Wankel engine
is a internal combustion engine which uses eccentric
rotary design. Instead of piston which we can see in
conventional reciprocating engine it use a rotor
which has similar shape as Reuleaux triangle. This
rotor does not move up and down in a cylinder, but
instead rotates in oval shaped housing
(epitrochoid), where the sides and edges of rotor
seal against the housing, making three combustion
chambers. As the rotor spins it makes the volume of
these chambers bigger and smaller therefore creating
low and high pressure. Engine operates using Otto
cycle and because one rotor has three chambers it
delivers three power pulses with each revolution of
the rotor.
Rolls Royces Motor car
division in the 1960s in Britain engineered the
first diesel wankel engine with two stage
compression that reached compression ration of 17:1.