this is real hot: small rotary engine - Aixro XR50 Wankel

[indicruis]

Hey,

This engine would fit on a bike, it looks small to me, .....and it has 50hp..........that's maybe a little to much for my bike .....

http://www.karting1.co.uk/wankel-kart-test.htm

..........I think this is for the real bikeracer heroes............

 

[Alaskavan]

Did they ever resolve the problem of wear on the ceramic seals on the rotors? As I recall, that's what killed them for use in cars.

 

[sdol]

Wankel Kart Engine

Basic engine selling price $5150.00 It sure does look to be a really neat engine though. Going to the site shown above there is a video and you get to see the motor mounted in a Kart and although small the engine is a bit larger that it seems when looking at it standing alone.

 

[HoughMade]

Did they ever resolve the problem of wear on the ceramic seals on the rotors? As I recall, that's what killed them for use in cars.

The seals and emissions of Wankels were always their weak points, but the "Renesis" in the current RX8 gets pretty good reviews.

 

[rcjunkie]

Seals haven't been an issue for years. The main issue with rotary engine is emissions and thermodynamic ineffiicency due to larger combustion surface area for a given displacement (cubic inches) than a piston engine <---- more surface area for heat to dissipate from.

OH, almost forgot: seals are only an issue if engine is overheated, run too lean, or oil injection system fails. I have almost 200,000 miles on rotary powered vehicles (mainly 2nd generation 13Bs) and haven't had an engine failure yet.

 

[srdavo]

hahaha...sorry for the off topic post...sorta.

back in the 70's, I had a chevy luv pick-up. good gas mileage...but a total dog. my brother in law had a mazda p/u. we had borrowed his p/u for some reason, & my X-wife was driving. we were going down 71 south...(4 lane) & I asked her what was her hurry. she said she was only going 40mph....she was going 4 grand on the tach!!!! I believe we were doing 90mph.....what a ride!!

I now return you to your thread

do ya think they could make a way smaller wankel for our bikes??

 

[Karl Sanders]

have you guys ever heard of the Hüttlin engine? Felix Wankel was his mentor in the sixty's, now that dude Hüttlin invented a spherical engine. (dont ask me how it works)
he is producing them for a couple of years now, its said to be small and powerful too.
and i remember seeing one inside an motor scooter on a documentary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRhxctg5mns
it may appear like one of these weird esoteric energy saving machines on the first look, but in Bavaria they already (successfully) using them for small hybrid cars now.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/huttlin-spherical-engine.htm

 

[Fabian]

nice. capitolism loves hybrids as it leads to complicated machinery that only dealers can fix. anything that cannot be fixed is sure to be replaced.

I agree. It's all about planned obsolescence

 

[lazylightning@mail.r]

17 kilos is pretty heavy and 5 grand is way out there. It's a real interesting technolgy though. Even 20 hp would be right nice! And if it was less than 8 kilos...