In an internal combustion engine, first and second rotating members, one for the intake valve and one for the exhaust valve rotate next to the outside of an engine cylinder on opposite sides thereof when driven by a drive gear attached to the end of the engine's crankshaft. Each rotating member may include a ring gear having a valve port or aperture near its perimeter that cyclically aligns with a corresponding valve port formed through the cylinder wall near the top of the cylinder. A method of controlling valve timing comprises the steps of causing the rotating member containing the second valve port to periodically align in synchronism with the first port to control the passage of an air/fuel mixture and exhaust gases through the combustion cycles of the engine.

A valve system/method suitable for an internal combustion engine (ICE), compressor pump, vacuum pump, and/or reciprocating mechanical device is disclosed. The system/method is optimized for construction of a four-stroke ICE. The rudimentary system incorporates an intake engine block cover (IEC) and exhaust engine block cover (EEC) that enclose an intake rotary valve disc (IVD) and exhaust rotary valve disc (EVD) that control intake/exhaust flow through a respective intake rotary valve port (IVP) and an exhaust rotary valve port (EVP) into and out of a combustion cylinder that provides power to a piston and crankshaft. An intake multi-staged valve (IMV) and exhaust multi-staged valve (EMV) provide intake and exhaust flow control for the IVD/IVP and EVD/EVP. An enhanced system may include a variety of intake/exhaust port seals (IPS/EPS), forced induction/discharge (FIN), centrifugal advance (CAD), and/or cooling channel spool (ICS/ECS).

Apparatus for controlling valve timing in an internal combustion engine locates a first valve port in a first side of the engine cylinder and a second valve port in a second side of the engine cylinder. A first rotating valve disc and a second rotating valve disc are respectively disposed next to the first and second valve port. Each rotating valve disc includes a valve port. Each disc rotates in synchronism with the crankshaft to align its' port with the respective first and second valve ports. A variety of intake devices coupled to the first rotating valve disc control intake air flow into the engine cylinder, and a variety of exhaust devices coupled to the second rotating valve disc control exhaust gas flow from the engine cylinder.

A multi-port rotary valve has penetrations in the form of annulus sectors through its stationary outer shell and through its rotating inner core, with the penetrations being situated so that, once during each rotation of the core, each core penetration overlaps and becomes volumetrically linked to a corresponding congruent pair of shell penetrations, thereby creating, in an ordered temporal sequence, high conductance flow passages that extend completely through the valve. The azimuth-angle locations of the penetrations determine the relative times at which the valve's flow passages begin to open. The central angles of the penetrations determine the duration of the time intervals for which the flow passages are open or partially open. The radial extent of the penetrations determines the conductance of the flow passages.

A cylinder head assembly for an internal combustion engine includes: a cylinder head defining a combustion chamber and having at least one opening communicating therewith; at least one port; at least one rotatable valve element disposed between the at least one opening and the at least one port; and at least one seal assembly disposed between the at least one rotatable valve element and the cylinder head, the seal assembly comprising a seal having a concave sealing face which conforms to a peripheral surface of the at least one valve element, a labyrinth seal disposed opposite the sealing face, and a resilient secondary seal disposed between the seal and the cylinder head.

An engine with rotating assembly is disclosed. The engine includes a block defining a cylinder bore; a crankshaft mounted for rotation in the block; a piston disposed in the cylinder bore; a connecting rod interconnecting the piston to the crankshaft; and a cylinder head coupled to the block having a combustion chamber aligned with the cylinder bore and having an intake opening and an exhaust opening communicating therewith; an intake port; an exhaust port; a rotatable intake valve barrel disposed between the intake opening and the intake port; and a rotatable exhaust valve barrel disposed between the exhaust opening and the exhaust port. A first electric motor is connected to the intake valve barrel and a second electric motor is connected to the exhaust valve barrel, the first electric motor rotates the intake valve barrel and second electric motor rotates the exhaust valve barrel independently of the intake valve barrel.

Apparatus for controlling valve timing in an internal combustion engine locates a first valve port in a first side of the engine cylinder and a second valve port in a second side of the engine cylinder. A first rotating valve disc and a second rotating valve disc are respectively disposed next to the first and second valve port. Each rotating valve disc includes a valve port. Each disc rotates in synchronism with the crankshaft to align its' port with the respective first and second valve ports. A variety of intake devices coupled to the first rotating valve disc control intake air flow into the engine cylinder, and a variety of exhaust devices coupled to the second rotating valve disc control exhaust gas flow from the engine cylinder.

Generally, a rotatable valve assembly operative in an internal combustion engine is provided. The rotatable valve assembly may comprise a valve body rotatably supported in the cylinder head. The valve body may have various shapes which may allow to maximize an effective working area of a combustion chamber head and at the same time to decrease an overall space occupied by a cylinder head of the engine. The rotatable valve assembly may directly utilize an engine's camshaft rotational motion to drive the rotational motion of the valve body, thereby eliminating a need in dedicated mechanisms that convert the camshafts rotational motion into linear translational motion typically utilized in current cylinder heads. Finally, rotational motion of the valve body may reduce a time required to reach a maximal effective working area for air-fuel mixture supply and/or gas exhaust and/or may provide a smoother and quitter engine operation.

A variable port engine assembly and method of use utilizing a rotating camshaft having different sized ports that are dynamically aligned with intake, combustion, and exhaust ports and timed to open and close with appropriate engine cycles to change gas flow volumes through the combustion chamber to modify fuel efficiency and power.

The present invention concerns an external heat source engine comprising: at least one cylinder (2), a piston (3) that is movable back and forth in the cylinder, a cylinder head (4) defining a working chamber (5) with the piston and the cylinder, a heat exchanger (6) for exchanging heat between a working gas and a heat-transfer fluid, a distribution comprising two rotary slide valves (20, 30) mounted so as to be able to rotate in the cylinder head and bringing the working chamber selectively into communication with the following resources: a working gas inlet (A), a cold end (B) of the exchanger, a hot end (C) of the exchanger, an exhaust (D). The slide valves (20, 30) comprise internal passages that open through the side wall of same through at least one opening that communicates selectively with the working chamber (5) via at least one opening formed in the cylinder head (4).