A company by the name of Liquid Piston has completely re-thought the original Wankel design, and appears to have solved the oil consumption problems of the original rotary engine design. Like a lot of modern, high-tech ideas, it was funded through DARPA, and the US military is already reaping the benefits, with drones and stationary generators powered by these engines.
Some day, we might see larger versions of these engines in cars or trucks.
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A redesigned rotary engine! - General Discussion - Car Talk Community
Yes, I suspected that I might have posted something about Liquid Piston previously. The article that I posted today seems to show that the US military is already deriving a benefit from their āinvestmentā in this technology.
I can see it for a drone, high power to weight, decent fuel economy, same for a generator.
I had a problem visualizing how the cycle proceeds until I saw this at the LiquidPiston website. The piston rolls on an eccentric shaft to keep the seal. Scroll down to How it Works fo see the piston rotate.
Seems workable for smaller engines. However I wonder if that design comes with any vibration-suppressing technical challenges when used for larger engines?
ā military generators that are exempt from emissions regulationsā
I wonder how bad the exhaust emissions are.
Could it be scaled up in size for small airplane use such as Cessna 172 or similar airplanes.
An acquaintance had a mid 70s Mazda with the wankel engine, he did notice his MPG increased significantly in summer vs winter.
Another acquaintance had an 80s something RX-7, I rode in it, not impressed.