So much so, that we had
two of them, back-to-back way back when. The rotary engine was fun to
drive but there were production issues with engine wear, fuel economy, and
emissions. Mazda eventually moved on from it.
Now there is a new rotary
concept. It’s called the Astron Omega 1. It’s not from Mazda, it’s
from somebody else. The designers figured out that all four parts of a
four-cycle engine don’t have to happen in the same place. Separate them
into intake/compression in one part, move the air to the next section, and
perform the combustion/exhaust functions there. Both parts run at the
same time, so it’s intense like a 2 cycle engine, but without the lubrication
and emissions issues.
Front view.
Side view.
Here are some old guys
talking about how it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LkkjYParp4&t=126s
They talk about other
stuff too. The rotary engine part starts at 6:30.
It’s small. The
model they’re showing here weighs 35 pounds, turns at 25,000 RPM, and puts out
160 horsepower with 60% efficiency. (That’s a lot better efficiency than
a piston engine.) And it can run on hydrogen too. I guess that’s
all on computer simulations though. It’s early in development.
Mazda, are you listening? RX-9?
No comments:
Post a Comment