51–60 of 211 posts
My understanding is that everyone acknowledges that rotary engines are great, bt in comparison to piston based engines they have far shorter longevity.
I'm surprised the air intake isn't more aerodynamic, more like a fan blade to compress the air into the engine? Could this engine be fitted inside the rear wheel to save space and weight as well?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really good idea. Mazda is doing something that I think is fairly novel, which is almost exactly what you've described. They've scaled down the rotary engine from their RX cars to a single-rotor and put it into their new EV (almost tucked into the front wheel well,) and letting it act as a 70ish horsepower generator for the otherwise battery-powered car to extend range.
Mazda really seems like the only company innovating in the ICE space (this, wankel rotary engines, skyactive engines) and their cars look damn good these days too. On top of that, they make fun cars. With buttons and knobs on the dash! I'm glad they're still around doing their thing.
IIRC, the Freevalve tech is like a 30% efficiency hack for any ICE you put it on, and it's a part of how Koenigsegg are managing to squeeze 600 brake horsepower out of just a 2L, 3-cylinder engine.
Wesley Kagan reimplemented their freevalve technology on his Mazda Miata, and it's probably the coolest hobby automotive project I've seen in years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9KJ_f7REGw
Here's a really cool explainer on the transmission - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvb6J96KiSM
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A Traxxas 5407 TRX 3.3 engine used in RC cars makes 1.42 horsepower, weighs 305 grams, and fits in the palm of your hand. This is 1hp per 0.46 pounds of engine weight, nearly three times better than the camry engine. Granted an RC engine runs on a mixture of fuel and nitromethane, and doesn't have any reasonable durability compare to a Camry engine. But it also only costs $200.
You can't just make the Traxxas 18x bigger and get linear performance improvement. Trying to compare power/weight between engines with radically different weight constraints is silly.
I'm surprised the air intake isn't more aerodynamic, more like a fan blade to compress the air into the engine? Could this engine be fitted inside the rear wheel to save space and weight as well?
Putting engines in wheels causes a very rough ride. Even if the engine is light you're still likely creating an order of magnitude more unsprung mass. That's an order of magnitude rougher ride.
Ok, so they're "shooting for" a performance of 1hp per 1.57 lbs of engine weight. A Toyota Camry engine produces 1hp for every 1.41 lbs of engine weight. It produces 1ft-lb of torque for every 1.94 pounds of engine weight, compared to 1.58 for the Camry. How is this revolutionary motor being outdone by a mid-range sedan engine?
I'm surprised the air intake isn't more aerodynamic, more like a fan blade to compress the air into the engine? Could this engine be fitted inside the rear wheel to save space and weight as well?
That's a really good idea. Mazda is doing something that I think is fairly novel, which is almost exactly what you've described. They've scaled down the rotary engine from their RX cars to a single-rotor and put it into their new EV (almost tucked into the front wheel well,) and letting it act as a 70ish horsepower generator for the otherwise battery-powered car to extend range.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a really good idea. Mazda is doing something that I think is fairly novel, which is almost exactly what you've described. They've scaled down the rotary engine from their RX cars to a single-rotor and put it into their new EV (almost tucked into the front wheel well,) and letting it act as a 70ish horsepower generator for the otherwise battery-powered car to extend range.
Mazda really seems like the only company innovating in the ICE space (this, wankel rotary engines, skyactive engines) and their cars look damn good these days too. On top of that, they make fun cars. With buttons and knobs on the dash! I'm glad they're still around doing their thing.
That’s at about a quarter of the size of this. I bet there’s efficiencies to be had if it were scaled up.
I’m just not sure this is the game changing breakthrough the article’s tone suggests.