To all the longs here:
To think that Ford GM or any other major manufacturer of cars would risk putting the OX2 engine into one of their cars without years of test and retooling are crazy.
For those of you not familiar with the Wankel Engine that was "the best thing on the horizon" back in the late 50's here is a small clip from one of the Wankel Dictionary pages.
(took them 20+ years to see production) see last paragraph.
The Wankel {wang'-kul} engine is an advanced type of internal-combustion engine developed in 1956
by Felix Wankel, a German mathematician [engineer - ed.].
The Wankel engine differs greatly from conventional engines. It retains the familiar intake, compression,
power, and exhaust cycle but uses, instead of a piston, cylinder, and mechanical valves, a triangular rotor
that revolves around the eccentric [shaft]. The three apexes, or tips, of this rotor remain in constant, snug
contact with the combustion-chamber walls. The only other moving part is the crankshaft. The Wankel
engine has 40 percent fewer parts and roughly one-third [less] the bulk and weight of a comparable
reciprocating engine.
In addition to the simplicity of design, there is little or no vibration in the Wankel. There are no
problems with heat dissipation, hot spots, or detonation, all of which are considerations in the
conventional reciprocating engine. Wankel engines, most of which are liquid-cooled, are capable of
running at unusually high speeds for long periods of time. The motor exhibits a high power-to-weight ratio
and an exceptionally good torque curve at all engine speeds.
Within the Wankel, three chambers are formed by the sides of the rotor and the wall of the housing. The
shape, size, and position of these chambers are constantly altered by the rotor's clockwise rotation and
the faster rotation of the eccentric [shaft]. The usual four-stroke cycle occurs with the simple valving and
power-stroke frequency of the two-stroke engine. The rotor opens the intake port and the fuel and air
enter as in the conventional engine. The rotor continues, closing the intake port by passing beyond it; then
compression begins, followed by ignition, combustion, and expansion for the power stroke until the apex
seal at the tip of the triangle opens the exhaust port. The exhaust cycle then takes place, again with no
speed-restricting valve mechanism. The engine is unique in that the power impulse is spread over
approximately 270 degrees of crankshaft rotation, as compared to 180 degrees for the conventional
reciprocating two-stroke engine. Although it is still an experimental engine for most manufacturers, the
Japanese auto maker Mazda has used the Wankel to power some of its sports models. The major
problems with Wankels -- or rotary engines, as they are often called -- has been their low fuel efficiency
[solved] and the difficulty of designing engines of larger than two-rotor capacity [false]. In the late 1980s,
however, a three-rotor engine was introduced [to production]. |
