WANKEL ENGINE or ROTARY ENGINE

This engine works on ordinary Otto cycle, but differs from the reciprocating I.C

engines in piston, in this case undergoes rotary instead of reciprocating motion.





The above shown is the figure of the Wankel rotary engine. The three lobed rotar

rotates in the housing which is epitrochoidal in shape. This combination of

housing and rotar shapes ensure they remain in contact with each other

throughout the rotation. Instead of valves, there are inlet and exhaust ports. The

housing is surrounded by water jackets for cooling. The rotar has internal teeth

and rotates about the pinion in an epicyclic manner.











As the fuel enters through the inlet port into the cylinder induction process

goes on which gets completed in further stages of the rotar rotation. The

compression process gets started as the rotar rotates . At the completion of the

compression process the spark plug fires and the expansion process starts. This

is followed by the exhaust gas proceeds at the further rotation of the rotar. It is

thus observed that one complete cycle of operations is completed in one

revolution of the rotar. It may, however be appreciated that similar process are

also taking place at the same time on the other rotar sides and hence it may be

easily visualized that one rotar revolution completes three Otto cycle which is

thrice as much compared to 2-stroke engine and six times compared to a 4-stroke

engines. Here lies the secret of compact size and the lightning speed operation of

the Wankel Rotary Engine.