What ever happened to the rotary engine that had so much hope about 30 years ago in the past?

Question

This engine was suppose to be the engine of the future and was to more that triple MPG. Could it be that the car companies went to sleep on this technology? Could it be that the oil companies derailed it as they did the electrical powered street cars in many cities years ago ?

Answer 1

Mazda has been using the Rotary Engines for years in various vehicles the most common and well know of which is the Mazda RX7...

these are very unique engines and have unique to them tuning and timing factors etc...

but overall a fairly good design... although I do not believe they have done as well as predicted on mileage...

they have done interesting things with the RPM's they turn and for racing etc.

here is a history run down on this site that should help answer some of your questions

http://www.mazda.com/mazdaspirit/rotary/chronology/

let me know if you need more info in the comment area

Walt

Answer 2

An oil company conspiracy? Not really; Wankel engines are still around. It was mostly that the rotary engines were way over-hyped. That, and they're a royal pain to make them durable.

When rotary engines first hit the streets, they were actually more gas guzzling than their piston counterparts. Mazda's little RX-2 got worse gas mileage than much larger six cylinder cars of the time. They still don't get very good mileage; the modern day RX-8 gets 18 city and 24 highway miles to the gallon, about the same as a V8 Mustang.

While rotaries have a great power to weight ratio and fewer moving parts, they aren't particularly efficient. The trouble with them is that the design places huge limits on the shape of the combustion chamber, and you can't shape it in a way that will get a good burn. Another thing that prevented more companies from building them is the apex seals - they're notoriously troublesome, and Mazda was the only automotive company that came up with a workable solution.

Answer 3

Nothing happened too it. It's still around and running strong. Granted there was a time in the late 80's and all the 90's to where none of the cars had them, but they are back. As far as tripling the mileage, I don't know where you got that information from. The internal combustion motor just does not use fuel to its fullest potential. Nothing that you burn will ever use it full amount of energy as energy. When you burn something you use about 60% to 80% of its energy. The rest is wasted as heat and waste/exhaust. The rotary engine is no different. What made them so good was the design. You where not changing the reciprocating motion to a rotating motion. It was already rotating.

Answer 4

Sheeesh! Another "conspiracy theorist"! Lord, help us! The rotary engine is still around and available; it's in the Mazda, I believe. As for it getting "triple the mileage"? Ain't gonna happen; it's just not possible to create a vehicle that's capable of a hundred miles per gallon; not with the technology available today and probably not with tomorrow's technology!

The oil company conspiracy refuses to die and the idea that the automobile manufacturers would intentionally ignore an idea that would enable them to increase sales by any huge percent is ludicrous!

Answer 5

I think you mean the wankel rotary engine. Invented by the German engineer Felix Wankel in 1951. It uses a rotar instead of recipricating pistons It is still in use on some Mazda cars. Quite a few other manufacturers tried it out, It has been used on racing cars, motor cycles, hovercraft and airplane engines. Rolls Royce even tried out a diesel version. Seach for Wankel engines on Google tgo find out more!

Answer 6

Mazda has been using these rotary engines in some
of their cars for the past 30 yrs...
They are pretty good engines, a bit low on torque but
good weight to horsepower ratio...

Answer 7

The Wankel (or rotary) engine had sealing problems which caused premature oil consumption problems. Engineers have not been able to come up with a fix for that.

Answer 8

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