber for controlling the volumetric rate of flow of fluid through the discharge port of said first and second ports such that pressure interiorly of said vane assembly cavity can be controlled and reduce losses from over-expansion and under-expansion of a working fluid flowing therethrough from said high pressure source to said low pressure receiver means; saiD exhaust rings having a plurality of discharge apertures communicating in normal operation between a discharge port in said vane assembly cavity such that advancing said exhaust ring in a first direction will initiate the discharge of working fluid from respective subchambers earlier in terms of the angular displacement from the minimum volume position and retarding said exhaust ring in the second direction opposite said first direction will retard the initiation of the discharge of working fluid from respective subchambers; said discharge flow control means being reversible so as to reverse the port communicating with said main chamber via said discharge flow control means; and viii. at least one means for reversingly positioning said torque control sleeve and said discharge flow control means; and d. reversing valve means for controlling the direction of flow of said working fluid through said motor device between said source and said receiver means.