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The mechanisms and porting requirements of a new class of rotary piston machine are described. The
machines can be regarded as a generalization to three dimensions of that class of planetary motion machine
which includes the Wankel. Important features of the Wankel engine are retained, namely a compact arrange-
ment, a sliding contact seal grid and multiple chambers on each rotor, but these new machines have twice as
many chambers on each rotor, and they apply results of three-dimensional rigid body dynamics to select piston
motions which involve very low inertial forces. An experimental engine is described with some results.
AP Pressure drop across seals, positive for out- shaft is controlled by the bevel and layshaft gears. The two
flow from chamber examples show gear proportions appropriate to the fre-
R Gas constant or tip radius. quency ratios of most practical interest. The case where
T Absolute temperature. = -24 leads to applications involving one cycle of
t Time. volume variation for each rotor revolution; the case where
V Mean speed of rotor tip. 6 = -3$/2 leads to applications such as the four cycle
vc Initial volume of chamber. engine in which two cycles of volume variation occur during
B Angle between shafts in the Hooke’s coupling. each rotor revolution. Many alternative arrangements of
R Eulerian angle between rotor polar axis and gears involving different bevel shaft and layshaft rotation
fixed direction of maximum angular mo- rates are possible. More compact arrangements can be
mentum, i.e. in precessing mechanism the made using sun and planet gears instead of a layshaft. The
angle between the rotor and mainshaft straight-through mainshaft and large bearing areas give
axes. a robust mechanism suitable for application in high
P Density of fluid in chamber. pressure machines such as internal combustion engines.
Pc Initial density of fluid in chamber.
7 Cycle period. 2.2 Hooke’s coupling
4 Eulerian angle defining rotation of plane con- Fig. 2 is the familiar Hooke’s coupling. In this case the
2.1 Precession
In Fig. 1 the motion of the rotor is a precession. Rotation
6
of the mainshaft at a rate causes simultaneous rotation
4
of the rotor at a rate relative to the tilted portion of the
mainshaft. The ratio between the speeds of the rotor and
Rotor
Bevel shaft
\
Fig. 2. Hooke’s coupling mechanism
Slidi
U -.
,-
Layshaft-
%
!
I
I
b - I
!
‘.
\
Layshaft
a Two shaft revolutions for each rotor revolution.
b Three shaft revolutions for each rotor revolution.
Fig. 1. Precessing rotor mechanisms
‘Contact
- -faceku
. F Rotor
Fig. 3. Sliding apex mechanism
necessarily limited for space. However, it avoids the use of ment devices by providing means for altering the angles.
gears. The motion of the rotor resembles that of precession In the former the angle between the shafts is variable and
with $ = -24 and the possible applications overlap with in the latter the angle between the shaft and the normal to
that case. the face F is variable.
defined in this way. In the particular cases drawn the apex 4 PORTING
seal lines have been chosen straight and the apex seals on Ports for fluid to enter and leave the various chambers at
each side lie in a plane. The two sides are the same appropriate times can be positioned in the outer spherical
shapes. Four separate chambers are confined between the surface. Figs 6-9 show projections (geographically they
rotor and the static surfaces in Fig. 4 and six in Fig. 5. would be known as Mercator’s projections) of this spheri-
The spherical surface round the outside has been omitted cal surface on a cylinder. The position of the rotor against
to show the rotor at various positions in its cycle. A rather this surface is shown at intervals during a rotor revolution.
surprising result evident from Fig. 4 is that the stator seal It can be seen from these schematic diagrams that move-
surfaces appear to be flat. They are not exactly flat but the ment of the rotor periphery over the surface can be used
difference causes seal movements small enough to be to open and close suitably positioned ports for the four
accommodated by a normal seal grid so that in practice it most important working cycles. This ability of the rotary
is not necessary to generate seal sliding surfaces any more piston to avoid valve mechanisms, camshafts, etc., is one
complex than flat and spherical. The faces of the rotor can of its most attractive and economic features. The only
also be made flat. one of these cycles for which a reciprocating piston can
The above discussion has been based on the use of ‘line’ achieve the same effect is the two-cycle engine and even in
seals in the rotor. An alternative is to define ‘surface’ seals this case more advantageous timing can be achieved with
in the rotor representing for instance a cylindrical surface the rotary piston. For instance the exhaust port may be
on the rubbing nose of an apex seal. In the case of the opened and closed before the inlet port.
