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Comment by vvanders | Hacker News Reader

I've had the same thought about rotary motors, they're interesting beasts and I wonder what we'd see if they had the same R&D investment like we saw in piston engines.

Alas I think that ship has sailed, aside from energy density the modern electric VFD wins along a whole range of design constraints(torque, size, latency/traction response, efficiency, etc).

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We have seen a significant long-term R&D investment but all the nice rotary engines are in prop planes.

Edit: since you mention a ship, some use large opposed-pistol Diesel engines (two oppositely meeting pistons around the combustion chamber per cylinder which also allows the cylinder to be much wider)... don’t see these in either planes or cars... Hydrogen power?—- Hydrogen is difficult to keep contained because it escapes through anything over time unless we put heavy ceramic tanks in our cars.

A rotary engine is not the same as a radial engine. Radial engines go in airplanes, rotary engines go in Mazdas.

Actually... rotary engines did go in aircraft. [0]

Wankels go in Mazdas.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine

Oh wow. That is an internal combustion equivalent of electric outrunner motor!

Rotary engines typically end up in smaller aircraft, like kit-planes and such. But yes, I've heard the rx-8 uses one.

The entire RX series used Wankel motors.

It's hard to tell, but op may be talking about Wankel rotary motors.

Unless you're talking about turboprops (jet engines with a gearbox) there really aren't any wankel engines in aircraft. Just a few experimental/EAB conversions out there.

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