Remember when the Wankel rotary engine was going to be the wave of the future? Is this another untried engine that will be a disappointment?
Wankel engines provide a lot of power per pound of engine but at the price of not being that efficient. Nothing wrong with the technology (other than getting seals to work) it is just a technology without many applications. We live in a world where MPG is more important than HP per pound of engine.
The problem with the Wankel was a lack of complete burn of the fuel and consequently, exhaust temperatures. An engineer did patent a fix for this by adopting an oval ejection port. This helped increase the burn time and reduced the exhaust temp.
My contacts tell me that Mazda has currently tabled the Wankel, but is investigating the patent. No word as to when or if they will adopt, bring back, etc.
Remember when the Wankel rotary engine was going to be the wave of the future? Is this another untried engine that will be a disappointment?
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Orbital Engine, too.
Toyota is now getting 40% thermal efficiency from their gas engines in their hybrid systems.
The Tucker automobile, for one.
Wankels worked, but they were assailed because they were not as intuitive as reciprocating engines, and quickly lost popularity because few people understood them.
"Where are you going to get it worked on if you have a problem?" Is a serious enough question to keep something from gaining traction.