The StarRotor Engine. OK, so it’s a bit rocket science, but the tech looks very interesting nevertheless. A kind of jet engine for your car. But an efficient, quiet, cheap and green one. 120mpg from vegetable oil anyone? Wonder how well the development is going?
By simply replacing conventional engines (15-20% efficiency) with a StarRotor engine, fuel economy will double or triple. For example, a conventional luxury car getting about 25 mpg on the highway would get about 75 mpg. A conventional economy car getting 40 mpg would get about 120 mpg. * It should produce very low pollution. * It has multi-fuel capability. Any liquid or gaseous fuel can be burned, including gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel, alcohol, methane, hydrogen, and even vegetable oil. * The parts count of the engine is about 10% of a conventional automobile engine, and the majority of parts do not require complex machining.
Not likely
The first point (efficient) and the 7th (low maintenance) are in conflict.
Getting good efficiency out of that system requires minimizing gas leakage between the ‘cells’. any gas that leaks excapes without transfering it’s energy to the rotor.
The low maintenance claim is that there is clearance between the rotors, if there is, the gas is gonna leak like mad.
This design has been around for about a century, it never gets mass produces because it’s efficiency stinks. To make it effective requires some sliding seals that make the wankel engine problems look eazy.
I would be unsurprised if a decent version could be made with a military grade sealing system, but that won’t be cheap.
Abradable coatings and liquid injection do the trick