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Old 05-12-2003, 04:30 AM
LarryIII LarryIII is offline
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OT - Planetary Crankshaft

I found the following article quite interesting. It was in the April issue of Mechancical Engineering magazine (www.memagazine.org).
They have been featuring 'car' articles all year. This one falls under the heading of "Why didn't I think of that."
Most of you are familiar with the childrens toy called the Spirograph. It is used for drawing. It uses a plastic planetary gear set. The inventor in the article adapted his idea from this toy. Here it is.

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Randall Wiseman was noodling around with engine designs some four years ago when he remembered the Spirograph that his nephew received one Christmas.

"I remembered playing with it, and that there was one gear relationship so that when you put the pen in a hole, it made an almost linear motion," Wiseman said. "I thought, that's no fun." Instead of a complicated design, all he got was a straight line.

That memory led Wiseman, a retired auto mechanic who lives in Bay St. Louis, Miss., to design a radical new crankshaft gear set, one that he claims can double engine efficiency and virtually eliminate piston wear.

"It should be very easy to make the transition to this technol-
ogy," Wiseman said. "But instead of eight cylinders, say, you'd only need four cylinders to produce the same power. And because the engine would be about half the weight, you'd get a fuel economy boost as well."

The design scraps the venerable connecting rod and rod bearing that translate the linear motion of the piston in the cylinder into rotational force on a crankshaft. That configuration dates back to some of the earliest steam engines, but the design has some inherent flaws.

For instance, the length of the piston stroke is limited by the length of the rod bearing that's attached to the crankshaft. If it's too long a stroke, the connecting rod will hit the side of the cylinder. In addition, the lateral swings of the connecting rod force the piston against the cylinder, creating friction.

Taking inspiration from a child's toy, a Mississippi mechanic designed a crankshaft that translates the linear motion of the piston into rotation through a set of planetary gears.


Wiseman abandons the rod bearing in favor of a planetary gear. That gear is configured in such a way that as the planetary gear makes one complete circuit inside the ring gear, a point on the edge of the planetary gear traces a straight-line path back and forth.

"I was never 100 percent convinced it was pure linear motion until we built the first prototype," Wiseman said. Attaching a piston rod at that point enables it to move in a straight line as it turns a crank, reducing wear in the cylinder and boosting efficiency.

"Because of the linear stroke coming out of the piston, we have the availability to have an unlimited stroke length," Wiseman said.

A piston that is two inches in diameter could have a six-inch stroke, since the connecting rod never has to swing out of alignment. The result, says Wiseman, is increased torque. "Ultimately, we could see an engine with a small bore and a long stroke," Wiseman said. "We'll have an engine that will produce usable power at lower rpm."

What's more, Wiseman noted, wear is so slight in a prototype engine (adapted from a handheld weed cutter) that the necessary lubrication came from gasoline.

The Wiseman engine has grabbed the attention of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Researchers there are interested in boosting the efficiency of the small engines that power unmanned aerial vehicles—the drones that proved so effective during the war in Afghanistan.

In a side-by-side comparison for officials at Eglin, Wiseman tested an engine with his crankcase against an identical engine using the traditional combination crankshaft and connecting rod. The Wiseman engine ran twice as long on the same ration of fuel. Engineers at the U.S. Air Force Academy will soon examine a prototype Wiseman engine, officials at Eglin said.

Based on the demonstration, Eglin engineer Ben Plenge holds out hope that the technology could "significantly improve the operating performance of reciprocating internal combustion engines."

For Wiseman, however, the real sign of success will be breaking into the mainstream. He hopes that his crankshaft design will find its way into all manner of machines, from lawn mowers to Mack trucks.

