What are they killed, Silver Eagle or something? They are pretty bad ass
That's what field approvals are for.Amazon.
But there's no STCs for any of our piston twins.
And even then it’ll still weigh as much when empty as it did when full.
That is gas engine thinking
That is gas engine thinking
A 200HP engine at sea level makes roughly 150 HP in Denver, and around 100HP at 10K altitude.
That is gas engine thinking
A 200HP engine at sea level makes roughly 150 HP in Denver, and around 100HP at 10K altitude.
Compare that too an electric motor. A 80kw engine at sea level, is still produces 80kw at 5K feet in Denver, or 80kw at 10k msl....
But it’s only less power when you’re down close to the trees and towers and stuff. You’ve got lots more power up there after you climb out.
I've recently become mildly obsessed with Wankel engines.. one thing I seem to always hear about these is how crazy reliable they are, or rather, immune to catastrophic failure, due to the relatively few parts and consistent direction that everything is travelling in
interesting. I wonder how other applications and in a Mazda for example they dealt with the oil temperature issues. I've read that one of the benefits of the Wankel is the ability to run very hot and have a high thermal efficiency as a result of that
The Apex seal is the one you gotta watch. It's akin to a piston ring except that the engine develops more power as it fails, not less.
I think the Liquid Piston engine addresses that, by turning a Wankel inside-out, so it does not need apex seals anymore. All other problems remain that lead to poor thermal efficiency (contra Mr. Tantalum, unfortunately).
I took a look at the video. It showed slots in the center housing between the chambers. If I'm not mistaken, those are for seals. Maybe they aren't called Apex seals and they aren't on the rotor, but seems to me that they serve a similar function.
I like that engineering guy, I've seen most of his video, but I think in a few of them he shows a little bias off the bat. With the flames exhausting out the back you can recover that energy via turbo, etc., or in the John Whurr Rolls Royce / NASA design by having that drive the turbine that drives the fan. The thermal efficiency thing I was referring not necessarily to them running hot, but the theoretical physics that the hotter you can burn something generally the more actually "work" you'll get out of it for the same given fuel input. Burning X lbs of gas at temp Y vs temp Z the hotter temp will produce more mechanical work. I know some of the newest airliner turbine engines have areas where the air is actually hotter than the melting points of the blades/vanes and thus use air channels blowing through the vanes to keep them within a safe operating temperature. I think the Wankel tends to struggle because of the "if it aint broken, don't fix it" thing. We know the traditional ICE and other than novelty there is little reason to really start from scratch with the Wankel. It is also known that they run better when under load for better seating of the seals and combustion, etc., so in many ways they are more appropriate in a plane where they sit at 75% power for most of their life vs a car at 20%-30% power with lots of city idling, etc.
Anytime someone mentions Wankel's pro's the few parts are given as a benefit. No valves, push rods, etc., just a triangle flying around in a container. The Apex seal is the known weak link.. but you blow a valve or connecting rod you are also going hero to zero as well. Typically the Apex seals also don't catastrophically fail.. but that's just based on what I've heard
Did he ride them hard and put them away wet? Comparing a Mazda RX-7 vs a plane to gauge the appropriateness of a Wankel is somewhat dubious as they're built to different standards and needs and most people driving an RX-7 are not treating the same way we treat our Lycos/Contis. I wouldn't compare the diesel on my dad's sailboat to the diesel you get in a Diamond either
I know what a thermal cycle is. In my days it was called "Carnot cycle". Its theoritical efficiency is proportional to the difference between the hot and cold side, in this case the combustion temperature and the atmosphere. So, the hotter the engine runs, the better is the maximum efficiency. The problem is the parasitic loss through the thermal conduction, because the hot gas contacts more chamber surface in a rotary. This loss offsets gains through running hot, with known materials.
thanks, that makes sense, and I should have been more clear that I was speaking from a theoretical side..