rotary engine -- what's the name ??

I read about a rotary engine called something like "nu-teddy". But I can't find any mention of "nu-teddy" on the Internet. If I misspelled it, can someone can tell me the correct term? _______________________________________________

Nutating.

"Nutating" (oscillating), I think. If it's the one I'm thinking of, its the McMaster Motor. There is only one "paddle". The brother of a guy I worked with at 3M invented it and he used to show us its progress at our monthly retirement breakfast meetings. the brother is now gone, but the commercialization continues. Last I heard, they had a large order from a cab company in England.

You can see it at >

Pete Stanaitis

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Beladi Nasralla wrote:

Mighty Engine? (MYTY?)

Atom Ant,,, Mighty Mouse. cuhulin

BTW in relation to aircraft, "rotary" also means a radial in which the crankcase rotates, & the crankshaft is stationary. See Gnome Monosoupape (ie 1-valve), and similar designs. Popular in WW1, but long gone now.

Those rotary wobble plate engine designs date back to at least the 1960s or 1950s or so.Many, many years ago, there was at least one auto outfit that had a rotary engine similar to Aircraft.I don't remember the name of it though. cuhulin

Look on the internet for, Popular Mechanics Atomic Airplane

I have the magazine around here somewhere, dates back about five or six years ago.Your local area librairies might have the magazine.I used to read True and Saga and Bluebook For Men magazines.Back in the 1960s or

1950s, one of those magazines had an article about an Atomic powered Aircraft engine that didn't work out.The magazine article said that Atomic powered Aircraft engine is sitting on the Nevada (or Utah) desert floor/ground. cuhulin

The McMaster (wobble) motor website causes me to pause when I read hyperbole like this: "Each power stroke results in very smooth, high torque, equivalent to an eight-cylinder engine." The Technical Information portion of the website consists of 3 paragraphs and the website looks like it was last updated in 2000. I suspect that one of of many significant technical issues to be solved will be designing seals for the wobbling rotor.

The idea has been around for quite a while and the latest spin is to make it run on hydrogen. Count this as yet another automotive version of vaporware.

When I saw the comment about hydrogen I guessed that the engine is such a stinking polluter that hydrogen is the only thing that could get it passed the law.

It sure is interesting though. If somebody could just come up with clever geometry like that without having reciprocating, sliding seals. This isn't the first engine with that problem. It was solved pretty well in the Wankel but Renault's wobbly engine never did get it solved.

-- Ed Huntress

What company is that? I'm not aware of any aircraft rotary engines. (Not to be confused with radial engines)

According to the website the motor is the centerpiece of a project involving "A new engine; A new fuel source; A new source of power to assist in the production of the fuel". The company address is at a University and they were apparently looking for funding from a variety of sources including a DOE grant. Ultimately their goal appears to be money from licensing production: "It is anticipated the McMaster Motor's technology will be licensed to multiple industry sources for volume production."

I don't know if this is going beyond the dream stage.

There's an article about it here:

and this discusses real world concerns such as seals and coatings: I guess I'd like to see more about it if it is as promising as the NASA article implies... --Glenn Lyford

Rotary engines were used in aircraft long ago. While they were powerful little motors they had several problems which limited their use.

Just to confuse things modern-day Rotary engines of Wankel design have been used in aircraft although not widely.

here:

coatings:

Well, yes, but websites that trumpet the 10 most important benefits of a given product but say nothing on the downside do not strike me as unbiased. Indeed I start thinking about sales hype.

There have been several promising engine designs over the years that have come forth only to die a slow death. One I remember was a resurrection of the old Sterling Motor to run a generator/battery driven electric car. Seals were the biggest problem. The motor would run fine until the loud pop told of a broken seal, exploded hydrogen and rapidly declining mph.

I'm sure the problems of that design could have been fixed but the costs of doing so would have been considerable. The result mwas likely not a marketable product because of the development cost.

I guess I wasn't clear. Is there a company that currently manufactures a rotary engine specifically for aviation use?

Among real companies are: Mistral Engines UAV Ltd Possibly Wankel AG (not sure of their current status--Wankel Gmbh went under and Wankel AG is the remains under new management)

Moeller Skycar has an engine manufacturing subsidiary, but like all things Moeller, one should believe it when they deliver a product to you personally.

If you look at it the right way, any turbojet/turbofan/turboprop is a rotary engine. Probably more efficient than anything using a non- continuous combustion cycle. Don't know of any other type approved for aircraft use. I think it was the BD-5 that was designed to use a Wankel snowmobile engine and there were some small model-sized Wankel glow-plug engines, don't know of anything else recently that's actually flown and isn't a magnet for venture capital and/or government research contracts, e.g. vaporware.

Stan

I believe there is a european or British firm using a derivative of the Norton rotary for aircraft use. (microlight)

Actually Teledyne Continental has licenced the Norton Rotary engine, and Avco Lycoming, in concert with Deere and Co are also working on a rotary engine concept. (or have been in the last 15 years - no idea at what stage they are today)