Rotary engine rotor seal lubrication

Claim 2

A rotary engine comprising an engine housing having an internal peripheral wall and oppositely facing side walls cooperatively defining a cavity, a shaft extending through said cavity and side walls and rotatably supported by said housing, a hollow powdered metal rotor located in said cavity and rotatably mounted on said shaft, said rotor having a circumferentially extending wall cooperating with said peripheral wall of said housing and oppositely facing radially extending side walls cooperating with said side walls of said housing to provide a plurality of chambers that are spaced about and move with said rotor while varying in volume as said rotor and said shaft rotate, said rotor having apex seals engaging said peripheral wall and side seals engaging said side walls to seal said chambers from each other, a source of oil, passage means for delivering the oil to and from the interior of said rotor, and said circumferentially extending wall and radially extending side walls of said rotor constructed of a metal having a porosity over the entire thickness thereof effective to permit oil to diffuse from the interior to the exterior of said rotor as the result of centrifugal forces on the body of oil within said rotor at a rate providing sufficient oil delivery to the exterior of said rotor to be flung outward by rotor rotation against said peripheral wall to adequately lubricate said apex seals at minimum rotor speed and load and as a result of continuing centrifuging action of the oil in the interior of said rotor providing increasing oil delivery to the exterior to increase the lubrication of all said seals with increasing rotor speed at an exponential rate.

Claim 3

A rotary engine comprising an engine housing having an internal peripheral wall and oppositely facing side walls cooperatively defining a cavity, a shaft extending through said cavity and side walls and rotatably supported by said housing, a hollow powdered metal rotor located in said cavity and rotatably mounted on said shaft, said rotor having a circumferentially extending wall cooperating with said peripheral wall of said housing and oppositely facing radially extending side walls cooperating with said side walls of said housing to provide a plurality of chambers that are spaced about and move with said rotor while varying in volume as said rotor and said shaft rotate, said rotor having apex seals engaging said peripheral wall and side seals engaging said side walls to seal said chambers from each other, a source of oil, passage means for delivering oil to and from the interior of said rotor, and said circumferentially extending wall and radially extending side walls of said rotor constructed of a metal having a porosity over the entire thickness thereof effective to permit oil to diffuse from the interior to the exterior of said rotor as the result of centrifugal forces on the body of oil within said rotor at a rate that in addition to providing adequate supply directly to said side seals for their lubrication also provides sufficient oil delivery to the exterior of said rotor to be flung outward by rotor rotation against said peripheral wall to adequately lubricate said apex seals at minimum rotor speed and load and as a result of continuing centrifugal action on the oil in the interior of said rotor delivering the oil to the exterior of said rotor to increase the lubrication of said seal means with increasing rotor speed at an exponential rate.

Claim 4

A rotary engine comprising an engine housing having an internal peripheral wall and oppositely facing side walls cooperatively defining a cavity, a shaft extending through said cavity and side walls and rotatably supported by said housing, a hollow powdered metal rotor located in said cavity and rotatably mounted on said shaft, said rotor having a circumferentially extending wall cooperating with said peripheral wall of said housing and oppositely facing radially extending side walls cooperating with said side walls of said housing to provide a plurality of chambers that are spaced about and move with said rotor while varying in volume as said rotor and said shaft rotate, said rotor having apex seals engaging said peripheral wall and side seals engaging said side walls to seal said chambers from each other, a source of oil, passage means for delivering oil to and from the interior of said rotor, and said circumferentially extending wall and radially extending side walls of said rotor constructed of a metal having a porosity over the entire thickness thereof effective to permit oil to diffuse from the interior to the exterior of said rotor as the result of centrifugal forces on the body of oil within said rotor at a rate that in addition to providing adequate supply directly to said side seals for their lubrication also provides sufficient oil delivery to the exterior of said rotor to be flung outward by rotor rotation against said peripheral wall to adequately lubricate said apex seals at minimum rotor speed and load and as a result of continuing centrifugal action on the oil in the interior of said rotor delivering the oil to the exterior of said rotor to increase the lubrication of said seal means with increasing rotor speed at an exponential rate.