Duke engine......better design?

[mcrn]

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-is-the-we...dium=socialflow I searched and could not see that this had been previously posted.

 

[sicko]

That first image is seriously cool to look at.

 

[webfors]

Awesome! I would love to see this engine in production.

 

[gregk24]

Wow, looks pretty cool. Not sure how reliable things would be though. Looks like it could have sealing issues.

 

[Quest]

mechanical complexity, coupled with sealing problems (just like wenkel engines), will plague this design in production mode. Q.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: gregk24

Wow, looks pretty cool. Not sure how reliable things would be though. Looks like it could have sealing issues.

That's what I thought. After many years of use, things are gonna start losing their pressure, metal will fatigue and the whole engine will need replaced. Interesting concept though.

 

[Win]

Looks like a wobble plate type of air conditioning compressor. With spark plugs.

 

[Chris142]

very similar to many a\c compressors

 

[Subdued]

that's a technological terror if I've ever seen one

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: Win

Looks like a wobble plate type of air conditioning compressor.

Originally Posted By: Chris142

very similar to many a\c compressors

Quite right. Same design as many existing AC compressors, which work beautifully. No reason it couldn't be adapted to work with spark or compression ignition.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Win

Looks like a wobble plate type of air conditioning compressor. With spark plugs.

Just did a Sanden and it looked just like this 7cyl.

 

[morris]

just count the weight of the moving parts. that will tell you all you need to know.

 

[Ram01]

Wonder what weight oil that motor takes

 

[Kiwi_ME]

I should be patriotic but I think it's a nightmare too. Oddly the animated GIF shows the block stationary while the video shows it rotating, as it needs to, to move pistons past the ports and spark plugs. Perhaps the crank turns at twice head speed for a 4-stroke cycle. Sealing the head under combustion pressure along with the complex machining of the wobble plate and con rods make it unattractive to me. And the touted advantages of balance and part count answer questions nobody has actually asked. Compressors use this type of idea (wobble plate with a large number of small cylinders) to avoid pressure pulses in the input/output, hardly an issue in an IC engine where small cylinders have the disadvantage of high heat loss.

 

[bruno]

Back in the '50s this was tried .... it was called a Swash Plate design . Fine for clean conditions like AC compressors but otherwise it was a dud . Just because it can be done doesn't mean it's worth doing .

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: bruno

Back in the '50s this was tried .... it was called a Swash Plate design . Fine for clean conditions like AC compressors but otherwise it was a dud . Just because it can be done doesn't mean it's worth doing .

+1 with what Bruno said. Remember: unlike sealed A/C compressor, which runs in a sealed, uncontaminated environment lubricated with compressor oil, etc. (which remains uncontaminated/not deteriorated) for a long, long time; exposing to fuel and air, and dirt in air (abrasion), combustion byproducts, blowby, moisture/condensation, etc. there will be no guarantee on how long/reliable such design would be, and also the inherent energy conversion efficiency also. Just because it looks good in theory doesn't mean it would be meaningful/practical in real-life situation. Afterall: we have been constantly refining/improving the venerable internal reciprocating combustion engine design for a century now, it would be challenging to start from scratch to design something even better... I know it's not 100% impossible, but it would be challenging. Q.

 

[Shannow]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3359629/The_Duke_Engine

 

[A_Harman]

Google search barrel engines and read up on their long, unsuccessful history.