LiquidPiston - super efficient rotary engine

[Gnarly Gnu]

"LiquidPiston, Inc., of Bloomfield, CT, recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, to use the hyper-efficient rotary engine technology for military purposes. The advanced combustion tech could be used in weaponized UAVs, robotic soldiers, and generators that produce 3kW of electric power—but fit in a backpack.

 

Father-and-son team Nikolay and Alec Shkolnik say LiquidPiston can dramatically downsize combustion engines used in military scenarios. The Shkolniks say that their motor can be adapted to use only Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8), the fuel favored by the U.S. military, to produce power in a small, quiet, and efficient package.

 

"A diesel generator that's the size of a desk and weighs 300 pounds becomes a 2-foot-square engine that generates the same power," Alec Shkolnik tells Popular Mechanics."

 

[MEDIA=vimeo]64911927[/MEDIA]

 

 

[Downunder]

Like the design and concept but the seals have always been the downfall of this type (rotary)

 

 

[JG3]

I wonder how they cool that rotor with the hot exhaust gas flowing through it.....

 

 

[mnewbery]

With intake air and skin cooling, same as a lawn mower. Puts an upper limit on the output but that didn't stop the Corvair engine

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Like the design and concept but the seals have always been the downfall of this type (rotary)

Was trying to figure out about the seals. Same as a conventional Wankel is it?

 

Anyways, not as funky as the Bexengine but not bad for a couple of amateurs....

 

 

[Downunder]

No idea about these seals exactly, but these type engines are notoriously hard to keep the gases separate and contained for any length of time. Expansion and contraction of metals makes it hard.

 

Look how long Mazda persisted with the Wankel.

 

 

[cooperplace]

for a moment this had me thinking of the Humphrey pump: this internal combustion engine actually has a liquid piston!

 

Altho' I doubt it will adapted for aviation anytime soon.