New rotary engine design!
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 9:14
Has anyone seen this new rotary design? Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e785Yn ... Uw--Z49V5-
The engine above is a diesel (even though it appears to have spark plugs?!?). They're claiming up to 50% reduction in diesel fuel consumption while the motor is 75% smaller than similar power output diesels. Gasoline motors are a similar design but lower compression ratio. They're saying about a 20% decrease in fuel consumption and 30% smaller than a similar output traditional gasoline motor. They claim it will be scalable from 1 hp to 1,000 hp. They received $1m in funding from DARPA. Here's a few articles:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... -contract/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a8 ... -13817971/
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/liquidpi ... ngine-1205
Quick diagram:
In my opinion, its brilliant! They've inverted the idea of the traditional Wankel rotary! No more triangle in oval housing; I like the oval in the triangle housing idea! With 3 combustion chambers within one housing its no wonder the efficiency/size ratio is so high! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you would be able to "stack" this design, so you're probably "stuck" with only 1 housing, but the one housing is essentially a 3 cylinder/housing design in a compact package!
I did a bit of reading about this design and it really is genius. No more apex seals on the edges of the rotor that need to be lubricated with injected/consumed oil; the apex seals in this design are stationary on the housing itself (on triangle edges/tips of the combution chambers from my estimation). This would essentially mean it wouldn't consume nearly as much oil as a Wankel rotary, and consequently, should reduce emissions (a long time sore spot with making the rotary emissions legal).
I'm curious to see how large this engine would be when scaled to around the ~300hp mark. I'm just sayin'.... Interesting that they're only really marketing it towards small appliances & military applications and not cars. I guess it makes sense though, as auto manufacturers are now leaning heavily towards making electric cars as the next wave of transportation. I'm also curious to see how robust this design is; specifically the apex seals, as they've seemingly been one of the primary limiting factors in high HP Wankels. Also curious about the solidity of the intake/exhaust ports within the rotors themselves. It's too bad this design wasn't invented 20+ years ago when the internal combustion engine was still fully reigning supreme... Either way, I really like this concept.
Dear Mazda: rotary powered sports cars are in your heritage and you have fairly deep pockets.... I'm just throwing that out there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e785Yn ... Uw--Z49V5-
The engine above is a diesel (even though it appears to have spark plugs?!?). They're claiming up to 50% reduction in diesel fuel consumption while the motor is 75% smaller than similar power output diesels. Gasoline motors are a similar design but lower compression ratio. They're saying about a 20% decrease in fuel consumption and 30% smaller than a similar output traditional gasoline motor. They claim it will be scalable from 1 hp to 1,000 hp. They received $1m in funding from DARPA. Here's a few articles:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... -contract/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a8 ... -13817971/
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/liquidpi ... ngine-1205
Quick diagram:
In my opinion, its brilliant! They've inverted the idea of the traditional Wankel rotary! No more triangle in oval housing; I like the oval in the triangle housing idea! With 3 combustion chambers within one housing its no wonder the efficiency/size ratio is so high! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you would be able to "stack" this design, so you're probably "stuck" with only 1 housing, but the one housing is essentially a 3 cylinder/housing design in a compact package!
I did a bit of reading about this design and it really is genius. No more apex seals on the edges of the rotor that need to be lubricated with injected/consumed oil; the apex seals in this design are stationary on the housing itself (on triangle edges/tips of the combution chambers from my estimation). This would essentially mean it wouldn't consume nearly as much oil as a Wankel rotary, and consequently, should reduce emissions (a long time sore spot with making the rotary emissions legal).
I'm curious to see how large this engine would be when scaled to around the ~300hp mark. I'm just sayin'.... Interesting that they're only really marketing it towards small appliances & military applications and not cars. I guess it makes sense though, as auto manufacturers are now leaning heavily towards making electric cars as the next wave of transportation. I'm also curious to see how robust this design is; specifically the apex seals, as they've seemingly been one of the primary limiting factors in high HP Wankels. Also curious about the solidity of the intake/exhaust ports within the rotors themselves. It's too bad this design wasn't invented 20+ years ago when the internal combustion engine was still fully reigning supreme... Either way, I really like this concept.
Dear Mazda: rotary powered sports cars are in your heritage and you have fairly deep pockets.... I'm just throwing that out there!