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Mazda’s American PR director has confirmed that the manufacturer is indeed bringing back its famous rotary engines, with more than 100 engineers currently working on it.
According to Jeremy Barnes, research and work on the legendary rotary has never stopped, despite the fact that the engine hasn’t appeared in a car since the RX-8 was phased out in 2012.
The Wankel rotary engine, a pistonless rotating internal combustion unit that’s vastly different to traditional engines, has come to define the brand since its introduction in the 1965 Mazda Cosmo.
100 engineers working on it
However, given that the engine was unable to overcome disadvantages with its high emissions and low fuel efficiency, it was taken off market four years ago to comply with emissions standards.
Mazda’s recent introduction of the new RX Vision concept at the Tokyo Motor Show last year teased the possible return of the rotary, and now Mazda appears to have confirmed it outright.
Speaking about the return of the rotary, Barnes said: “There's this incredible passion [for rotary engines] within the company. If we can make a significant breakthrough, it's possible.”
SKYACTIV rotary technology
Believed to be designated the 16X, there’s not much known about the new rotary engine currently in development, but it’s possible that it’ll have a larger displacement than its 13B predecessor.
Emissions problems still remain as a result of the engine’s inherent design, but it’s believed that Mazda is hoping to apply its years of experience with the fuel-efficient SKYACTIV technologies to it.
Possible new innovations could see a rotary that runs on a combination of petrol and hydrogen, on pure hydrogen alone, or as part of a range extender hybrid setup in conjunction with batteries.
Sounds like they'll have to figure out if it's emissions friendly enough before deciding to stick a turbo on it or not. Good to see that they've been working hard on it, though.
there are many new piston engines that burn similar or even more oil than rotaries and manufacturers deem it normal oil consumption. How are their emissions?
neit_jnf there are many new piston engines that burn similar or even more oil than rotaries and manufacturers deem it normal oil consumption. How are their emissions?
well, how do we know they burn more oil?
You are judging this by how much oil the consumer has to add between oil changes right?
However, the rotary "makes" oil around the same rate that it injects oil by mixing gasoline with oil when the side intake ports hose down the sides of the rotor with gas .
If you premix a rotary and disable oil injection you will find you have to get creative on ways to try to rid the excess oil from the engine oil "production".
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This is a key area that Mazda has recently studied and no doubt has a solution for. Mazda found the side housings are far from flat during engine operation from the gradient of heat from combustion side to intake side and I am sure it got even worse on the Renesis with the side exhaust ports in the side housings as well.
In the past this has kept the oil control seals from working as well as they could and oil leaks past them and then past the side seals (which is also worse on the Renesis because of the excessive gap required from side exhaust ports again).
Mazda has a solution to this now and in their oil system study they now have metered oil to the side housings like to the rotor housings (since they lost the generous oil supply from the leaky rotor flank's seals).
It should be, with the current technology its easier to meet emission standards by turbo charging the engine and getting better volumetric efficiency out of it.
there are many new piston engines that burn similar or even more oil than rotaries and manufacturers deem it normal oil consumption. How are their emissions?
my guess that it isn't oil that is the primary issue. if over 20 gallons of gas you burn .2 gallons of oil (1%), but your MPG is bad and you burnt 5 gallons more gas than you "should have", that is 25x more gas than oil "wasted", a big factor even if gas burns cleaner. and if some fraction of that 5 gallons goes out exhaust unburnt that is even worse.
Last month Mazda applied for a new patent for laser ignition controllers.
Mazda seems to be sticking to this laser ignition strategy- maybe there really is something to it?
Intuitively that makes sense as the combustion chamber is so long this is something that needs optimizing (thus 2 plugs -- or 3 at le mans).
Direct injection would likely help too. But the challenge is the emissions hurdle is a moving target that helps everyone else too and then the bar gets higher.
I'm not a fan of hybrids for a non-utilitarian vehicle, but regardless I speculate that some hybriding would help -- just 5KW for example just for eliminating any need to idle -- would depend on the regulatory rules but would help in the real world when sitting at lights or creeping in a traffic jam or driving up the driveway.
I'm not a fan of hybrids for a non-utilitarian vehicle, but regardless I speculate that some hybriding would help
Well...
Mazda is one of the only companies that does not offer hybrid cars in the USA and they just were awarded the highest fleet average gas mileage in the USA.
Mazda is resisting hybrid technology thus far and to great effect.
I think an electric spooled primary turbo or a starter/alternator/flyweel/torque adder would be a good match to the rotary to get some nice tip in throttle response and low rpm torque though.
Mazda thinks so too since we have quotes on that...
the i-eloop thing has some kind of electrical storage device. i don't really know how it works, but just leafing through the parts catalog it has a couple of capacitors and a DC/DC converter. just so you know that Mazda hasn't lost their sense of humor or love for surrealism; they surely are the Dali of car makers, the DC/DC converter is over $1000.
My understanding is that I-eloop is a conventional electrical system upgrade , not a hybrid drivetrain system.
It basically kicks the alternator on full during decel and stores the energy for use on accessories that would normally draw power from the alternator.
My understanding is that I-eloop is a conventional electrical system upgrade , not a hybrid drivetrain system.
It basically kicks the alternator on full during decel and stores the energy for use on accessories that would normally draw power from the alternator.
Too lazy, didn't watch the video, HOWEVER this tech only really makes sense to implement if electrical energy will be used to spin up a turbocharger (or something similar) or if laser ignition requires an excessive amount of power. Otherwise it makes for unnecessary and complicated parts that provide no significant benefit.
My understanding is that I-eloop is a conventional electrical system upgrade , not a hybrid drivetrain system.
It basically kicks the alternator on full during decel and stores the energy for use on accessories that would normally draw power from the alternator.
Well, Mazda did decide that increasing alternator/accessory load was a significant enough increase in overall efficiency to warrant the i-eloop system.
Really, all it adds to the electrical system is a capacitor and DC to DC converter. The more of these parts Mazda uses the lower their prices will become.
I-eloop is a production feature now.
I imagine this would be more so on something like the Mazda6 and less so on the MX-5 with fewer electrical accessories.
This is kind of the whole Skyactiv process- many small, but significant changes that add up to a real benefit.
I imagine this would be more so on something like the Mazda6 and less so on the MX-5 with fewer electrical accessories.
This is kind of the whole Skyactiv process- many small, but significant changes that add up to a real benefit.
i-eloop is optional on the 6 and not available on the miata.
i did read through the ND miata training thing (its not a book its a collection of webpages, so a clusterfuck?) and i'm impressed at how far the skyaktive programme actually went.
just a few (of many!) examples; they optimized the radiator hose routing to be shortest. the accessories are tucked closer, so the alternator belt is shorter, and then can be run looser.
i-eloop is optional on the 6 and not available on the miata.
i did read through the ND miata training thing (its not a book its a collection of webpages, so a clusterfuck?) and i'm impressed at how far the skyaktive programme actually went.
Thanks!