Hooke’s coupling and sliding apex mechanisms cylindrical Because several chambers use the same ports there is
apex seal surfaces on the rotor having axes concentric greater continuity of flow through them than can be
with a pair of trunnion bearings define exactly flat surfaces obtained with reciprocating machines which need multi-
for the casing. branched manifolds. For example, in each case, the single
inlet port is never closed. The only cycle for which the
porting requirements have compromised the rotor shape
4
1
- __ ~
..
.--
Volume
--
_ c - _c
1
,pK-\.
4‘
Inlet area “-/ Outlet area
\<,’ /!-\
->A \/f\h*.
0 60 120 I80 240 300. 360
ROTOR
F i g . 7. Four-cycle engine Fig. 9. Compressor
is the compressor-expander where a recess in the rotor which A p is significantly positive and assuming A , is con-
is used to communicate with the high pressure port and stant during the cycle gives
the width of the rotor at its tip has been increased to
allow room for that port.
alter the cycle pressures and temperatures. A more furthermore A p is almost constant and n N 4 so that
accurate and complex method of analysis has been inequality (5) becomes
developed at N.G.T.E. for assessing the effects of leakage
but a description of it is outside the scope of this paper and
its results are not significantly better from a designer’s
point of view. For an atmospheric blower with d p = 10 kN/m2 and
The mass flow rate mL for a fluid leaking through an pc = 1.21 kg/m2 this gives a r.h.s. of 1285 m/s and for a
effective leakage area A , from a chamber at pressure p and water pump with A p = 1 MN/m2 and p c = 1000 kg/m3
density p is given by the r.h.s. is 448 m/s.
The above analysis illustrates for instance that in any
niL=ALdGfe) . . . positive displacement machine with a 500 cm3 chamber
and a 3000 rev/min shaft speed leakage areas less than 0.75
where A p is the pressure drop across the seal and f is a mm2, 2.2 mm2, 19 mm2 and 56 mm2 are needed for the
function of Aplp. diesel, petrol, blower and liquid pump respectively to avoid
Integrating for the fraction n of the cycle period T for prohibitive performance deficiencies arising from leakage.
i Precessing 1 Hooke’s
coupling
1 Sili manent test facilities. Fig. 10 shows a longitudinal
section and Fig. 11 shows a part-sectioned model. The
Two-cycle engine 1 N.G.T.E.
254 mm (10 in) diameter rotor forms four working cham-
bers each of 510 cm3 (31.1 in3) swept capacity. The rotor
Four-cycle engine Not Not and casings are cast in S G iron with integral cooling
suitable suitable passages for oil in the rotor and water in the casings.
Liquid p v p - N.E.L. Rotor bearing lubricating oil and rotor cooling oil are
motor or zur blower supplied by separate drillings in the mainshaft. If it were
Compressor- successfully developed as a turbocharged compression
expander ignition unit with a b.m.e.p. (brake mean effective pres-
sure) of (say) 1400 kN/m2 (203 lb,’in2)such a unit would
deliver 118 kW (160 b.h.p.) at a rotor speed of 2500
7 A TWO-CYCLE EXPERIMENTAL U N I T rev/min. For application as a compression ignition engine
By combining different porting arrangements with differ- a separate chamber was provided for combustion on the
ent mechanisms many different machines can be con- lines of the Ricardo Comet.
structed. The possibilities are conveniently identified in The design rotor speed was limited to 2500 revlmin in
Table 1. order to stay within normal limits on injector pump
The National Engineering Laboratory is examining a speeds and seal sliding speeds. These restrictions mean
‘Mainshaft
Lay shaft
Ports’
Fig. 10. Longitudinal section through t h e experimental two-cycle engine
surface contact. Also, like the Wankel the seal grid con-
tains four corners. The tip seal is semicircular like half
pox seal -/ a piston ring in the rotor. The circular hub seal is located
in the casing, and seals by inward acting forces as it slides
Fig. 12. Seal configuration against the rotor hub sphere. The apex seals are located
by grooves in the rotor and slide on the casings. All the
seals are spring-loaded to ensure correct seating for start-
that this particular rig did not exploit the potential for ing but are mainly loaded by gas pressure in the conven-
high speed operation and, at the same time, it made heavy tional manner. The tip seal has not changed much during
demands on the standard of sealing required. development and has been made from a piston ring grade
of cast iron. Hub seals were originally cast iron but more
7.1 Seals recently have been made in En 31 steel. Apex seals have
been tried in several materials including carbon and cast
Fig. 12 shows the seal grid in schematic form to illustrate
the names used for the various seals and the position of the iron.
enlarged section shown in Figs 13 and 14. The sealing of Fig. 13 is a section through the apex seal of the first
each chamber is made up from four pieces. design. Radial support of the apex seal is on the rotor.
