Angelo Di Pietro (born 1950 in
Avellino
Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
) is an engine designer who developed the Di Pietro Motor
air engine
A pneumatic motor (air motor), or compressed air engine, is a type of motor which does mechanical work by expanding compressed air. Pneumatic motors generally convert the compressed air energy to mechanical work through either linear or rotary m ...
.
Life
He qualified as
Congegnatore Meccanico in Avellino and moved to
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
to work on the
Wankel rotary engine
The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. T ...
at the
Mercedes Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
research laboratories 1969 and 1970. In 1971 he migrated to Australia where he established a construction engineering company. From his early experience with
Wankel
Wankel may refer to:
* Wankel engine, a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design instead of reciprocating pistons
* Wankel AG, a German company that produces Wankel engines for ultralight aircraft and racing cars
People ...
rotary engines, Angelo became interested in developing a more efficient engine than the traditional reciprocating internal combustion engine, and he has worked on various alternative concepts intermittently over the last 30 years. In 1999 he made a major design breakthrough with a rotary motor which runs on compressed air.
The engine was called the Angelo Di Pietro's Rotary Positive Displacement Air Engine and Di Pietro claims that his engine is 100% more efficient than competitors' products and that the reduction in friction will allow the engine to turn with a pressure of 1 psi.
Di Pietro targeted locations in which automotive vehicles are required, but cause immense health hazards such as produce markets and warehouses. Di Pietro was determined to find an alternative that was both environmentally conscious, comparable in desired power, and inexpensive.
Angelo Di Pietro's Rotary Positive Displacement Air Engine
The Di Pietro Motor, developed by the Australian company EngineAir, is a
rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...
powered by compressed air. It is smaller than any
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
although the size may differ between models.
The CA-patent for this engine was published in 2001.
The US-patent for this engine was granted in 2005.
Unlike other rotary engines, the Di Pietro motor uses a simple cylindrical rotary piston (shaft driver) which rolls, with next to no friction, inside the cylindrical stator.
Only 1
psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviation ...
(≈ 6,8
kPa
KPA may refer to:
* Keele Postgraduate Association, Keele University, UK, formerly Keele Research Association (KRA)
* Kensington (Olympia) station, London, England, National Rail station code
* Kenya Ports Authority
* ''Kiln phosphoric acid'', a d ...
) of pressure is needed to overcome the friction.
The space between stator and rotor is divided in 6 expansion chambers by pivoting dividers. These dividers follow the motion of the shaft driver as it rolls around the stator wall.
The cylindrical shaft driver, forced by the air pressure on its outer wall, moves eccentrically, thereby driving the motor shaft by means of two rolling elements mounted on bearings on the shaft. The rolling motion of the shaft driver inside the stator is cushioned by a thin air film. Timing and duration of the air inlet and exhaust is governed by a slotted timer which is mounted on the output shaft and rotates with the same speed as the motor.
Variation of performance parameters of the motor is achieved by varying the time during which the air is allowed to enter the chamber: A longer air inlet period allows more air to flow into the chamber and therefore results in more torque. A shorter inlet period will limit the air supply and allows the air in the chamber to perform expansion work at a much higher efficiency. In this way compressed air (energy) consumption can be exchanged for higher torque and power output depending on the requirements of the application (this is identical to function of the
"cutoff" control in a
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
).
Motor speed and torque are controlled by throttling the amount or pressure of air into the motor. The Di Pietro motor gives instant torque at zero RPM and can be precisely controlled to give soft start and acceleration control.
The Di Pietro Motor can be used in boats, cars, burden carriers and other vehicles.
www.engineair.com.au
/ref> In this application, the engine has all the Environmental Implications, advantages and disadvantages all Compressed-air vehicle
A compressed-air vehicle (CAV) is a transport mechanism fueled by tanks of pressurized atmospheric gas and propelled by the release and expansion of the gas within a pneumatic motor.
CAV's have found application in torpedoes, locomotives used ...
s share.
See also
* Compressed-air engine
A pneumatic motor (air motor), or compressed air engine, is a type of motor which does mechanical work by expanding compressed air. Pneumatic motors generally convert the compressed air energy to mechanical work through either linear or rotary ...
References
External links
Engine Air Research and Development
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietro, Angelo Di
1950 births
Living people
People from Avellino
21st-century Italian engineers
20th-century Italian engineers