1. THE WANKEL ENGINE

2. Wankle Engine
History
Cylinder is Rotary Engine
Part of The Wankle Engine
Chalenges & Difficulties

3. WHY THE WANKEL?
 To further our modeling skills
 Obtain a better understanding of the workings of the rotary
engine and the thermodynamic cycles that go on within
 Transmission was also a challenging piece of machinery
 Good example of thinking outside the box
 To inform people that there are alternatives to the conventional
four stroke cylinder engine

4. HISTORY
 Designed by German engineer Felix Wankel in 1954
 Manufactured mainly by Mazda, currently used in Mazda RX-8
 Extremely lightweight and small when compared to engines with
similar power output
 Used in a lot of aircraft
 Main disadvantage is fuel inefficiency

5. CYLINDER VS ROTARY ENGINES
 Uses pistons to regulate
intake and exhaust of fuel and
gas.
 All four strokes, intake
compression, combustion and
exhaust occur in same
cylinder.
 Pistons continually reverse
direction creating more wear
and tear on the engine
 Bad power to weight ratio in
comparison
 Lower rev limit
 Has a spinning rotor that creates
three separate chambers and
regulates the inflow and outflow of
gasses.
 Each chamber draws in air and
fuel, is compressed, ignited and
combusted then expelled creating
power while at the same time
forcing the other two chambers to
do the same.
 Rotors move in a continuous
direction making it smoother
 Only about three moving parts
creating less friction and less
possibility for error

6. PART OF THE WANKLE ENGINE
 Intake
 Compression
 Ignition/Combustion
 Exhaust

7. INTAKE AND COMPRESSION

8. COMBUSTION AND EXHAUST

9. WANKLE ANIMATION

10. INNER WORKINGS

11. EXPLODED VIEW

12. ENGINE IN ACTION

13. CHALLENGES & DIFFICULTIES
 Transmission
• Many moving parts
• Gear ratios were very difficult to get right
• Constraints started conflicting
 Engine
• Measurements for rotor pieces and rotor housing were difficult to obtain
• Some pieces needed to be generated by equations
• Interference between housing and rotor was an issue
• Inserting gear constraints between all moving parts was difficult to get right
 Assembly
• Pieces needed to be continually adjusted to fit together properly

14. SUMMARY
 The Wankel Rotary engine is still a promising piece of
technology
 Mazda continues to spend money on the concept with
the hope of improving its fuel efficiency
 There are also several other types of rotary engines
that run on various types of fuel
 We utilized and furthered all the skills taught to us in
ProE class including
assembly, constraints, sweeps, blends, gear
connections, animations