The components are drawn in the extreme positions they
(1) A leading apex seal. may occupy during operation. This movement between
(2) Half the circumference of the hub ring. extremes can arise from a combination of bearing clear-
( 3 ) A trailing apex seal. ances, different thermal expansions, load deflections,
(4) A tip seal. surface form and position errors and timing gear backlash.
I n the first design, Fig. 13a, when the gas pressure forces
The two apex seals are the least conventional because, the rotor away from its casing leakage areas of up to 6 mm2
like the apex seals of the Wankel engine, they tilt as they can be opened up at each apex seal.
r
slide and are therefore limited to line contact as opposed to The third design is shown in a similar fashion in Fig. 14.
The apex seal is now supported radially by sliding contact
on the casing and is made smaller and lighter. This sim-
plifies the corner problems between the tip and apex seals.
The hub ring secondary sealing surface has been moved
out of the locating groove so that the latter no longer pro-
vides a circumferential leakage path. The part of the hub
ring on the expansion side of the engine has been provided
osing asing with an integral water-cooling passage and its expansion
gap has been sealed with a stepped design. The three-
piece design of apex seal can accommodate changes of
Apex seal Apex seal
seal-line length by relative motion of its members. The
Principal maximum area exposed by clearance allowances is now
leakage 0.5 mm2 and at the most important period when gas
Rotor areas
pressure forces the rotor away from the casings the corner
leakage disappears. Many other detail differences not
apparent in the diagrams have been introduced. I n par-
ticular the surface finish and form have been much
a Rotor close to casing. improved by lapping. All surfaces are either flat or spheri-
b Rotor away from casing.
cal so that they lend themselves to this kind of precision
Fig. 13. Section through first design of apex seal finishing operation.
-
speed is about 0.0015 mm (0.000 06 in). The analysis does results. The lower graph represents the best torque
not apply accurately to such small clearance but neverthe- achieved so far by using petrol and spark ignition. The in-
less it is obvious from these figures that any machine dicated mean effective pressure is 400 kN/m2 which is still
adopting a non-contacting ‘seal’ design, say 0.01 mm clear- low due to leakage and the measured brake power at these
ance, would be inadequate for use as an engine. conditions was 18-1kW (24.3 b.h.p.). This corresponds to
Measured chamber pressure diagrams and some results an average b.m.e.p. of 300 kN/m2 for the four chambers
of a computer simulated analysis of the pressures are com- and a mechanical drag of about 100 kN/m2.
pared in Fig. 16. The upper graph shows clearly the
shortcomings of the original seal performance and the
8 COMPARISON WITH OTHER ENGINES
middle graph shows the current standard. At the time of
the first tests, rig limitations prevented the use of rotor The principal advantages of rotary piston machines over
their reciprocating equivalents are their smaller size and
greater smoothness. The rotary piston machines should in
-
LEAKAGE AREA mmz
the long term reduce costs because material costs are a
0
high proportion of the cost of mass produced mechanical
items. The latter is the direct result of the improved
1
First design Identified
balancing and the removal of valve gear. Clearly, if seal
before modifications PI materials develop sufficiently to ensure satisfactory life,
First design the long term prospect for the rotary engine is good. In the
after rnodificotions short term, however, if manufacturers are forced to write
after
First design
rnodificotions de/ - offa part of their enormous investment in reciprocating
Second design
machines it will be the result of other pressures such as the
need in cars for more underbonnet space to accommodate
Third design air-conditioning, anti-pollution and extra silencing, or in
lorries the saving of cab space in the face of increasing
installed horsepower requirements.
Fig. 15. Seal effectiveness improvement The most highly developed rotary piston machine to
date is the Wankel planetary motion engine. Significant (6) In the four cycle engines there is another consider-
technical differences between this and the compound able difference in the combustion chamber airflow near
rotation machines discussed here include: t.d.c. Fig. 17 shows successive combustion chamber
(1) The inertial loads in the Wankel engine with a shapes for both engines from which it can be seen that
stationary trochoid* are of similar magnitude to those in a the rapid transfer of gas across the waisted portion of the
reciprocating piston engine of the same power, shaft speed Wankel engine chamber is absent from the precessing
and firing impulses per revolution. The question of inertial version and so is the persistence near the trailing apex seal
loads in this new family of compound rotation units is dis- of a pocket of gas which is remote from the combustion
cussed in Appendix 1 but they are very much smaller so process until late in the cycle. These differences may help
that these new engines should be capable of development reduce heat loss and exhaust emissions when compared
to higher speeds. with the Wankel engine.
