Modified Rand Cam Rotary Engine Entering Series Hybrid Testing
30 November 2005
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| The Rand Cam diesel. Click to enlarge. |
Reg Technologies announced that modifications on a 42hp (31kW) diesel version of the Rand Cam sliding-vane rotary engine have been completed and that testing is beginning on a genset application for a series hybrid vehicle as well as for an unmanned aerial application.
The modifications, completed by Ebco Industries, include six additional cam designs with a special coating to ensure durability.
Other tested uses of the engine will include gasoline, hydrogen, pump and compressor applications.
Invented by James McCann in 1983, the Rand Cam uses a disk-shaped rotor with two or more axial vanes mounted perpendicular to the direction of rotation. The vanes slide back and forth against cam surfaces to alternatively expand and contract the chamber volume.
Through the process of these sliding vanes, combustion chambers form between the rotor, stator walls and vanes where the fuel/air mixture is injected, compressed, combusted and exhausted.
Increasing the number of vanes increases the number of combustion events throughout a revolution. The original Rand Cam had two; the current version has 12.
The engine operates at lower speeds than a typical Wankel engine (less than 2,000 rpm) and at higher compression ratios— 15 and 20 to 1.
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| The 6"x6" 42hp prototype. |
The engine is compact (the 42hp diesel is 6" in diameter and 6" long), and offers 30% volume efficiency, according to the company, compared to the Wankel engine’s 10% volume efficiency.
The company has been working on a unique vane design that does not require vane tip seals. (Sealing remains an issue, as with the Wankel.) Eliminating the need for vane tip seals will reduce the manufacturing and maintenance costs significantly.
The company is also working on a 125 hp (93 kW) prototype Rand Cam engine.
REGI U.S. owns the U.S. rights and the parent company Reg Technologies Inc. owns the worldwide rights to the Rand Cam technology.
Resources:
Rand Cam Rotary Principle
What is BSFC (g fuel/KW-HR) of this engine?
Posted by: schen | 30 November 2005 at 12:06 PM
Interesting design... but w/o the direct opposing action like a reciprocating engine has I feel thi engine will suffer the same fuel inefficiency problems that the wankel rotary has at low to moderate RPMs.
Though it might be a good way to get a higher RPM diesel.
Posted by: Ash | 30 November 2005 at 12:14 PM
Another interesting design. Another way of converting back and forth motion into rotary motion. I hope something like this breaks through, and is successful. On a similar note Carroll Shelby, of the Cobra car fame, was involved years ago in some sort of barrel shaped sine wave engine. Shaped sorta like a "six shooter barrel" with opposing pistons driving a sine wave. Anyone know whatever became of that idea?
Also, Messerschmidt made diesel fighter plane engines with opposing pistons inside of a common cylinder, in which diesel was injected when the pistons were at their closest. Would such an idea be of any value in todays world?
Posted by: Mark A | 30 November 2005 at 01:29 PM
The OX2 is what it was called.
http://www.ox2engine.com/home.htm
And the opposed pistons in common cylinder design was a junkers engine.
http://www.iet.auc.dk/sec2/junkers.htm
And an advanced version of this concept is being done by Advanced propulsion tech. It is called the OPOC.
http://www.propulsiontech.com/
Posted by: Doug | 30 November 2005 at 01:50 PM
There was an outfit called Dyna-Cam that had a six-shooter type engine. They got as far as certification of the engine for aircraft, but if you Google Dyna-Cam , none of their URL’s work, so they may be gone as a company. An interesting footnote, in one of the chat rooms I ran across, someone said they saw the Dyna-Cam concept used as a power plant for a Navy torpedo, this would explain the maturity of a design that would pass certification tests for the FAA.
Posted by: A.Syme | 01 December 2005 at 04:16 PM
Dyna-cam is now AxialVector
http://www.axialvectorengine.com/index.htm
Posted by: K. Sommer | 19 April 2006 at 08:53 AM
I AM IN NEED OF 100 UNITS 42 HP DIESEL ROTARY ENGINS.
WHERE DO I START?
Posted by: BOB OLIVER | 29 December 2007 at 05:14 PM