Seal issues. Think Wankel.
I don't wank seals..........
Yup... and Wankels are not very fuel-efficient engines to begin with, compared to piston engines of similar horsepower. It looks like they've managed to recapture some waste heat and use it, upping the efficiency, but these claims sound terribly speculative.
Also, what's with the "the exhaust spins the rotor that drives the wheels" part? That sounds a lot like the old Chrysler Turbine setup. The diagram shows no connection between the compression and drive rotors, not even a viscous coupling. The vehicle better be small and light, because I suspect this design will share another Wankel characteristic - low torque. Efficiency is great, but if it can't do the work...
"The exhaust heat warms the air that comes into the engine before the fuel is added [see illustration, below]. This hot air leads to more powerful combustion, which means the StarRotor can extract more energy from a given amount of fuel than a conventional engine could."
While heating intake air increases atomization (Richard Petty), thermodynamically you want cold/dense air coming in. Otherwise supercharger intercoolers wouldn't be used. Add to that the seal problems.
Not saying it won't work (yet), just saying your milage may vary somewhere less than utopia.
Nope. More like the gas turbine engine......