(2) The new compound rotation units can use both (7) In the two-cycle casing machines the surfaces can
faces of the rotor and therefore have twice as many be made without special generating or cam-following
working chambers per rotor. machinery and where flat and spherical surfaces are used
(3) The geometry of the trochoid and the need to pro- a high degree of precision and good finish is obtainable by
vide a transfer passage in the rotor flank places an upper lapping.
limit on the feasible compression ratio in the Wankel 9 CONCLUSION
engine. This limit is very much higher in the precessing
rotor versions so that it should be possible to achieve com- Attention is drawn to a new class of rotary piston machines
pression ignition in one stage. for the exchange of fluid energy with a rotating shaft. The
(4) The timing gears are more complex in the precess- machines are characterized by the near free body motion
ing machines but by way of compensation they do not (precession in some instances) of their working elements
impose a limit on the mainshaft diameter as they do in the and a compact arrangement with several chambers on
Wankel engine. each rotor. They offer a unique combination of freedom
( 5 ) The porting arrangements outlined in Figs 6 to 9 from inertial loads, the ability to seal by continuous
employ single inlet and outlet ports communicating with sliding contact and freedom from valve mechanisms with a
from two to six chambers. This ensures much greater stationary casing containing-inlet and outlet ports.
continuity of flow than can be achieved in a conventional One of these machines has been built and tested as a
manifold arrangement. This is an advantage from the two-cycle engine and extensive effort has been necessary
point of view of mixture distribution in carburetted to improve the sealing effectiveness. However, recent
engines and it helps maintain reactor temperatures in results have pointed the way to a solution of the seal
exhaust emission control devices. Peripheral ports, i.e. effectivenessproblem for certain compressor duties and a
ports in the trochoid, on the Wankel engine are said to be high speed engine. A much more extensive programme of
suited to high speeds but have too much overlap for opti- work is necessary to improve seal life and to satisfy the
mum low-speed running. Side ports are less suited to high effectiveness requirements of low speed engines but it
speeds because they involve sharp turns in the flow. The seems probable that improvements can be made if the
corresponding precessing rotor machine can use a port development effort is forthcoming.
arrangement like that shown in Fig. 7. It features large There are similarities with the Wankel engine but there
port areas with no flow turning and no overlap. are also significant differences many of which favour the
new machines.
* The original Wankel engine used a moving trochoid and avoided
inertial loads but the complications inherent in moving ports led to 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
the adoption of the present configuration.
The authors wish to acknowledge with gratitude the
efforts of many of their colleagues at N.G.T.E. who con-
tributed to this work and also the staff of the Computer
Aided Design Centre at Cambridge for the use of their
facilities to produce Figs 4 and 5. This paper is published
by permission of the director of the National Gas Turbine
Establishment and is Crown Copyright Reserved.
a Precessing rotor.
b Wankel.
Fig. 17. Comparison of combustion chamber shapes Fig. 18. Gimbals mechanism and Euler’s angles
. . . (16)
1-sin2gsin2 4)
- 112
) (17)
where /3 is the angle between the shafts, and the axis of #J
is inclined at /3/2 to both shafts. PRECESSION RATE^+^-,
An increase of 277 in 4 returns 6' to its initial value and
reduces 4 by T so that this mechanism permits sealing of a Fig. 19. Contours for constant couple for precessing
rotor having a two-fold repeat of geometry. motion
and I 1 I I I I I
c*
w = -
G 2 tan /3 cos +
m3Q2 F 1+tan2 ,6 cos2
dF
-- l + B tan2 /3 cos2 +
+
d+ 2F2(1 tan2 /3 cos2 +) (21)
+
where G = tan /3 sin q5/( 1 tan2 ,6 cos2 +), A = ml/m3and
B = m2/m3.
It will normally be more convenient for bearing cal-
culations to express these results relative to the shafts.
