Technology doesn't always work out..... Here's some fails

[XCV330]

Not really, Mazda did an entire legendary line of cars with "The Wankel" engine.

We have entire die hard fans of "The Wankel" engine with it's untapped potential.

Rob Dahm's entire YouTube channel is all about the Rotary Engine.

What killed the Wankel Engine in the US was "Emissions" & Maintenance Costs.

Not performance.

LiquidPiston has the "Liquid Piston X" inverted Rotary engine that is a generation ahead and much lighter in weight to accomplish more HP for less mass.

but emissions and maintenance are more important than performance when you can still get acceptable performance from a regular reciprocating engine. Same as with 2 strokes. Sure 2-strokes generate more power in theory but it comes with all kinds of problems.

Mazda did make some pretty amazing sports cars with Wankels, and I can remember growing up, some neighbors had a rotary mazda station wagon in the 70's. But from what I understand, those motors don't last long. Even Mazda eventually gave up on the idea.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

but emissions and maintenance are more important than performance when you can still get acceptable performance from a regular reciprocating engine.

But the Material Science of the 80's & 90's aren't as good as what we have now.

We have FAR better tech to deal with emissions to this day.

Rob Dahm can attest to that.

Same as with 2 strokes. Sure 2-strokes generate more power in theory but it comes with all kinds of problems.

Mazda did make some pretty amazing sports cars with Wankels, and I can remember growing up, some neighbors had a rotary mazda station wagon in the 70's. But from what I understand, those motors don't last long. Even Mazda eventually gave up on the idea.

Mazda gave up because they didn't want to invest more money into technology that was niche.

Nearly every ICE engine is based around some form of Pistons.

Heck the ICE supply chain is based on Pistons.

Nearly every engineer understands Pistons, Rotary Engines are more Niche and there are only a handful of Engineers & Mechanics who really understand them.

Rob Dahm included since he has spent nearly most of his time tuning, experimenting, and innovating with him.

Seriously go to his channel and see what he can do, it's freaking amazing as to the crazy stuff he's pulled off with Rotary's, including climbing Pike's Peak.

Liquid Piston X has the next generation iteration where it fixes the fundamental issues of Rotary with a Inverted Rotary.
Liquid Piston has a DiTrigon shaped housing with a Peanut shaped rotar instead of the classic Wankel that has a Stadium Loop shaped cavity & Reuleaux Triangle Rotar.
The LPX engine has one rotar housing that can easily scale from 1 to 1000 HP in size before you need to stack them like Wankel Engine.

They're super light weight.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The piston engine really is a present day relic from over 100 years ago. Why haven't new types of combustion engines evolved?

Ooh found an odd alternative the Opposed Piston engine where the two pistons share a cylinder

https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a36068845/opposed-piston-engines/

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The piston engine really is a present day relic from over 100 years ago. Why haven't new types of combustion engines evolved?

Ooh found an odd alternative the Opposed Piston engine where the two pistons share a cylinder

https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a36068845/opposed-piston-engines/

There are A LOT of alternatives, but Pistons are always the come-back solution because it's "Entrenched", it's "Simple to UnderStand (Relatively)" compared to newer engines, and it's very flexible to innovate on.

Achates Opposed Pistons is one of the engine designs I'm rooting for.

One that I want the bigger car companies to license & adopt for big Trucks & Heavy Duty Vehicles.

Same with the Koenigsegg TFG (Tiny Friendly Giant) that is a inline 3-Cylinder with "Free-Valves" (Electro-Mechanical Valve Actuators) on top.
It only weighs 154 lb dry weight but is 300 hp Naturally Aspirated & 600 hp with Turbos.

Sadly, rich people don't want efficient engines, they want "Big V8's", so the engine isn't going into limited production.

I'm hoping that the CEO of Koenigsegg (Christian von Koenigsegg) would sell the design to one of the big car manufacturers if they were willing to mass produce it.

It's literally a "God Tier" engine in terms of specs and what it can do along with the lower emissions.

For Sports Cars & Sedans, I want them to adopt the TFG as part of a Hybridized system.

 

[XCV330]

seaplanes.. in theory a great idea, and for awhile they had their day: but the world just sort of said nope and went back to the runways.

Pulse detonation engines: a great idea in theory. Since 1941. Incredibly loud, difficult to tune right and probably only having a military application, when the military already has rockets that will do the same thing.

airships: Every few years it looks like airships are going to make a comeback. And then they don't. When will the flying giant sausages of progress darken our peaceful skies?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

seaplanes.. in theory a great idea, and for awhile they had their day: but the world just sort of said nope and went back to the runways.

Still a niche sub-category within the AirPlane Industry.

Pulse detonation engines: a great idea in theory. Since 1941. Incredibly loud, difficult to tune right and probably only having a military application, when the military already has rockets that will do the same thing.

But they're looking into RDE (Rotating Detonation Engines) as the next engine upgrade for Rocketry.

airships: Every few years it looks like airships are going to make a comeback. And then they don't. When will the flying giant sausages of progress darken our peaceful skies?

