Paul wrote:

Those check balls and springs are in there to keep the oil pressure up at

low

 RPM when the rotors do not need cooling. As the RPM comes up the

centrifugal

 force on the balls  moves the balls off the seats allowing oil to squirt
into the
 rotors.
 In the mean time the oil pump is running at a higher RPM so the oil

pressure

 is now high enough to supply both the bearings and the oil squirters.

 Paul Lamar

Ahhhh, ok, that makes sense.  Since the time we spend in idle in an aircraft
is not insignificant, I suppose that it is best to keep the check balls in
place.

Dave Leonard

Hans Conser wrote:

My rotorhead friends and I always take them out...We figure that it was an idle/low
rpm emissions thing, compromising wear for emissions.  If you are right about low
rpm oil pressure then we have been wearing our bearing out faster than need be for
years.

Hans  Conser

Yamamoto 1981 version "Rotary Engine" page 34 & 35 published by Mazda.
The point is you don't operate the engine at wide open throttle
at low RPM for long in automobiles and never in aircraft. You do
need oil pressure at idle however.

Paul Lamar
 
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