If C, is the couple having an axis parallel to that of +
and the first shaft and C B is the couple having an axis
normal both to the second shaft axis and its trunnion
bearing axis (couple C, controls the normal force on the
apex of the sliding apex machine), then
CA = C,+Co sin + tan ,!?/(I+tan2 /3 cos2 +) (22)
+
C, = - C,/(cos ,6( 1 tan2 /3 cos2 +)1’2) . (23)
One simple case arises when the first shaft is forced to
rotate at constant velocity then F = 1. A second case
corresponds to free rotation of both shafts then CA = 0,
or equivalently the kinetic energy is constant and
-0.06
0
t
I I
30
I
60
I
90
I
120
I
150 180
A tan2 ,!3 sin2 + SHAFT ANGLE $
shaft speed
F=
+
1 tan2 /3 cos2 +
+Btan2,!3cos2++1 -Constant
------ Free rotation p = 200
+
(1 tan2 ,6 cos2 +) Fig. 20. Couple for Hooke’s coupling motion
Some values of C, and C, are shown in Fig. 20.
The preceding results can be used with shafts of finite If this is supported by bearing surfaces a distance R
inertia by making adjustment to the rotor inertia. If the apart the load on each is
shaft inertias are ZA and I , for the first and second shafts MV2
then the ‘equivalent rotor’ has principal moments of P , = 0.1682- R * .
. (30)
inertia given by
Comparing equations (28) and (30) shows that for
m: = m,+Z, . . . . (25) similar rotor masses and tip speeds the Wankel engine
mi=m2+ZA . . . * (26) inertial forces exceed those of the precessing rotor engine
mi=m3+zA+IB . * * (27) by a factor of about 7. The corresponding factor for N = 2
is about 17.
Comparison with the Wankel engine inertia forces
APPENDIX 2
A typical Wankel engine with rotor mass M, rotor radius REFERENCES
R and shaft eccentricity R/7 experiences an inertial force (I) WANKEL, F. Rotary piston machines 1965 (Iliffe Books Ltd,
between rotor and shaft of magnitude London).
(2) SISTO, F. ‘Comparison of some rotary piston engines’,
770B, SAE National Powerplant Meeting, October 1963.
(3) CHINITZ,W. ‘Rotary engines’, Scienr. Am., February
where V is the mean apex seal velocity. This formula can 1969.
be derived as a special case in the limit of equation (18) or (4) WANKEL,F. ‘A slant-shaft rotary piston engine’, U.K.
Patent Specification No. 805370, December 1954.
by considering the circular motion of the rotor centre of (5) ‘The Walker rotary’, Motor, February 1969.
gravity. (6) WICHERT, K. W. ‘Characteristics of helical, rotary, positive
A four-cycle ( N = 3) precessing rotor engine of similar displacement compressors’, A.S.M.E. 61-MYD-18, May
power would have a rotor of similar mass My tip speed V 1961.
and radius R. It would have a value for ml/ma of about (7) DEAN,W. C. ‘A new rotary piston engine’, Mech. Engng,
13/24 (corresponding to the proportions of a disc with October 1964.
thickness equal to half its radius) and a value for 6’ of (8) ‘Marshall tri-dyne rotary engine’, The Engineer, March 1968.
about 10”. The couple magnitude from equation (18) can (9) WHITTAKER, E. T. AnaZytica2 dynamics 1944 (Dover Publi-
cations Inc., New York).
be expressed as
(10) THOMSON,W. T. Introduction to space dynamics 1961
ICl = 0.1682MV2 . . * (29) (John Wiley and Sons, New York and London).
Discussion
an almost infinite variety of possible arrangements, both rotary machine. Ingenuity, backed up by a great deal of
of moving components and power taken off, they have careful engineering thought, characterizes this work.
confused engineers as to where to begin. The adoption of It is perhaps unfortunate that there are so many
precision motion, resulting in low inertia forces and con- variations available and but one brief paper to discuss
sequent high speed capability, gives this new type of rotary them. The two cycle version selected for detail develop-
machine an advantage over all others. ment appears theoretically ideal as a compression-
The use of integral cooling passages for oil in the rotor ignition variant; this is mentioned on page 748. However,
and water in the casing appears inadequate for an engine the high pressures involved would impose a stringent
with high power/weight ratio. Could the authors give an sealing requirement and there is no further mention of a
indication of the magnitude of the thermal loading at a C.I. version. The choice of this form of the engine further
rotor speed of 2500 rev/min when the unit delivers 118kW? clouds the assessment of its capability since a supply of
Could the authors also explain how they hope to avoid the compressed air is needed to scavenge the engine and it is
risk of oil seeping into the combustion chamber. not clear what contribution this makes to the measured
power output of the engine. Including this contribution,
F. Feller Fellow the 18 kW obtained (p. 750), or even nearly double this
I found the introduction, which establishes the category figure (mentioned by J. M. Clarke), is still far short of the
into which the new machines can be placed, most helpful. 118 kW anticipated (p. 748) and it does seem a pity that
development of this interesting form of engine has
Both the engine commonly referred to as the Wankel
engine and the group of engines described in the paper apparently had to be curtailed before achieving even more
have precessing rotors and internal axes. Why not then convincing output figures. We are also left wondering
refer to the former as the ‘parallel axis’ rotary engine and whether the 4-cycle version might be better, particularly in
to the latter as the ‘slant axis’ rotary engine ? the spark-ignition version.
