Non-reciprocating piston engine

1. A piston engine comprising;

first, second, and third planetary gears and a central sun gear that engages the three planetary gears;

first, second, and third cylinders, wherein first, second, and third crank throw bearings mount the first, second, and third cylinders to the respective first, second, and third planetary gears in a radial engine configuration, each crank throw bearing comprising a respective first, second, and third crank throw axis that is parallel to and offset from a rotation axis of the respective planetary gear, causing the cylinders to follow a second circular motion;

first, second, and third pistons, wherein the three pistons are fixed in radially outward-facing positions on three interconnected connecting rods that are radially oriented in the same plane, the pistons and connecting rods form a piston unit, at least a top surface of each piston remains within a respective cylinder at all times during operation of the engine; and

a fourth crank throw bearing that mounts the piston unit to the sun gear on a fourth crank throw axis that is offset from a rotation axis of the sun gear, causing the pistons to follow a first circular motion;

wherein the second circular motion is in a courter-circular direction from the first circular motion, and each piston follows a linear motion relative to the respective cylinder.

2. The piston engine of claim 1 , wherein the fourth crank throw axis passes through the center of mass of the piston unit.

3. The piston engine of claim 1 , wherein each respective first, second, and third crank throw axis passes through the center of mass of the respective first, second, and third cylinders.

4. The piston engine of claim 1 , wherein a stroke length of the linear motion of the first piston relative to the cylinder is four times the radius of the piston circular motion.

5. A piston engine comprising;

a crankshaft;

a plurality of cylinders;

a sun gear on the crankshaft that engages a respective planetary gear for each respective one of the cylinders;

a piston assembly comprising a plurality of pistons, the piston assembly mounted to the crankshaft by a piston crank throw bearing having a piston crank throw axis that is offset from an axis of rotation of the crankshaft, causing the piston assembly to follow a first circular motion;

each respective cylinder mounted to the respective planetary gear by a cylinder crank throw bearing having a cylinder crank throw axis that is offset from an axis of rotation of the respective planetary gear, causing each cylinder to follow a second circular motion in a counter-rotating direction relative to the piston assembly;

wherein a to surface of each piston remains slidably within each respective cylinder at all times during operation of the engine, and a stroke length of each piston relative to the respective cylinder is four times a radius of the first circular motion.

6. The piston engine of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of cylinders comprises two opposed cylinders attached to each other at proximal ends thereof.

7. The piston engine of claim 6 , further comprising two counterweights for the piston assembly attached to the crankshaft inside the proximal ends of the cylinders for rotation with the crankshaft.

8. The piston engine of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of cylinders comprises two opposed cylinders attached to each other at proximal ends of the cylinders.

9. The piston engine of claim 5 , wherein each cylinder crank throw axis passes through the center of mass of the respective cylinder.

10. The piston engine of claim 5 , wherein each cylinder is mounted between first and second cylinder crank throw bearings on opposite sides of the cylinder.

11. A piston engine comprising:

a crankshaft comprising an intake gas flow channel and an exhaust gas flow channel;

a piston assembly comprising a plurality of pistons and a connecting rod subassembly connecting the pistons to each other;

the connecting rod assembly mounted to the crankshaft on a piston assembly crank throw bearing that causes the piston assembly to follow a first circular motion;

an intake gas flow path from the intake gas flow channel through the connecting rod subassembly to an intake port in the top surface of each piston;

an exhaust gas flow path from the exhaust gas flow channel through the connecting rod subassembly to an exhaust port in the top surface of each piston;

a plurality of cylinders, each cylinder mounted on a respective cylinder crank throw bearing geared to the crankshaft to follow second circular motion in a counter-rotating direction relative to the piston assembly;

wherein a to surface of each piston remains slidably within a respective one of the cylinders at all times during operation of the engine, and a stroke length of each piston relative to the respective cylinder is four times a radius of the first circular motion.

12. The piston engine of claim 11 , further comprising an intake valve and an exhaust valve in the connecting rod subassembly for each of the pistons.

13. The piston engine of claim 12 , wherein the piston assembly is mounted by the piston crank throw bearing onto a piston crank throw shaft on the crankshaft, wherein the valves are driven by a gear on the piston crank throw shaft.

14. The piston engine of claim 11 , further comprising:

a valve drum in the connecting rod assembly for each piston;

an intake valve channel and an exhaust valve channel in each valve drum; and

a gear on each valve drum driven via a gear on a crank throw shaft;

wherein the intake and exhaust channels in each valve drum are aligned and misaligned with respective intake and exhaust gas flow paths in the connecting rod subassembly at predetermined positions between each piston and the respective cylinder.

15. A piston engine comprising;

first, second, and third spur gears engaged with each other in a linear sequence, the second gear being between the first and third gears and counter-rotating relative to the first and third gears;

a first cylinder;

a second cylinder opposed to the first cylinder;

a first piston in the first cylinder;

a second piston in the second cylinder;

a connecting rod that interconnects the first and second pistons in fixed relation to each other, forming a piston unit;

a first crank bearing that mounts the first cylinder to the first gear on a first crank throw axis that is offset from a rotation axis of the first gear, causing the first cylinder to follow a second circular motion;

a second crank bearing that mounts the connecting rod to the second gear on a second crank throw axis that is offset from a rotation axis of the second gear, causing the pistons to follow a first circular motion; and

a third crank bearing that mounts the second cylinder to the third gear on a third crank throw axis that is offset from a rotation axis of the third gear, causing the second cylinder to follow the second circular motion;

wherein the second circular motion is in a counter-rotating direction relative to the first circular motion;

wherein the pistons follow a linear motion relative to the cylinders, and at least a top surface of each piston remains in a respective one of the cylinders at all times during operation of the engine; and

wherein the first and third crank throw axes pass through respective centers of mass of the first and second cylinders.

16. The piston engine of claim 15 further comprising;

fourth, fifth, and sixth spur gears engaged with each other in a second linear sequence on an opposite side of the cylinders from the first, second, and third spur gears respectively, the fifth gear being between the fourth and sixth gears and counter-rotating relative to the fourth and sixth gears;

The fifth gear connected to the second gear by a crankshaft for co-rotation with the second gear;

a fourth crank bearing on an opposite side of the first cylinder from the first crank bearing, the fourth crank bearing mounting the first cylinder to the fourth spur gear on the first crank throw axis;

a fifth crank bearing on an opposite side of the second cylinder from the third crank bearing, the fifth crank bearing mounting the second cylinder to the sixth spur gear on the third crank throw axis.