Add a supercharger and propellor to produce a compact light weight unit that can power a paraglider in the rarified Himalayan atmosphere higher than Mount Everest.
Photos: tinyurl.com/2gb4n4
News: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6666889.stm
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Interesting, this is good:
www.gknmissioneverest.com/equipment/themissionever...p
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The Norton rotary engine was used in an unmanned spyplane.
Is that a more obscure use?
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I believe that Husqvarna made a wankel-engined chainsaw albeit briefly in the 70's or 80's. FRom what I remember, it was obviously smoth and light, but hugely expensive to buy.
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One of the original drivers for Wankel engine development was the prospect of use in aircraft (power-weight ratio).
Massive Wankel engines (30+ litres I believe) have also been built for oil pipeline pumping stations. The Japanese company OS also made IIRC, so tiny 10cc Wankel engines for model aircraft applicaitons.
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The OS one is actually 5cc or 0.29 in US measures. Not massively powerful so tend to be for collectors. These have taken over for streamlined engines.
www.rcvengines.com/
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The engine in the paraglider gives 85 bhp (or 95): amazing output from something so small! Better not tell daughters boyfriend - fastest skateboard in the world might result.
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Novel use for a wankel engine....
Powering an NSU RO80?
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Novel use for a wankel engine.... Powering an NSU RO80?
Well it was certainly novel..... Just a bit too novel - unfortuately for NSU.
Of all the cars that have been ahead of their time, that one must rank in the top bracket.
[P.S. Didn't that OS unit rev to 50,000 or something like it?]
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High revving for what it was but not 50K, around the 20K mark.
Good site here:-
ludens.cl/aeromod/wankel/wankel.html
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High revving for what it was but not 50K around the 20K mark.
That was fascinating; thanks for the link.
Although he mentions peak power around 20K rpm; I seem to recall an advert - or engine test - in Aeromodeller that mentioned a figure of 49,000 revs. It was definately mounted on a Graupner motorized glider kit though.
That was 35-40 years ago; so the memory might be fading a bit. I found a single copy of AM when I unearthed 500 assorted 60's comics the other day [Skid Solo: F1 Driver - no less!!] if I've still got it/them, I'll see if there's anything mentioned in there.
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>>It was definately mounted on a Graupner motorized glider kit though.
Google info
www.radiocontrolmodels.co.uk/EngineGallery/Japanes...m
"This engine was designed by Graupner in West Germany and manufactured by OS in Japan. As far as I know, it has been manufactured continuously since 1970,
OS Rotary Engine 49PI Wankel(Reference #D31600)
4.97cc - 1.27bhp - 2,500 to 18,000rpm - 335g
Price: £247.50 Including VAT at 17.5%"
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18000 rpm is nothing unusual for a model aero engine. Some of the tiny Cox glowplug engines were capable of getting up to near 30000 rpm. I had a little Cox TD 020 when I was a young man and it sounded wonderful.
Are these small Wankel engines as thirsty with fuel as the larger Wankel engines?
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Are these small Wankel engines as thirsty with fuel as the larger Wankel engines?
Apparently so (see Tr7's link above).
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18000 rpm is nothing unusual for a model aero engine. Some of the tiny Cox glowplug engines were capable of getting up to near 30000 rpm. I had a little Cox TD 020 when I was a young man and it sounded wonderful.
I raced model cars for a while, these were 0.21 cu in around 3.5cc & peaked at near 40K running 2 speed gearboxes in some as well. I also ran a Super Tigre G15 of 2.5cc unsilenced which ran on the ground at 22K & unloaded in the air must have been around 25K. Possibly why I'm fairly deaf & suffer tinitus now!
On a car note did a Seven Rolling road day with loads of Caterhams & Westfields etc. One 1.8K series highly tuned put out 250BHP at 9,200RPM that was the threshold of pain.
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That was my joke (such as it was), Screwloose! I meant that most of them had their rotary units replaced with Ford V4s as they fitted in easily.
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stevied
Far, far, too subtle for my tired old brain. It would be nice to see someone retro-fitting one back in though. Quite a car and miles too good for a Transit engine. [The Essex was even worse.]
All the [many] RO80 non-starters, that I went out to, had tractor batteries fitted to try and crank them until the Wankel warmed up enough to fire. Needless to say, the surface-discharge plugs fouled or the starters burned out first....
By the time NSU went bust from replacing all those engines under warranty; they'd nearly got the problem of those fast-wearing tip seals licked. Shame they hadn't waited for a bit more development before marketing it. [Or employed Renault "No fault found" Customer Services to handle the warranty claims....]
Mazda soon sorted the engine problems - anyone remember their "gripless wonder" RX-3? Most had intimate knowledge of at least one hedge..... Often on the way home from the showroom.
I remember using a seriously rolled [vomit green] one to destruction test temporary windscreens for Drive magazine down Wymeswold runway at 100+.
Sounded just like a rocket until this annoying "bong" sounded - apparently that meant that you'd hit 9,000 rpm. With no glass left and smashed dials it was rather hard to tell....
Stopping it in the rain from that speed was good fun too. I never did figure out what those Japanese Dunlops were made from; but it wasn't rubber....
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Someone where I work has an RO80, might ask him what engine he has in it... I wouldn't be surprised if it's the rotary, lot of genuine car enthusiasts there! Other cars include an Alfa-Romeo Montreal, an SZ, an Opel GT something or other they only made about 4 of (terrible grammar I know)... interesting car park!
Screwloose, you sound like you've had some interesting jobs! You worked for Drive magazine? I'd love to work for a mag. I did a placement at Performance VW about 10 years ago, but nothing else...
The RX7s had the bong device as well, I remember harrassing our local Mazda dealer to take me out in one when I was about 10, and he hit it in gears 1-4. Quite impressive as we went nowhere near any fast roads!
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stevied
I didn't actually work for them; their hacks just weren't brave enough to take a pile of twisted green wreckage down the runway at Ridiculous speed and jumped at an offer of help from a passing volunteer [or idiot.....?]
It was quite amazing how well those metal rod reinforced temporary screens stood up to it. Even at a true 100+ [well as true as a Muniquip T3 radar gun can get!] they stayed put; you could even still use the wipers. The stick-on unreinforced ones didn't make it past 40.
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Ford V4s as they fitted in easily.
and went pop even more quickly than wankels... Nothing so carp as a Ford V4, 25000 miles going very very gently....
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