Another interesting idea, but I'm afraid this one is doomed like all the others in the past.  As air machines go, the I.C. engine has to operate at a relatively high pressure to have good efficiency.  Therefore, sealing the pressure is a fundamental concern.  The piston engine wins this game, as the total length of seal per displacement is about as short as you can get.  And the geometry of the seal is simple (circle).  And one side of the seal can be cool and lubricated.  The outer seal of the nutating engine reminds me of the apex seal in a rotary, with no lube on either side.  It does have an advantage in that the contact surface stays at the same relative angle, and the surface velocity is relatively low.  But the other sealing surfaces are pretty complex, as are the corners.  The combustion chamber (shape of the chamber with the vane at "top dead center" is far from optimal and there is a geometric limit to the maximum attainable compression ratio.  Bottom line is that the efficiency will be low, and in thevideo they even admit to a BSFC of between .5 and .6.  You won't have to be aloft very long before the weight of the fuel burned will offset the weight savings of the engine.  Overall, I'll give it a C as a nice try.  Too bad - it would be nice to see some new technology surface.

Gary

 

There are so many new ideas for engines to replace the good ole piston engine, but almost none of them ever make it into production. The ancient piston rules. Here is another one of those new engine ideas which seem to have several significant advantages over piston engines (No one usually lists the disadvantages). This one can be compression ignition, 2 to 4 times the power to weight, multifuel including JP8, more efficient, far less vibration, less complex, and can be self supercharged. You are going to like this one.


http://www.engineeringtv.com/video/Nutating-Disk-Engine-Delivers-