Anything like the WANKEL engine that Mazda used back in the 1970s?
Please freepmail me if you wish to be added or dropped from the mitten ping.
Very interesting.
But, the greenies will still hate it because it’s just another way to burn fossil fuels.
It seems a bit complicated, and has lots of parts that must be machined perfectly and withstand extremely high temps for a long time.
The alignment of the piston and cylinder looks like a nightmare waiting to happen. If it’s sitting on a test stand on concrete is one thing, going down the road hitting bumps and jars is another..................
Diesel Knock!................
bump
Although the geometry of the piston and cylinder relationship implies negligible piston to cylinder contact, it seems like the piston will still load the cylinder vertically as it reacts against the gear, because the piston is mounted on an axle.
Intuitively, there is no way that piston entering the cylinder sealing ring at speed will survive for long. Everything depends on perfect and very strong gear teeth for piston/cylinder alignment. Power, inertial, and combustion loads dictate a very narrow speed range to tune in the piston/cylinder alignment.
The good: No valve train, although mention is made of intake and exhaust control. It has a blower ;>) Awesome dwell time at combustion, awesome scavenging, as it appears the backside of the cylinder can be used to that effect. It seems that the cycle has been stretched out time wise. It is essentially air cooled. It is a very low speed design, which helps. Perhaps increased efficiency comes from the slowed down (or lengthened?) cycle.
I'm not entirely convinced the video is showing it running on propane. Doesn't seem to be much combusting going on. Sounds like it's running on compressed air. How can it run without the blower and air management covers? I picture cool air coming in under pressure on one side, filling cylinders and evacuating exhaust on its way out the other.