What is a Wankel engine and how does it work?

A Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine that produces crank power by rotary motion, rather than reciprocating motion. The engine is named to honor its inventor, Felix Wankel, who came up with this idea when he was only 17 years of age.

How does a rotary engine function?

In a rotary engine, all of the main internal components spin in a largely circular motion, so it’s a simpler, more efficient transfer of energy from burning the petrol to turning the wheels. As such, the rotary has fewer moving parts, is smaller, lighter and more powerful for its capacity.

How does a Wankel engine work?

Wankel engine is an Internal combustion engine unlike the piston cylinder arrangement. This engine uses the eccentric rotor design which directly converts the pressure energy of gases into rotatory motion. Basically, in a simple way, the rotor revolve in housings shaped in a fat figure-of-eight.

How does the fuel get to a rotary engine?

As the tip of the rotor passes the intake port – a hole in the housing through which metered amounts of fuel and air pass – the movement of the rotor ‘sucks’ the fuel and air mixture into the engine.

Can a rotary engine use more than one spark plug?

Rotary engines use two spark plugs per rotor, a leading and a trailing spark plug. The leading plug (mounted lower in the rotor housing housing) ignites up to 95% of the air/fuel mixture providing most of the power.

Why do Hemis have 2 spark plugs?

The extra set of spark plugs on the HEMI, and on previous engines, are designed to reduce emissions before a catalyst is needed.

What are the disadvantages of Wankel engines?

“Another disadvantage of the Wankel engine in particular is the large surface area of the combustion chamber which reperesents a large heat transfer and quench area, combined with an unfavorably long and rather thin stretched combustion space, which means a long flame travel.

Is Wankel and Renesis engine the same?

Renesis is the engine in the RX-8. The Renesis is the latest version of the wankel engine from Mazda.. the wankel engine, more commonly known as the Rotary engine, was developed by Felix Wankel . His engine design only had one fault, the chatter marks made from the apex seals. He sold the rights to the engine to a lot of different buyers..

Which car used Wankel rotary engine?

The NSU Spider was the first-ever car to use a Wankel rotary engine. The engine had a single 498cc rotor and produced a lowly 54hp. Initially produced started in 1964, NSU Spider was built at a Neckarsulm factory belonging to NSU Motorewerke AG.

What are common problems with rotary engines?

With fewer moving parts, there is simply less to break. Rotary engines also tend to fail gracefully. With failing apex seals, rotary engines lose power, but will still get you home. Piston powered engines tend to fail catastrophically, blowing holes into engine blocks, spraying oil and parts all over the place.