By Ryan
Many people know that the most
common way to drive a vehicle is by reciprocating engine, but the engine is
about to introduce will refresh your impression to combustion motors.
The Wankel engine is a type of
internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure
into rotating motion. The engine is commonly referred to as a rotary engine,
although this name applies also to other completely different designs. All parts
rotate moving in one direction as opposed to the common piston engine which has
pistons violently changing direction. The four-stroke cycle occurs in a moving
combustion chamber between the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped
housing, and a rotor that is similar in shape to a Reuleaux triangle with sides
that are somewhat flatter.
The concept of the engine was
conceived by German engineer Felix Wankel. Wankel received his first patent for
the engine in 1929, began development in the early 1950s at NSU, and completed
a working prototype in 1957. NSU subsequently licensed the design to companies
around the world, which have continually added improvements.
The first working prototype, DKM
54, produced 21 horsepower and ran on February 1, 1957, at the NSU research and
development department Versuchsabteilung TX. The KKM 57 (the Wankel rotary
engine, Kreiskolbenmotor) was constructed by NSU engineer Hanns Dieter Paschke
in 1957 without the knowledge of Felix Wankel. Over the commonly used
reciprocating piston designs, the Wankel engine delivers advantages of:
simplicity, smoothness, compactness, high revolutions per minute, and a high
power-to-weight ratio.
.
Mazda and NSU signed a study
contract to develop the Wankel engine in 1961 and competed to bring the first
Wankel-powered automobile to market. Finally Mazda bought the patent from NSU
and continue researching and developing this Unique technology. Mazda prove the
value of Wankel engine by several successful achievements: the success of RX7
in Japan and North America market, and one of the top glories in Auto industry
– Won the championship of 24 HEURES DU
MANS in 1991.（As the champion car Mazda 787B showed on the right)
Although having many distinctive advantages, Wankel
engines inevitably have some defect, such as the problem of Rotor sealing; slow
combustion; bad fuel economy; poor emissions and difficult
to fix etc. The biggest setback comes from the competing industry. After Mazda
get the champion of 24 HEURES DU MANS in 1991, the FIA (Fédé ration
Internationale del’Automobile) announce that any race car will not be allowed
to enter the race except equipping reciprocating engines
below 3.0L from next year. This decision was obviously oppose Mazda, in order
to preserve other motor corporation that focus on reciprocating engines.
However, despite of so many frustrations, from
personal view, I believe the development of Wankel engines will continue and
change the pattern of Automobiles in the future.
Sources
Images
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Mazda-787B.JPG
By: Janae S.
ReplyDeleteThis topic was very interesting and also important because I never knew the different types of engines that are being used in cars.