‘ In the early Sixties, Mazda created the Rotary Engine Development Centre, a team of 47 engineers’
The 787B was Mazda and the rotary engine’ s finest hour
‘ In the early Sixties, Mazda created the Rotary Engine Development Centre, a team of 47 engineers’
At the heart of Wankel’ s rotary engine is a triangular rotor that spins in a bean-shaped housing; the apex tips of the triangle seal with the wall of the housing. The cavities between the rotor and the housing are where the different sequences of the combustion process take place. As a result, no valves are needed; holes in specific places in the housing or sides allow air and fuel in. As the rotor spins, it shifts the air with it and compresses it before it’ s ignited by a spark plug mounted further around the housing. The rotor then moves the exhaust gases out of another hole. One of the major benefits of the Wankel design is that there are essentially three active combustion chambers all acting simultaneously. This makes the power output of a Wankel rotary comparatively high, considering capacity and revs.
The Wankel rotary engine was first put to use in aircraft, and the design piqued Mazda’ s interest. The Japanese company signed a deal with NSU to develop its own version of the engine. In the early Sixties, Mazda created
36 The Engine Rebuilder
Issue 03