Title of Invention

CONNECTING ROD ASSEMBLY FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

Abstract

A connecting rod assembly, for an internal combustion engine, comprising a connecting rod, the upper end of the rod being connectable to the piston and the lower end of the rod being provided with a cage of two parallel rack gears connected by a pair of semicircular internal gears providing an array of gear teeth on the inner wall of the said cage; a gear wheel, mounted on the drive shaft of the engine, meshing with the gear teeth, such that while the drive shaft is driven by the gear wheel, the angular movement of the connecting rod is limited between two points on the opposed lateral faces of the said array, the regulated movement of the connecting rod being controlled by a pair of discs mounted on the sides of the gears and face cam with follower roller.

Full Text

be done against the gases during the compression stroke. Higher rate of expansion occurring during power stroke reduces the pressure inside the cylinder rapidly causing reduction of force to the piston. e. The crankshaft used in multi-cylinder engines are quite complex in shape and special closed die forging operations are required for manufacture and special machinery is required for machining and grinding. The above operations are more suitable for mass production. All these operations make the crankshaft more expensive. f. The mean piston velocity is quite high and also varying continuously resulting in fluctuating gas velocities in inlet, outlet manifolds and valves. There is a high pressure drop in gases during Suction and Exhaust strokes. g. Higher mean piston velocity reduces brake mean effective pressure resulting in lower efficiency of engines. In this invention, the departure from the existing system is: a. by proposing a mechanism which will make the connecting rod oscillate less (about 4° to 5° to the vertical) from the axis of the cylinder on either side b. by proposing a mechanism, which has transmission angle of 90° for maximum duration of the suction, compression, power and exhaust strokes. c. by making the piston to move with lower mean velocity and also at uniform rate for maximum duration of each stroke mentioned above. All these measures are simultaneously achieved in one mechanism proposed herein wherein a. Lower oscillation angles result in lowering of rubbing force between piston & cylinder and also transferring maximum force to connecting rod to do useful work. b. Gears in the connecting rod and drive shaft transfer the force passed on to the connecting rod, more efficiently to drive shaft. c. Lower and uniform piston velocity are responsible for the following advantages: • Reduced pressure drop of gases passing through inlet manifold and valves during suction stroke resulting in less suction losses. • Reduced work done on the gases during compression stroke as per the indicator diagram curve. • Gradual reduction of pressure during power stroke resulting in maximum power transferred to the piston for useful work. • Reduced pressure drop for exhaust gases passing though exhaust manifolds and valves resulting in lower pumping losses. • Higher brake mean effective pressure at lower specific fuel consumption resulting in high fuel efficiency for given engine rpm • Increase in indicator diagram area representing maximum heat energy converted to useful work by the engine. The connecting rod assembly, for an internal combustion engine, comprises a connecting rod, the upper end of the rod being connectable to the piston and the lower end of the rod being provided with a cage of two parallel rack gears connected by a pair of semicircular internal gears providing an array of gear teeth on the inner wall of the said cage; a gear wheel, mounted on the drive shaft of the engine, meshing with the gear teeth, such that while the drive shaft is driven by the gear wheel, the angular movement of the connecting rod is limited between two points on the opposed lateral faces of the said array, the regulated movement of the connecting rod being controlled by a pair of discs mounted on the sides of the gears and face cam with follower roller. It will be appreciated that the arrangement is such that the internal gears of the cage and the external gear on the drive shaft are always in mesh with each other. This regulated movement is achieved by means of a pair of circular discs fitted on the drive shaft and a face cam with follower roller. Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in Figs. 1 to7^rH£- of various embodiments of this invention. The upper end of the connecting rod R is connectable to the piston and the lower end of the rod R is provided with a cage C comprising two parallel rack gears connected to semi circular internal gears at their ends. For regulating the movement of the connecting rod two components are required (1) a pair of circular discs W mounted on the drive shaft by the side of the external gear (2) a face cam FC with follower roller V. The face cam can either be mounted firmly on the engine block or can be fitted to the connecting rod itself. As an example, a few of the broad configurations are illustrated in the drawings: Type I: follwer roller at the bottom of connecting rod with stationary face cam Type II: follower roller on sides of the connecting rod with stationary face cam Type III: face cam fitted to connecting rod and follower roller mounted on oscillating bracket An array of gear teeth T is provided continuously on the inner wall of the said cage. A gear wheel G is mounted on the drive shaft D of the engine, said gear wheel G meshing with the gear teeth T, such that while the drive shaft D is driven by the gear wheel G, the angular movement of the connecting rod R is limited between two points PI P2 on the opposed lateral faces Fl F2 of the said array. The first advantage of this invention is that the oscillating angle of the connecting rod will be in the order of 4° to 5° on either side of cylinder axis. This small oscillation angle minimizes the rubbing force of piston against the cylinder considerably and hence the heat energy passed on to the cooling system gets reduced. This reduction in rubbing force takes place in all the two/four strokes and saves considerable loss of energy wasted and passed on to cooling system as heat which is occurring during all the strokes. The second advantage is the more efficient way of transfer of forces of gases in the cylinder to the drive shaft by means of the meshing gears. The third advantage is the reduction in suction and exhaust pumping losses due to lower mean piston velocity for a given engine rpm. The major advantage is reduction in mean piston velocity and uniform piston movement. This will cause reduction in work on the gases during compression stroke and increase in work done by the gases during the power stroke and this increases indicated mean effective pressure. All the above advantages lead to better fuel economy and increase efficiency of the internal combustion engine. Following are some of the important applications which the invention will find: Scooters, motorbikes, three wheelers driven by IC engines Motor cars, hybrid cars, trucks, earth movers, diuesel locomotives, non-fiiobile (static) etjtiipfrielit such as compressors (including big reciprocating compressors) and all equipment and machinery driven by IC engines including those for marine application and propeller driven aircraft. I Claim: 1. A connecting rod assembly, for an internal combustion engine, comprising a connecting rod, the upper end of the rod being connectable to the piston and the lower end of the rod being provided with a cage of two parallel rack gears connected by a pair of semicircular internal gears providing an array of gear teeth on the inner wall of the said cage; a gear wheel, mounted on the drive shaft of the engine, meshing with the gear teeth, such that while the drive shaft is driven by the gear wheel, the angular movement of the connecting rod is limited between two points on the opposed lateral faces of the said array, the regulated movement of the connecting rod being controlled by a pair of discs mounted on the sides of the gears and face cam with follower roller. 2. A connecting rod assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the angular movement of the connecting rod is 4 to 5 degrees on either side of the vertical. 3.A connecting rod assembly for an internal combustion engine substantially as herein described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this the 16 TH DAY OF May 2005 RATHNAVELU SIVA SARAVANAN

Documents:

0539-che-2005-claims.pdf

0539-che-2005-correspondnece-others.pdf

0539-che-2005-description(complete).pdf

0539-che-2005-drawings.pdf

0539-che-2005-form 1.pdf

539-CHE-2005 ABSTRACT.pdf

539-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS.pdf

539-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE PO.pdf

539-CHE-2005 FORM 18.pdf

539-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY.pdf