Of particular interest to me was the ‘Comparison with In detail I feel that too much emphasis has been placed
other engines., I agree completely with the summary of on low inertia leading to high-speed operation. Surely the
rotary engine virtues, vis-a-vis the reciprocating engine, latter depends much more on combustion rate than inertia
but I am not convinced that any of the differences between of moving parts and it is not clear how much turbulence
the ‘slant axis’ rotary engine and the ‘parallel axis’ rotary can be achieved in the combustion chamber in order to
engine give the former an overriding advantage in improve it. The low inertia is an advantage when rapid
accelerations and decelerations of the engine are required.
practice, for instance:
This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and
(1) The ‘parallel axis’ rotary engine has proved itself to promising rotary piston engine designs so far produced.
be a very smooth engine capable of running up to high
speeds. In fact the only limitation to speed has been apex A. M. Laws Member
seal wear and the rate of combustion. How could inertia My comments fall into three distinct categories-sealing,
loads help in this respect ? engine bulk and comparative costs.
(2) Having twice as many working chambers per rotor Fig. 10 shows the cross-section of a 2 litre unit and
could become a thermal problem and hence a disadvantage. this has been used to draw comparisons with other
(3) T o be able to have a higher compression ratio engine types.
and a more compact combustion chamber is attractive The minimal extent of the directly oil-wetted portion of
for a diesel version, but I would set against this the sealing grid and relatively high frictional losses
advantage the need for a very large end-thrust assembly referred to in the paper of 100 kN/m2 in an indicated
and the more difficult gas seal configuration, wherein the mean effective pressure of 400kN/m2 at 1775 rotor
hub seal sits in the casing, while the rest of the seals are in rev/min stimulates an interesting comparison:
the rotor, and where the apex seal has to cope with
different wear conditions along its length and perhaps also
different lubricating conditions as, under centrifugal force,
droplets of oil are carried to one end of the seal.
4 Chamber N.G.T.E.
In my view the other differences cited do not signifi- P==f+E 2850 32
cantly change the balance in favour of the ‘slant axis’ 2 Rotor 2 htre Wankel 2200 85
rotary machine, but I hasten to add that this does not 4 Cylinder 2 litre reciprocating m* 54
detract from the work done by the authors in extending
our knowledge and testing the possibilities of this un- * Inclusive of valve seats.
explored configuration of the rotary engine. The comparison is further illustrated in Fig. 21
which depicts frictional losses taken from dynamometer
D. P. Hutchinson Member tests at Associated Engineering Developments Ltd on
I see many, and vet a few, of the considerable number of production reciprocating and Wankel engines, together
rotary engines that are being offered for consideration at with the single point result from the paper.
the present time. It would seem from its configuration that the National
Many inventors have not studied their thermodynamics Gas Turbine Establishment engine could readily suffer
fundamentals adequately and even more have little idea of from an excess of lubricant in the combustion chamber,
the basic mechanisms required to make their machines a leading to high emissions and plug fouling, unless stringent
sound engineering proposition, let alone an economic one. oil control measures and maybe capacitor ignition were
These criticisms cannot justifiably be levelled at this employed. It would be instructive if the authors could
I2
10
.
E
E
78
LL
0
0 2000 3000 4000 rn
ROTATION SPEED rev/min
(I) N.G.T.E. engine.
(11) 4-cylinder reciprocating engine.
(111) 2-rotor Wankel engine.
Fig. 21. Frictional losses in different engine types
HIGH PRESSURE ROTOR ROTATION degrees
SHAFT SPEED 500 rev/min MOTORED
E. Markland Member
Anyone interested in this class of machine as an engine
will naturally ask what was the net power output and fuel
consumption of the experimental unit. Neither of these is
given in the paper. The value quoted for measured brake
power, 18-1 kW, is quite meaningless-even misleading-
in the absence of the corresponding figure for input
power to the supercharger which is necessary to run the
engine. Will the authors please give us their estimate of
this, on the basis of air consumption and supercharge
pressure used? May we also have the figure for fuel
consumption ?
