Axial engine

A swashplate engine is a piston engine in place of the usual crankshaft has a swash plate. The conversion of the oscillating piston movement to a rotational movement, which can then be used to drive is made by the swash plate, which is supported in a Z-shaped cranked shaft. This type of engine was known by the Bristol- engine mechanism with a ring slide control in place of the valves. In some hydraulic pumps, the principle of the swash plate of a swashplate machine or bent-axis machine is still in use today. Due to the swashplate, it has serious design changes available main components of an internal combustion engine.

The main components of a motor swash plate:

• The swash plate is pivotally connected by a bearing to the shaft journal of the Z-shaped bent (crank ). However, the swash plate itself may not rotate about its own axis and must therefore be supported by a suitable device ( torque arm ).
• By the rotation of the Z-shaped (crank ) shaft is applied to the outer point of the swash plate with the ball joint on a cam track and moves from (red line in the display operating principle ).
• The ball joint production engineering to lubricate and also difficult to manufacture effectively only with great effort.
• The connecting rod, which transmits the reciprocating piston motion, requires a ball joint at both ends.
• A piston also requires a ball joint and can therefore be produced on conventional machines for manufacturing is limited. With respect to the forces to be absorbed differs due to such a piston, the ball joint differs significantly from the conventional construction of the piston from.
• The cylinders are annularly arranged around the shaft. In a conventional valve control substantial design problems characterized by the limited space available to be solved. For this reason, the Bristol- engine mechanism probably had a ring slide control.

Notwithstanding the listed constructive problem provides a swash plate motor has a very interesting alternative to conventional engine designs dar. engine vibrations through difficult to be compensated free masses do not occur. In the museum of Elsbett complete motor block of a double-acting swashplate aircraft engine shall be issued .. A prototype of the 14 - cylinder swash plate motor according to the principle of the inclined plate machine was built, but never came to use.

A modified version of the swash plate motor is developed by Anton Strahm and named after him Strahm engine. In this, the connecting rod needed because of the curved path is redundant by a (8- shaped ) tumbling motion of the cylinder.

A swash plate type Stirling engine with four cylinders is used in small cogeneration units the company Whispergen.