Hey guys check this out. Anyone seen this yet? Wonder if Mazda is listening. Most rotary fans, I think, would know of Moller International and their attempts of using rotary engines to develop the first SkyCar, but this information goes way beyond that and could look to affect the rotary market substantially. Maybe this is old news here, but I didn't see a thread so figured I'd share! Here's the info taken from this website:

http://www.moller.com/files/Breakthrough.pdf


MOLLER INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVES BREAKTHROUGH IN ROTARY ENGINE PERFORMANCE
Davis, CA, May 14, 2008 – Moller International (OTC-BB: MLER) announced today that it has
achieved a major breakthrough in rotary engine performance. A version of the Company’s
Rotapower® engine is designed in such a way that the engine’s two rotors operate in series rather
than parallel. This design allows the first compressor/expansion rotor to supercharge the second
power rotor while the exhaust from the power rotor is further expanded in the
compressor/expansion rotor, extracting additional power. In effect, the engine operates in what is
termed a compound cycle. Because of the additional energy captured from the exhaust gases,
engine noise is reduced by 93% and exhaust temperature is reduced by 47%. Moller
International’s non-compounded Rotapower® rotary engine has already demonstrated a fuel
consumption 12% below that of the new Mazda Renesis rotary engine. Compounding is expected
reduce the Rotapower® engine’s fuel consumption by an additional 25%.
Rotary engines are particularly small and light relative to their power output and nearly vibrationfree
in operation. Compounding makes the Rotapower® engine potentially much better than the
piston engine in fuel consumption as well. This was the major limitation that prevented the rotary
engine from supplanting all piston engines. It now becomes an attractive candidate for the Plugin
Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) market where weight, space, fuel consumption, emissions and
vibration are all critical. The Rotapower® engine previously demonstrated its ability to meet
California’s Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) standard without exhaust aftertreatment.
Moller International is in the final phase of negotiations to license worldwide production and
marketing rights for its Rotapower® engines to Rotapower Engine Systems, Limited of
Southampton, United Kingdom.
About Moller International
Moller International was formed in 1983 and is the developer of the roadable four-person
Skycar® and two-person Jetson aircraft. Both aircraft have demonstrated their ability to takeoff
and land vertically by using the Company’s Rotapower® rotary engine designed specifically for
compact, high power-to-weight applications. The Skycar® has the potential to provide an
airborne alternative to a significant portion of the miles now traveled by automobiles while the
Jetson is a utility and recreational vehicle capable of being legally operated without a pilot’s
license.
The Skycar® and Jetson have been featured on a number of TV programs including CBS 60
Minutes, “Highway In the Sky”, NBC’s Today Show “Today's American Story", and History
Channel’s, “Greatest Movie Gadgets: Then and Now”.
For

 

Interesting, but I take press releases with a grain of salt. We'll see...if it works as described you can bet that Mazda engineers will notice.

 

Yeah, these are the guys that have been promising a flying car for what, forty years?

 

"Moller International was formed in 1983"

2008 - 1983 = 25 years

Math pwn3d Mike

but hey, you were kinda close... i mean 40 and 25 both only have double digits :p

 

Palin Country -BuwwhhaaaHaHa!

 

I'd love to see a diagram of how this works. press release isn't technical enough to show how it really works.

 

you have what.. 3 posts?

do you work for moller?

and yes its been posted before.

 

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If you really want to capture all of the kinetic energy from the exhaust (there really is quite a lot of energy wasted there in a rotary), then just bolt a turbo or multiple turbos to it and be done with it. NASA did some research in this area a while back with decent results in improving efficiency by using multiple turbines to perform varying tasks from typical turbo-charging, to actually increasing output by helping drive the output shaft with a belt.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a turbine designed with the goal of capturing the kinetic energy of engine exhaust is more efficient than driving a second rotor with the exhaust of the first rotor. This press release is a little vague, so pending more details about this "breakthrough," I remain skeptical.

 

lol I have 3 posts b/c I'm not a board troll. I visit the boards about 2 times a month, but have owned 3 7s and 1 8. Either way, no need to justify myself....was just trying to put some good info out there for people and generate discussion.

And I think we all know the fuel economy sucks on our engines...we love them anyways, but in the world we live in now, we need advancements like this to keep rotary alive and kicking. It will never be mainstream, but I'd hate to give up my rotary engines b/c they can't find a way to get over 20mpg. Trucks with huge 350ci engines are getting over 20mpg these days and keeping their potential horsepower.

 

4 posts now....nope 5 haha