The setting: CAD Design and Drafting class, ~10:00.. my friend and I were talking about the older (i think mid-80s) Cadallac designed engine that would shut off cylinders once you reached a cruising speed, and turn them back on as you needed them..

My thoughts: Can we do this with the 13b? Just basically shut off one housing? I was thinking if we cut the fuel supply, and every few rotations shot a little bit of oil in to keep the seals lubed, would this be possible?

Actually, i'm sure it's possible, the better question is would this be a good idea? thoughts?

 

Potentially it will work, but you will end up with a rough running engine since the engine will be essentially running as if blown. The running rotor will simply kick around the dead weight of the "off" rotor. Now, if you had a 20B and shut off the center rotor....

The only time you wouldn't want the 2nd rotor is during idle, which would mean very little fuel saved. And when that rotor is started up again, all the oil injected during it's "off" period will burn...

 

yeah, that's what we were thinking too... I never thought about the 20B, though... . of course, if i had the money for a 20b, i don't think i would REALLY care if i had to spend an extra 5 a week in gas unfortunatly, there's not a good way to that we came up with to keep the drive smooth, which was also the main reason that cadallac dropped the project, I think..

 

well I had an apex seal blow while I was driving down the highway one day which would be the same thing. I had nooooooo power, I couldn't even maintain speed. so interesting idea but doubt it would be worth the effort if it even worked, besides I get about 29 mpg highway with my 91 as it is, so I'm not complaining

 

Have you ever tried to drive a car running on one rotor? Even if the car was up to speed, you're going to have a hard time maintaining 55MPH+. Hell, getting a car with a blown rotor above 30 MPH is pretty amazing!

Cadilac can do it because you're only shutting off 25% of the engine.

 

I've never had the ... err... pleasure of driving a 7 with a blown rotor... if i had, i probably would have realized what a bad idea it was off the bat

 

so get a four rotor and shut off one in the middle...

 

oh yeah! I've had that 4 rotor engine just sitting in the garage, i've been wondering what to do with it!

 

haha...and now you know! You can thank me by taking me for a spin when you get it done.

 

hey if you have a 4 rotor just sitting around why don't you just go ahead and send it over to me, I'll even pay shipping lmao, and yeah driving on a blown rotor is not fun

 

What about the pumping losses? The rotor that isn't working is still going the be compressing air, that takes power, and you're getting nothing from it. One rotor is being asked to deal with twice the friction and pumping losses, power and efficiency goes down fast.

 

It sounds like something cool to invent to have a one of a kind, but other than actually being something crazy, It's prolly not gunna be worth saving gas money

 

Yeah, that's what it sounds like, i just thought of it in class, and hey, comptemplating stupid ideas is a lot more fun than actually doing your work onto my next project.... how to turn an air pump into a turbo charger!!






Ok, okay, i'm joking already!! STOP THROWING STUFF AT ME!