"Maybe the Wiseman engine will some day be as famous as the Diesel engine or the Wankel engine," Wiseman said. "Who knows?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again the internal combustion engine defies its foes and comes away with another simple invention that will probably insure its life for another century. Your great grandkids will most likely drive cars powered by IC engines, and who knows what those engines will burn.
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Last edited by LarryIII; 05-12-2003 at 10:47 AM.
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Old 05-12-2003, 05:57 PM
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cool! i remember reading in Popular Mechanics about a guy who developed an extremely efficient automatic tranny with less than half as many parts as a regular tranny, and some other good features (this was a few years ago, i can't remember the details). never heard about it again! i'm sure the automakers didn't like it!
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Old 05-12-2003, 08:09 PM
Ron Mummert Ron Mummert is offline
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Hmmmm....I can ALMOST picture the mechanics of this design. I see a one piece piston/rod doing its up & down motion attached to a planetary gear that rotates in the uh... well, that's where I lose it, but that ain't all that I've lost lately. You engineer types can, I'm sure, 'splain why this design improves efficiency. Instead of throwing rods, we can now throw planetaries. I always thought the Wankel was just about the ultimate in simplicity, but it's continued limited use after all these years, puzzles me.
Maybe Al Gore can get busy on a new design, now that he has nothing better to do, & I'm sure Tipper wants him the hell out of the kitchen.

Ron (busy designing engines with my Etch-a-Sketch).
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Old 05-13-2003, 04:27 AM
LarryIII LarryIII is offline
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Ron,

Spirograph is round and primarily draws circular shapes.
Etch-A -Sketch is rectangular and primarily draws straight lines.

I guess you have a 'thing' for the boxy look. You must have drooled when looking at old Volvo wagons or 'Box-O-Car'.
Etch-A-Sketch could be called Box-O-Draw.

Larry (I'll bet Ron wears boxers) III
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Old 05-13-2003, 05:19 AM
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I can remember a new engine, announced about 20 years ago called the 'butterfly engine'??

The principal was similar to the above design, but as a flat twin on a single planitary gear. I believe that the patent was bought by a big manufacturer, never to be seen again.
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Old 05-13-2003, 06:43 AM
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It sounds like an interesting idea to me. It took me a few minutes to get the linear travel pictured but I can now see it and it makes total sense. I can see how it can reduce wear but it amazes me that it can double fuel efficiency. I would like to see this go into production. Imagine the output possible...it would be nearly impossible to throw a rod since the planetary gear would ride in a solid track. The stresses you could put on this engine would be incredible!

I sure hope it does not end up in an immense warehouse of brilliant ideas, never to be seen again, like in the Indiana Jones movie.
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Old 05-13-2003, 08:49 AM
Ron Mummert Ron Mummert is offline
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Cool

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LarryIII
[B]Ron,


I guess you have a 'thing' for the boxy look. You must have drooled when looking at old Volvo wagons or 'Box-O-Car'.
Etch-A-Sketch could be called Box-O-Draw.

Larry (I'll bet Ron wears boxers) III


No, & I'll be brief.

Let me know if the following engine design actually existed, or if I dreamed it up while spilling Chianti on my Spiro-Sketch.

We have a "headless" design, that is a flat 4,6,8 or whatever, where the pistons "bump heads" to create a combustion chamber. We have 3 spark plugs for a six piston engine, & now dual crankshafts on the opposite end, connected to.... AH,HA!! Two transmissions that can be shifted independently. I thought the design would be applicable to marine use, for a twin screw (can I say screw, Earl? I don't mean to say "Screw Earl" I mean....nevermind). Anyway, a two propeller engine using the economies & space of one engine. Wait!! I can see this in an airplane too, like a P-38.
Well....I gotta go visit the patent office now.

Ron (Where's Rube Goldberg, now that I need him?)
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Old 05-15-2003, 08:48 PM
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Here's hoping that article wasn't written on the first of that month!!
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Old 05-16-2003, 11:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ron Mummert
I always thought the Wankel was just about the ultimate in simplicity, but it's continued limited use after all these years, puzzles me.
Emissions. And the fact the seals wear out rather quickly and they start to like a lot of oil.

- Rob
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