Operation

If the engine is at rest, and the vane and valve wheel are in appropriate positions, then the engine can be “started” by activating the fuel injector, then firing the spark plug. If the engine has at least two cylinders that are geared out of phase, one of the combustion chambers would always be in a position to be fired, no matter where the engine came to rest when it stopped.

Let’s examine the details of the operation of the rotary engine for one half rotation. We can start when the paddles pass through the holes in the valve wheel. As the paddle rotates, it divides the combustion chamber into two parts. One part contains gasses from the previous combustion cycle in the process of being expelled from the exhaust port. The other is being filled with fresh air from the intake valve.

The controller knows the position of the valve wheel and the paddles, so it can activate the fuel injector and fire the spark plug at a the right time. When combustion occurs, the butterfly element of the intake valve will close, trapping the burning gasses in the combustion chamber and exerting force on the paddle.

Since the injector has injected only a small amount of fuel into the combustion chamber, the combustion will exhaust the fuel, but not the oxygen on the air. As the paddle continues on its revolution, the expansion of the air caused by the ignition will cease to exert pressure on the paddle and on the butterfly element of the intake valve. The intake valve will open. The controller will sense the opening of the intake valve and activate the fuel injector again and then the spark plug. This cycle will continue until the paddle gets near the exhaust port. The engine can be programmed for one, none, or many ignitions per cycle. In most cases the controller should try to time the ignition events so that there is minimum pressure inside the combustion chamber when the paddle reaches the exhaust port. That will produce minimum noise and maximum efficiency.

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