Piston engine

Abstract

A piston engine has at least one piston which is mounted to be movable in a cylinder in a linear manner towards a cylinder head and a deformable element extends around the piston between the piston and the cylinder.

1 . A piston engine comprising: 
 a piston;    a cylinder having a cylinder head;    drive means for moving the piston in the cylinder in a linear manner toward and away from the cylinder head; and    a deformable element extending around the piston between the piston and the cylinder wherein the deformable element forms (1) a sealed working space for the piston and (2) a linear guide for the piston.    
     
     
         2 . A piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the cylinder further includes a cylinder wall and the piston moves in the sealed working space without contacting the cylinder wall.  
     
     
         3 . A piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the drive means is mounted in a crank case wherein the working space is hermetically sealed off from the crankcase by the deformable element.  
     
     
         4 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the elastic element encompasses the piston coaxially and is connected in a hermetically sealed manner to a portion of the cylinder.  
     
     
         5 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the cylinder head has a shape and the end face of the piston has a shape substantially the same as the shape of the cylinder head.  
     
     
         6 . The piston engine according to  claim 4 , wherein the piston has a top dead center proximate to the cylinder head such that a dead volume of working space is created which is virtually zero.  
     
     
         7 . The piston engine according to  claim 5 , wherein, at the top dead center, a dead volume of the deformable element is virtually zero.  
     
     
         8 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the deformable element is formed from a plurality of spring elements.  
     
     
         9 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the deformable element is fixedly connected at one end to the cylinder and at the other end to the piston.  
     
     
         10 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the piston comprises an outward-projecting flange and the deformable element is connected to the flange at one end and to the cylinder at the other end.  
     
     
         11 . The piston engine according to  claim 7 , wherein the deformable element is composed of a plurality of stacked rings each having an internal radius and an external radius wherein the stacked rings are connected to one another alternately at the external radius and internal radius.  
     
     
         12 . The piston engine according to  claim 7 , wherein means are provided to reduce the dead volume of the piston and the cylinder and the dead volume of the deformable element.  
     
     
         13 . The piston engine according to  claim 11 , wherein a stroke of the piston can be influenced by the number of stacked rings.  
     
     
         14 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein a shape of the piston is approximately matched to a shape of the cylinder head and the piston is movable without contact toward the cylinder head by the deformable element encompassing the piston coaxially.  
     
     
         15 . The piston engine according to  claim 11 , wherein the stacked rings rest one upon the other when the piston is at top dead center without a dead volume being formed between the individual rings.  
     
     
         16 . The piston engine according to  claim 3 , wherein the crankcase is of pressure-free form.  
     
     
         17 . The piston engine according to  claim 1 , wherein the deformable element comprises a radial bearing for the piston.