Wankel Engine

We have already discussed two different type of engine in my previous post. Today we will go through a different engine named Wankel engine. It is really a different kind of engine as this engine does not have piston unlike our normal S.I. or C.I. engines. So without wasting time let’s see about Wankel engine.

Wankel engine is rotary internal combustion engine having 4 strokes. The concept of this kind of engine was given by German engineer Felix Wankel (patented on 1929). They used eccentric rotor design to utilize pressure into rotation.

A question will obviously arise that why this another engine while we have several different engine? The answer is because of its compact design, low weight and smoothness. We will discuss advantage of this engine later in this post. First let’s see the construction and working of this engine.

Wankel engine consist of housing, triangular shaped rotor mounted eccentrically on eccentric shaft, inlet port and exhaust port, and sparkplug for ignition. This all have arrangement as shown below. Shaft is shown on right side and for convenience it is not attached. A gear shown on left side is placed inside rotor and is made to mashed with internal gear of rotor and this gear will rotate shaft.  To obtain high power through engine multiple rotor is used.  

                   

Wankel engine needs four strokes for completion of single cycle. These four strokes are named intake, compression, ignition and exhaust each are discussed below. An animation of working engine is also uploaded for better understanding.

(1)Inlet

The fuel to be combusted is introduced in the engine through inlet port into the cavity generated between rotor and casing.

(2)Compression

The introduced fuel is now compressed as the volume of cavity decreased due eccentric mounting

(3)Ignition

The compressed fuel is ignited with the help of spark plug. The actual pressure is generated during this stroke or say this is power stroke for Wankel engine.

(4)Exhaust  

The waste gases are expelled to exhaust system through outlet port.

Advantage

1.      High power to weight ratio(1/3 size of S.I. engine for same power output).

2.      Less chances of engine to knock.

3.      Less vibration.

4.      No reciprocating parts.

5.      Simple in construction.

6.      Able to reach high revolution per minute.

Disadvantage

1.      Combustion process is slower.

2.      Bad fuel economy.

3.      Chances of leakage as complete sealing is difficult.

4.      Poor emission. i.e. more unburnt fuel exits through exhaust.

Application

Wankel engine can be used in aircraft, bike and car. Nowadays they are obsolete due to limitation but here are some examples of vehicles in which Wankel engine was used

(1)Very famous car Mazda RX-8 uses this engine. However it burns small amount of oil by its design      hence failed at efficiency.

(2)Yamaha RZ201 used this engine. This bike was introduced in 1972.

(3)ARV super V2 aircraft had this engine.

However Wankel design (not wankel engine) is still used in seat belt pre-tensioner system.

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