In a message dated 1/1/2008 6:18:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
lendich@optusnet.com.au writes:
Lynn,
NSU used the fuel through the rotor, to cool the
rotor, but it also heated the fuel for better combustion.
I can't remember what the draw back with this
system was - is it reduced VE?
and are you suggesting that this could be off-set
with forced induction
George ( down
under)
The KKM version that the NSU engineers reverted to is the one we have
today. The actual Wankel choice was his KDM as you describe, and it was full of
interesting features, and work on it ended by 1958. Only three were built.
It had the rotor housing rotating as well as the rotor. So the engine had
to be disassembled to change the spark plugs. So an additional external housing
was required to get the thing to work in anything.
I took two racing engineers to the Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio. They
have a cut away of a LeRhone
Rotary engine with a button to push to make it operate. The crankshaft is
bolted through the fire wall. The crank is hollow and the fuel air mixture
enters through the crank. A carb with no throttle is mounted on the crank
between the rudder pedals.
Power is 100% all of the time. A shorting button on top of the stick could
short the ignition out when you wanted less that full throttle. It is a piston
port 2 cycle with ball bearings everywhere. It has a single exhaust valve in the
top of each cylinder. The propeller bolts the rear of the crank case. The
fuel was crap, and caster beans provided the lubrication and diarrhea for a
few weeks until the pilot had been killed or got used to the caster bean oil
blowing into his face.
So induction through the crank was not new. In the KDM it was the only way
to do it.
Would you like to hand prop a plane while knowing it was at full
throttle?
Lynn E. Hanover