Ever wondered how rotary engines work? You can stop wondering because Engineering Explained is here with an amazing video that will showcase to you how the rotary engines work. For this demonstration, the famous YouTube channel has taken help of a 3D printed Mazda RX-7 13B.
The Wankel rotary engine was brought to limelight by Mazda. The company has been building the rotary style engines in its production cars including RX-8 and RX-7. It has also built the rotary engine for its cars from 1967 to 2012. The Wankel rotary engine stands out from other engines because it features three primary moving parts as opposed to the piston cylinder engines that have many more parts. The Wankel rotary engine has two rotors and a single eccentric shaft. All of these parts rotate as opposed to reciprocation that is the defining trait of four-stroke engines.
The video by Engineering Explained shows a 1/3rd scale 13B-REW engine that was used by Mazda during 1992-2002 in the RX-7. Its power ranges from 255 to 280 horsepower. The two-rotor engine offered displacement of 1.3 liters and sequential turbochargers. The 3D model has been created by Eric Harrel. According to Eric, the model has been designed so that the observers are able to watch the moving parts of the rotary engine. The center iron plate and the front rotor housing are on hinges thus enabling the block to be opened like a book.
Eric further adds, ‘the back rotor contains an Arduino and color changing LEDs which simulate the combustion cycle in each chamber. The rotor is wirelessly powered by another Arduino circuit housed in the oil pan. The rotor syncs the LEDs by sensing a magnet in the housing, so it speeds up/slows down the changing colors of the LEDs according.’
Check out the video below and let us know what you think of it!
