Axial Engine

The shape lends itself nicely to some applications.

A torpedo comes to mind.

American Mark 48 Torpedo.

It's good to see they did not give up on the proven piston in a cylinder design. Interesting design of a driven swash plate. But it seems the swash plate is a large wobbling mass that will need some canceling mass to stop vibration.

They obfuscated the valve plate. Seems like that will be an issue with sliding intake and exhaust ports.

I don't see the major reduction in parts, outside of the valvetrain.

Let's see if this ever becomes production, it is a compact package.

I see Wankel seal issues x 5 all over again.

The wobble plate.........................................................well, may wobble.

But, if a conventional crankshaft can survive at 15 KRPM, may be no worry at all.

For now, I'll stick with small block Chevys and Fords.

That was my thought. If the barrel of cylinders is rotating against the stationary head, sealing between cylinders against the head would seem difficult at best.

Many years ago I saw a design for a rotary engine that was like three gears meshing. One side was intake/exhaust stroke and the other side was the compression/power stroke. There were no reciprocating parts, only the three gears. The only other parts were the carburetor and ignition systems. It had no seals, only very close tolerances and ran at such a high rpm that any leakage was overcome. I've never heard anything about it since.

I think things look really good for a power platform that will be extremely durable, especially given the resistance to pre-ignition detonation, improvement in valving arrangement, higher rotational speed, etc. The video of engine during test stand did not seem excessively noisy, and they did not seem to experience a vibration problem. If all motions are reduced to a purely sinusoidal motion, I should think there would be less tendency for unbalanced vibration, and a more constant torque at the output shaft.

The issue of sealing an exhaust cycle with a rotating cylinder, and a stationary cylinder head needs to be resolved before this is reliable enough to pass emission tests for required mileage. Why not take the below design and convert the compressor function to a combustion function. It uses a variable displacement, with cylinders and head stationary. A simple swash plate for a crankshaft. Bring the cylinder size up to provide 2 to 3 L. displacement. Use a valve system operated by solenoids switching high pressure oil opening intake and exhaust valves. Similar to the way International Harvester did with the fuel injectors on the 6.9-7.3 engines used in Ford and IH trucks.

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