Distillate fuel oil/air-fired, rapid-fire cannon

Abstract

A weapons system that fires projectiles of 20 to 500 millimeters or larger in diameter using a compression-ignition combustion of common fuel oils in conjunction with pre-compressed air as the firing force, in which automatic breech loading occurs during resetting, to enable a continuous, automatic rapid fire. Fuel pumped at a high pressure enters a combustion chamber, previously filled with high pressure air from an external compressor, where an extremely rapid combustion occurs, resulting in compression of the air in a charge chamber. A control valve then opens, allowing compressed air from the charge chamber, where high pressure fuel is then injected and instantly vaporized and combusted to propel a projectile through a barrel. A loading ram concurrently engraves the next round into a breech block chamber. In the resetting process, the valve reseats, air from an external compressor enters the combustion chamber via a check valve, and the combustion chamber is vented to the atmosphere. The breech assembly rotates to position a new projectile in the barrel so that the firing process can repeat.