The Tomsk company "Tekhnologiya Market" has developed a piston engine in which the mechanism for converting piston motion into rotation is replaced by a system of rods with variable cross-section and cycloidal cams. The main feature of the design is that the piston's working stroke is no longer limited by the eccentricity or angle of inclination of a traditional mechanism.
In the new design, the rod acts on the cam not with its end, but with its side surface. As the piston moves, force is transmitted to the cam profile, causing it to rotate.
According to the designers' calculations, the piston stroke can be increased by extending the cylinder length, while the engine itself maintains a compact diameter. This allows for a large displacement and high torque with small dimensions.
In one variant, for 8 cylinders, 7 or 9 periods are provided, which allows each working stroke to be converted into sequential rotation of the output link.
The design also has another unusual feature – self-braking. At a certain angle of inclination of the working surface of the rod, reverse rotation of the mechanism is blocked by friction forces.