"Liquid Piston" engine

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Not liquid really, just the company name.

This is one of the geometries that Felix Wankel worked on...so revolutionary ain't quite the right term.
 
Liquid Piston: kind of an odd name. Or maybe it's really clever and too deep for me; like, a piston that's more fluid than a piston; therefore, not a piston; therefore, rotary...

Regardless, cool video.
 
Somewhere I've read or heard about giant brick built (Victorian?) sewage pumps where the sewage being pumped formed the piston and methane generated by anaerobic digestion of the sewage was the fuel. Manually operated valves, IIRC, ignited by urchins with long torches.

Or maybe I imagined it. I used to drink Kaoliang, which is wicked stuff.
 
Pretty cool design. It's "like a rotary/Wankel engine" but uses one area/pocket for the Otto cycle (hence 3 spark plugs at 120 deg apart), unlike a Wankel what uses 3 separate chambers for intake, combustion and exhaust as the rotor spins around, and one chamber with spark plugs dedicated for combustion. Wonder how it does on fuel, as the Wankel wasn't very fuel efficient for the power it made.
 
It's a neat concept, but since the Mazda rotary couldn't survive, I don't see how this thing could, even as a scaled up version. It appears from the intake/exhaust routing it is stuck as a single-rotor system. It only makes about 42hp/L, which even the lowliest piston engines have no problem exceeding.

The thing that gets me is they've drawn in over $12M total for essentially what was already old hat for Mazda. And there is essentially zero consumer market for this thing. Rotary-powered pit bikes maybe?
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Liquid Piston: kind of an odd name. Or maybe it's really clever and too deep for me; like, a piston that's more fluid than a piston; therefore, not a piston; therefore, rotary...

Regardless, cool video.
if you look up GTR Mustang on YouTube you will find a video of a rare car that is a rotary turbo with pistons and headers
 
Better seal system for the case/rotor vs a Wankel. I can see why DARPA is interested in it. Light, air cooled engine is something needed for generators and portable hydraulic systems. I still have to wonder if there is something this new engine design can do that much better than the engine on my string trimmer, or chain saw, in a given application.
 
Originally Posted By: punisher
.... engine design can do that much better than the engine on my string trimmer, or chain saw, in a given application.


I'll bet it costs barely $10.00 to make a cheap weedeater.
Have you have one of those engines apart?
It's amazing they work at all.
The most expensive/complicated part is the carburetor.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Somewhere I've read or heard about giant brick built (Victorian?) sewage pumps where the sewage being pumped formed the piston and methane generated by anaerobic digestion of the sewage was the fuel. Manually operated valves, IIRC, ignited by urchins with long torches.

Or maybe I imagined it. I used to drink Kaoliang, which is wicked stuff.


Far Out.
 
Originally Posted By: ArcticDriver
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Somewhere I've read or heard about giant brick built (Victorian?) sewage pumps where the sewage being pumped formed the piston and methane generated by anaerobic digestion of the sewage was the fuel. Manually operated valves, IIRC, ignited by urchins with long torches.

Or maybe I imagined it. I used to drink Kaoliang, which is wicked stuff.


Far Out.


Yeh. I hope its true.

Seems like inertia/lack of any flywheel effect might be a problem.
 
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