Hi Paul and all, I ran across this today. It seems the Boys at MIT are
  working on a new rotary engine design. Kind of interesting and here is
  the link to the videoâ?¦ http://www.technologyreview.com/video/?vid=683


  Enjoy,

  Rick in Alaska

    MIT is going down hill by allowing their name to be attached to this
  project.

  This engine meets almost none of the requirements for a successful
  rotary engine.


  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.  [In addition
  mechanisms that reciprocate generate reversing loads. Reversing
  loads lead to reversing stresses. Reversing stresses lead to
  metal fatigue and limited life. The Wankel rotary engine has no
  reversing stresses therefor the life of the major parts such as the
  eccentric shaft and rotor are unlimited unlike, crankshafts, connecting
  rods, pistons and poppet valves. Paul Lamar]  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.

  It's some kids friggin' toy model.  He couldn't even get the model to
 work
 correctly!  Sorry, but they raised $5Million in venture capitol, which is
 amazing in this market.  Often the company has some IP that is neat, so
 venture capitol will jump in as they realize they can sell the IP later
to
 make some money off it

  From their web site:

  The LiquidPiston engine is based on a patent-pending thermodynamic
cycle,
 called the "High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle" (HEHC), which borrows elements
 from Otto, Diesel, Atkinson, and Rankine cycles. Several critical design
 features make the LiquidPiston engine architecture both versatile and
 capable of outperforming conventional engines on all parameters.



  LPIâ??s engine is architected to have the following unique properties:

     * High fuel efficiency of 57% at peak, and 50% at part-load
     * High power density of 1 Hp / Lb
     * Simple design with low part count
     * Multi-fuel capable: diesel, JP8, gasoline, natural gas, bio-fuels
     * Low noise:  the engine has low pressure exhaust and no poppet
valves



  MIT has zero to do with that, the Tech Review is a "what is interesting
 in the market place".

  For $5Million we could develop a high pressure (1500 bar) injector to
 make a
 Mazda just hmmmm..... Irony is that injector would be worth more than a
 frigging working rotary aircraft engine.  There are just millons on
 inventions just waiting, and I realized how to change fuel at the atomic
 level (piezoelectric gates are huge, we need something smaller!)

 Wow... just realized 2011 Marks the Bosch 125 year anniversary.   I
worked
 for Bosch (Reutlingen, Germany) when we celebrated 100 years of
automotive
 engineering.

 Fun conversation the other night, with a group of friends. What would you
 do
 if you won that $200 Million Jackpot. Everyone pretty much said "go live
 on
 the beach" or something to that effect.  My wife knows me too well, and
 commented "I'd never get him to settle down and sit still for a minute".
 There is so much research and development out there is is just mind
 boggling....


  Tom W





 Tom,

 I'm rather leery of living near the beach at the moment.  If the wave
 doesn't get you, the radiation will:)
 I also laughed when their model didn't work.  There is an axiom in the
 design business.  "Never show a work in progress."

 Their model looks remarkably like the air motors developed in Italy and
 Australia.  For creating a robust combustion chamber they will have to
 toss the sliding vanes and replace them with some type of roller cams.
 Sealing revolving chambers as Mazda well knows is an daunting challenge.
 75% efficient?  Dream on.


 Doug in Japan

 Hey Doug. I know you can send out plain text.
 Robin has a mac and she does it all the time.
 Every time you forward a message your computer removes
 carriage returns and adds line spaces.

 Could you research this for me?

 Perhaps just buy a PC or a Linux box:)


 Does anybody know if Thunderbird runs on a MAC?

 Paul


Consider the following.....

Dr. Ed Crow the former VP of Engineering of Pratt and Whitney is an
adviser
/ board member. I knew him in a professional capacity, and if he is
throwing
his shoulder against the wheel that is enough to peak my interest, he is
no
light weight, a brilliant man, he is a Doctorate in Engineering. When I
was
their, he was a big champion of the "geared turbofan" that Pratt is in the
process of getting their Type Certificate for that is a game changer....

Anthony

How old is he?

Paul Lamar

Paul, I am not sure, in his 60's or 70's?

Anthony