The authors diagnosed the early failure of the engine as
a mixture of poor combustion and poor sealing and have
pursued the latter with apparent disregard of the former.
However, they now assert that combustion is satisfactory.
How can this be reconciled with the statement made, on
Fig. 24
presentation of the paper, that large quantities of unburnt
fuel are discharged in the exhaust ?
it is unlikely that the overall adiabatic efficiency of such a
compressor could exceed 60 per cent.
We are presently engaged in evaluating a modified
A. Moore Glasgow and R. A. Meir Glasgow
version of the basic Hooke’s coupling compressor which
We should like to comment on some of the critical alleviates the exhaust port restriction. Initial estimates
features associated with these machines when they are suggest that tip speeds up to 100 m are possible
designed as compressors. without the overall adiabatic efficiency falling below 70
When introduced to these machines by the authors we per cent when the pressure ratio is 3: 1.
were impressed with two particular attributes : their high Mechanical simplicity is exemplified by the sliding apex
speed capability and their apparent mechanical simplicity. machine. Fig. 24 shows a simple blower of this type built
Our work has largely been devoted to analysing and at the National Engineering Laboratory. When tested in
assessing compressor designs which exploit these two its crudest form it was found to be noisy. This noise was
features. attributed largely to knocking at the apex associated with
If one wishes to run a rotary machine at tip speeds in the couple C, (equation (23)). Subsequent work involving
excess of 50 m s - l then contact seals may be eliminated. the use of resilient material to control the preload in the
Acceptable volumetric efficiencies are obtainable with axial direction encourages us to believe that this problem
controlled clearances between rotor and casing. I n our may be overcome.
analysis we have assumed that the effective leakage gap can The sliding contact suggests a tip speed limit of about
be held within 0.1 per cent of the nominal spherical radius. 10 m s-l. With such a limitation a machine of the simple
It is essential in the case of a high speed compressor to type shown is not suitable for pressure ratios greater than
take account of all the dynamic head losses. In our 1.1.
analysis head losses incurred in both sets of ports along As the rubbing action at the apex already limits the tip
with those associated with the changes in angular momen- speed, the machine lends itself to sealing. A sealed sliding
tum given to the gas in passing through the compressor apex blower appears to be suitable for low capacity duties
are included. and pressure ratios up to about 1.5: 1.
If one analyses the authors’ design of compressor using
the ports suggested in Fig. 9 at the stage pressure ratio
3 : 1, then one finds that the performance is dominated by J. M. Clarke Member, D. F. Walker Member and
the dynamic head losses. These losses are attributable in P. J. Hamilton Pyestock (Authors)
the main to the restricted exhaust port area. F. Feller suggests that this class of rotary piston
Some of the results of this analysis are given in Table machine be referred to as ‘slant axis’ as opposed to ‘parallel
3. From the results of this work we would suggest that axis’ for the Wankel and this seems eminently sensible.
It is a descriptive term and unlike ‘precessing’ it is easily
enunciated. Other titles such as ‘wobble’ and ‘skew axis’
Table 3 have been suggested but contain undesirable undertones
of loose motion and misalignment. The use of an inventor’s
Pressure ratio = 3: 1 name would be unfair applied to the whole class since
similar Hooke’s coupling machines have been seen before.
Volumetric&deaCy 0.8 0-9
Inertia loads are not an important consideration at low
Tipspe.d(ms-’) 40 80 speeds and the parallel axis engine like the reciprocating
Dynarmchead loss Siugle rotor
Useful
__ head 0.1 0-25 Hooke’s coupling engine works satisfactorilyin spite of them. However, high
output versions will run faster and racing reciprocating
Modified
piston engines certainly fatigue from inertia induced loads.
Hooke‘s coupling If there was as much freedom to choose combustion
chamber geometry in the parallel axis device as there is in
the slant axis device perhaps there would be rotaries with understanding of dynamic seal behaviour is important to
more rapid combustion, higher speeds and higher outputs the development of rotary engines whether parallel axis or
available now. slant axis. Our experience,however, has been that statically
Cooling of conventional piston crowns is achieved with- tested leakage areas have given the performance under
out force-fed cooling oil. In the slant axis rotary it is much running conditions which could be estimated by assuming
simpler to supply oil under pressure for cooling purposes constant leakage area throughout the cycle. We would not
and with proper design of passages it appears possible to expect to achieve measured performance if the seal left
cool the rotor adequately in this way. the surface for substantial periods as implied by Fig. 23.