Hydrogen AirShips are the next big StartUp.
The one that is trying to up-end Logistics for Shipping Box Containers.

Spoiler: H2 Clipper

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[XCV330]

Still a niche sub-category within the AirPlane Industry.


But they're looking into RDE (Rotating Detonation Engines) as the next engine upgrade for Rocketry.


Hydrogen AirShips are the next big StartUp.
The one that is trying to up-end Logistics for Shipping Box Containers.

Spoiler: H2 Clipper

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

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I know you just like to be contrarian, but none of these things are exactly successful right now.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I know you just like to be contrarian, but none of these things are exactly successful right now.

I know they aren't, but people are trying to make them successful.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

seaplanes.. in theory a great idea, and for awhile they had their day: but the world just sort of said nope and went back to the runways.

Pulse detonation engines: a great idea in theory. Since 1941. Incredibly loud, difficult to tune right and probably only having a military application, when the military already has rockets that will do the same thing.

airships: Every few years it looks like airships are going to make a comeback. And then they don't. When will the flying giant sausages of progress darken our peaceful skies?

Honestly I would love passenger airships to make a comeback.... Bring back the giant Zeppelins (but only for good peaceful stuff)

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Seaplanes didn't really take off because of jet engines and fast flights taking less time, and faster turnarounds

 

[Santaman]

Opposed piston is expensive, you need two crankshafts and a complicated gearbox which in penny pinching car manufacturers terms means: NO!

Wankel engines have an unsolvable oil seal problem, no you can't fix it with better materials, it is inherent to the design to fix it is easy: don't build a wankel.

The tiny engine/hybrid powertrain car already exists and rich people are already buying it:

Mercedes-AMG One - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Free valve technology is being used for quite a while now, it is for example used by Wartsilla in the RTA-96-C which is by coincidence also the most efficient ICE engine there is with nearly 55% it being 2300 tons is a bit of a downside but 108.000 horsepower and 7.3 million Newton Meters of torque make it also the most powerful engine there is.

Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One in use on board a big ship, the "little" blue engines you see later on in the clip are powering generators.

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[Gingerbread Demon]

Not a failed technology as such but an uncommon form of printer not inkjet, not laser but LED

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[Kamen Rider Blade]

Opposed piston is expensive, you need two crankshafts and a complicated gearbox which in penny pinching car manufacturers terms means: NO!

Have you seen what Big Trucks cost now a days?
The Efficiency you can get from Opposed Pistons is worth it along with the extra HP.

Wankel engines have an unsolvable oil seal problem, no you can't fix it with better materials, it is inherent to the design to fix it is easy: don't build a wankel.

Rob Dahm solved it, it's not really as bad as you think.

The tiny engine/hybrid powertrain car already exists and rich people are already buying it:

Mercedes-AMG One - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Free valve technology is being used for quite a while now, it is for example used by Wartsilla in the RTA-96-C which is by coincidence also the most efficient ICE engine there is with nearly 55% it being 2300 tons is a bit of a downside but 108.000 horsepower and 7.3 million Newton Meters of torque make it also the most powerful engine there is.

Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One in use on board a big ship, the "little" blue engines you see later on in the clip are powering generators.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Getting Free Valve in mass production on normal car engines is a seperate thing from using it on a large engine like that.

 

[XCV330]

Have you seen what Big Trucks cost now a days?
The Efficiency you can get from Opposed Pistons is worth it along with the extra HP.

If there was a market for it, Volvo, Freightliner and the rest would be using them now. Regular reciprocating piston diesels work good enough, have known longevity and enough people trained to repair them to make using them in fleets obvious. There's no compelling reason to change, except maybe to diesel-electric

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

If there was a market for it, Volvo, Freightliner and the rest would be using them now. Regular reciprocating piston diesels work good enough, have known longevity and enough people trained to repair them to make using them in fleets obvious. There's no compelling reason to change, except maybe to diesel-electric

The problem with any major change in engine technology is the inertia & logistics chain of the older designs.

It's VERY HARD to replace the old system that is well entrenched.

 

[scotpens]

I hate driving and I'm rubbish at it, it amazes me I get anywhere without killing anybody. A robot could do it better than me. I'm especially terrified by the other drivers on the road who appear to not realise they're also terrible at it. Conclusion: Driving is deadly dangerous no matter who or what is doing it.

Driving is safe when it's done by properly trained drivers. The problem in the U.S. is that in every state (AFAIK), it's way too easy to get a license.

seaplanes.. in theory a great idea, and for awhile they had their day: but the world just sort of said nope and went back to the runways.

The main reason for the demise of large seaplanes was the building of military airstrips all over the U.S., Europe and the Pacific during World War II. Many of those became civilian airports after the war, thus eliminating the need for commercial aircraft that could operate from water.

The big flying boats were always a kludge anyway. They required extra-sturdy construction to take the pounding of water takeoffs and landings, making them heavier than landplanes of comparable size and payload capacity. And the stepped V-bottom hulls created a lot of parasitic drag. Planes that aren't designed to land on water are much more aerodynamically efficient.

Some of the old classic flying boats sure were pretty, though.