Omsk engineer Dmitry Potapov has patented a design for a piston engine with an unusual motion conversion mechanism. Piston groups are arranged in a circle inside the casing, and a sphere with a disc attached to it is located in the center. The patent for the “Spherical Energy Converter” was registered on October 2, 2026.
Instead of the familiar scheme with a single crankshaft, the author uses a sphere and a disc. The disc is pivotally connected to the connecting rod groups around its circumference. The sphere itself is installed inside a spherical casing between two liners and can perform inclined rotation.
The mechanism's movement begins with the output shaft. A crank is installed on its flywheel, connected by a trunnion to a half-shaft fixed on the sphere. When the shaft rotates, the half-shaft describes a conical trajectory, and the sphere, along with the disc, performs precessional motion around its center.
The disc does not rotate freely around its own axis. To fix it, the author provided toothed and support circular tracks on both sides of the disc and corresponding tracks on the inner surface of the casing. Through the hinged connections at the edge of the disc, motion is transmitted to the connecting rods, which then cause the pistons to perform reciprocating movements.
This scheme, Potapov is confident, should simplify the engine's design, reduce its material intensity, and increase its efficiency and fuel economy. The author also points to an increased piston stroke compared to known piston engines and attributes this to a possible improvement in a number of characteristics.