http://www.angellabsllc.com/index.html
About 10-15 years ago my company built an engine for an investment group
that used a toroidal cylinder and arc pistons just like this engine. We
built a 60" diameter version with 6" diameter pistons. The dyno on it was
as big as a truck. The purpose of this engine was to compress natural gas
using natural gas as the fuel. The idea behind all this work was to replace
all the huge engines along the natural gas pipelines with this monster to
keep the gas flowing.
To make a long story short, I invoked the Boiler Code on this work and it
failed almost all the requirements of the ASME B&PV code section VIII and IX
which would have been a requirement to operate this engine anywhere in at
least N. America and probably the world. It got pretty heated but the law
is the law and frankly, if there would have been a cross leak between the
prime mover gas and the pipeline gas you'd have read about the world's
largest gas explosion somewhere in the Yukon. Compressing a flammable gas
on one side of a piston with fire on the other side is pretty crazy if you
ask me. Actually, they did ask me and I said, "You're crazy."
Since our engine had such a huge displacement we had to use steam to test
it. We rented a steam plant on a trailer to test it and you should've heard
that sucker run. We're talking upwards of 8,000hp!
Having looked at this website I see very few differences between this engine
and the one we built except size. I met the inventor and he came over with
a clear plastic model and a hand crank. He used this model to get his
investors. Pretty neat trick since the investors were convinced you could
scale up the model to build these pipeline compressors. They forgot from
7th grade math class that pressure inside a chamber goes up as the cube of a
linear dimension while the strength of a bolt goes up as the square of it's
linear dimension. So, as this thing went up in size from 6" to 60" the
stress on the bolts went up by 100 times and the size of the bolts to hold
it together would have exceeded the space to put the bolts in.
We got paid for our efforts and the investment group went to some other
engineering company that was less interested in safety. Last I heard they
never found one.
-Ben
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Interesting story Ben. Every year at Sun n Fun and OSH we
see yet another rotary engine. Hope springs eternal. Most promoters
do not have the remotest idea what it takes to develop a rotary
engine. Any engine for that matter. People that put money into
these things deserve what they get. Nothing :)
Here is what Kenichi Yamamota has to say about the subject.
Paul Lamar
By Kenichi Yamamoto from his book "Rotary Engine" 1981
1.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR A PRACTICAL ROTARY ENGINE
Although various types of rotary engines have been
developed to date, there are few that do not qualify as internal
combustion engines or do not qualify as a practical engine even
if they satisfy the qualifications of an internal combustion
engine.
The requirements for a rotary engine to be qualified
as a practical internal combustion engine can be summed up in
the following five items. The practicality of various ideas on
rotary engines can be judged by evaluating them by these
criteria:
(1) Every moving part, including the timing mechanism, should
make a rotating motion. A mechanism having a reciprocating
inertia will increase mechanical noise and vibration, and will
work against high speed and high revolution. Accordingly,
structures that require intake and exhaust valves and
mechanisms using the rotors oscillatory motion are not
desirable.
(2) Gas seals or the working chamber should be three
dimensionally reliable. The gas seal mechanism of a rotary
engine should be constituted by connecting the individual seals
three dimensionally. Among the many ideas we come across are
those that don't show such three dimensional thoughts.
(3) Appropriate gas exchange of intake and exhaust should
take place. Together with having a mechanism that can correctly
open and close the ports, sufficient time for intake and exhaust
should be provided especially for high speed and high
revolution. Among the ideas on rotary engines, there are some
that ignore this point.
(4) Every component part should have the strength to endure
high speed and high pressure. As the component parts are
exposed to high pressure, high sliding velocity and high heat
load, every part should have sufficient allowance in size and in
shape.
(5) Sufficient cooling and lubrication should be provided.
In order to qualify as an internal combustion engine, although
this is related to above (4), durability against high heat load,
high sliding velocity, etc. are required. Therefore, the
structure should be simple, and the ideas on rotor cooling,
lubrication of seal parts, and oil seal structure should be
those that are given adequate thought.
Also, it is desirable for a practical rotary engine to
have a simple and compact structure. When we evaluate the
various type's of rotary engines devised to date in view of the
above mentioned requirements, the NSU Wankel type rotary engine
is the engine that best satisfies the above mentioned
requirements.
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