We would like to thank R. A. Meir and A. Moore for Surface markings too suggest that apex seals remain in
their observations on the possible compressor applications, contact, On the other hand our experience with soft seals
and wish them success with their researches in that in a parallel axis machine confirms Fig. 23 to the extent
direction. It may be worth remarking that the relative that wear on the apex is greatest at an angle corresponding
importance of port aerodynamic losses and inertia loads approximately to B. Lawton’s calculated peak loading. The
depends on the gas used so that, for instance, the lighter hard chrome surfaces used on the end casings have tended
gases such as ammonia and helium permit much higher to crack from thermal strains and poor adhesion but there
fluid speeds and therefore offer more scope for using the seems to be no sign of chatter marks. Perhaps this is
basically low inertia loads. because there is no apex seal ‘ski-jump’ in the 2-cycle slant
A. M. Laws makes some unfavourable comparisons axis machine. We have approximated the exact surface by
with the parallel axis unit on grounds of ‘oil wetted seal a flat one to avoid manufacturing complications. I n terms
length’ and ‘friction drag’. It is assumed that the circum- of extra apex seal movement relative to the rotor this costs
ferential tip seal in the rotor is not directly wetted by oil. about f0.3 mm. The expression for the difference
Although we have not done so it would be possible to feed between a flat surface and the actual surface is
oil through the outer casing at a point never crossed by the r{sin x(1-cos2 O)+sin x sin2 8 cos 2t,h
tip seals and on their low pressure side so that they then -cos x sin e( 1-cos 0) sin 2+ cos t,h}
become ‘wetted’. The comparison of friction mean where r is the distance of the seal from the centre, r sin x is
effective pressure (m.e.p.) with indicated m.e.p. implies the distance of the seal from the central plane of the rotor,
by using the ratio that our problem is a high friction drag. and 0 and t,h correspond to the main text. Seal movement
Actually it is our low indicated m.e.p. attributable to is less than this if the seal uses a large radius apex.
leakage which is the trouble. It is also worth noting that Table 4 gives figures for surfaces and volumes and a
our bearing areas are probably greater than necessary comparison with a reciprocating unit. The Am,J Vmlnratio
since they were originally sized for a compression-ignition is normally closer than this comparison indicates because
duty. In our experience friction drag compares favourably rotary engines having equal power to their reciprocating
with conventional compression-ignition engine experience equivalents normally use larger chambers.
(12). A computer simulation of the test conditions cor-
Regarding the remarks by D. Hutchinson and E.
responding to the results in Fig. 16c gives 778 kN/m2 Markland we would not like the results obtained to be
i.m.e.p. the friction m.e.p. would not rise much, so that
point (I) in A. M. Law’s Fig. 21 would probably move
below curve (111). Concerning the number of gears it
should be stressed that for 4-cycle designs it should be Slant axis rotary piston* Reciprocptins
possible to dispense with both the layshaft and bevel shaft PB-t
and simply use a static bevel pinion. This also achieves a 2 4 e I 4-cJrde
smaller unit. Regarding the size of an investment in
machine tools, a transition to any rotary engine involves 0.164 m3
such an investment. We suspect that differences in Minimum possible
investment needs between rotary engines are very much clearance I 0 I oLessthan
-Wm3I 0
smaller than the basic cost of a change to a new production volume
line.
A. Egberongbe asks about thermal loadings. These
would indeed be more severe on the rotor than those of a
reciprocating piston. Heat to the rotor cooling oil depends
on the extent to which the rotor is cooled by seal contact
with the casings and here a long seal length tends to offset
a large exposed area. It is difficult to make accurate
estimates. We have, however, measured rotor tip tem-
peratures of about 260°C. The quantity of oil needed for
lubrication of the seals is very small-perhaps as little as
0.5 per cent of fuel. With oil control of an adequate
standard past the hub rings there need be no serious
accumulation of oil in the combustion chambers. I n the
preferred configuration of a 4-stroke spark-ignition engine
described below there would not be a combustion chamber
-
Am*.
Vmm
I 82-33m-’
/ 70.0 m-l 34-5
in the casing.
B. Lawton raises a number of interesting points con-
cerning cyclic variation of seal performance and loads. The
Proc lnstn Mech Engrs 1972 Vol 186 62/72
D266 DISCUSSION ON J. M. CLARKE, D. F. WALKER AND P. H. HAMILTON