Diesel Wankel Anyone

[Lloyd]

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news12.31b.html

I started out looking for the Holy Grail of a DC charger back in 2002, When Moller was just getting started on their Air Car, and Freedom Motors was just spun off.

I had an Angel Investor back then....We initiated talks to license the tech to build Wankels in 10 hp modules to build dc gensets(battery chargers) from. At last the Angel dried up due to a divorce and the economy.

Now I see that the concept has been adopted, and adapted.

We approached our concept a little differently, we were using  a flywheel driven axial generator/starter. Voltage was controlled by speed. It also used smart pulgs in the diesel application. Our unit was more compact due to the liner design, as apposed to the current design of hanging a starter and alt off the side. The beauty of our design was due to everything being liner rotary...almost no vibration...in a very tight package.

Old tech can lead to more efficient uses in today's design world....just have to think outside the box and have some deep pockets.

Lloyd

http://www.freedom-motors.com/fm_ancest.pdf

[Jedon]

Very interesting, thanks! I hope Moller can sell enough of these to continue his research.

[Ronmar]

Is this the same Moller that has been trying to develop his pie in the sky aircar for the past 2 decades?  If so, the only thing I have ever seen him float untethered is a pretty successfull string of government grants for R&D...

[cognos]

2 decades? I think I remember reading about it in Popular Science when I was a kid...

That thing will never pass the engine-out test...

it looks like the endeavor may produce some other interesting products though, like this one.

Off-topic - that last link - http://www.freedom-motors.com/fm_ancest.pdf - doesn't work for me, it actually hangs my computer and I have to re-start my browser to get away drom it... anybody else having the same problem?

[Wizard]

Actually more than 3 decades.

Cheers, Wizard

[quinnf]

I'm still mad that we're not all commuting to work in gyrocopters or jet-packs.  

Quinn

[lowspeedlife]

Then you'll be happy about this Quinn
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/13/future-jetpacks-sale-late-year/?test=faces

Scott R.

[Henry W]

Wankle engines have been around for over 40 years here in the U.S. and personaly I would not invest in one. All the ones that I been around run at very high RPM's. They lacked torque at low RPM's and for us this is what we need.

Another thing is it is so much easier to tune a piston engine for our needs than a Wankle.
For example, take an engine that is designed to run between 2500-3600 RPM's. The same engine can be reworked by installing a differant camshaft, retiming the injector pump and pop off of the injectors and change the compression to run at lower RPM's. I don't see how this can be done easily on a Wankle engine since the intake and exhaust ports cannot be changed without lots of machining work and $$$$$.

I feel a piston driven engine works for us just fine.

Henry

[quinnf]

Then you'll be happy about this Quinn
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/13/future-jetpacks-sale-late-year/?test=faces

Scott R.

Well, that's 1 for 2.  But I fancied myself more the gyrocopter type.  Seems more survivable in case of engine failure.

q.

[Lloyd]

Quinn,

No worries...just pack a chute...some people pay money to go para-sailing...

Lloyd