Next generation motorcycle engine

[calif wingnut]

https://autos.yahoo.com/news/worlds-mos ... 21695.html

[robin1731]

http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ne#p601292

[CYBORG]

An interesting engine. But I think it is better designed for being run at constant RPM, as in generators, pumps, etc. But an interesting design

[Whiskerfish]

Seems like that design is woken back up every decade or so. Sooner or later the tech will catch up with it and it might make a restricted foray into the mainstream. I do think that this is the first time I have actually seen a running version of it, so that is big progress.

[82aspy]

i'd bet electric is gonna go huge

[Lucien Harpress]

Seems like that design is woken back up every decade or so. Sooner or later the tech will catch up with it and it might make a restricted foray into the mainstream. I do think that this is the first time I have actually seen a running version of it, so that is big progress.

I've been wondering about this. I figure the design isn't "new" (if it's possible, it's probably been tried at least once before, just not perfected). I'm just curious what the main disadvantages are? Not trying to defend the design, I'd genuinely like to know the reasons why this hasn't been picked up in a big way before?

[Toehead]

Lucien, I think one of the most difficult things is that the cylinders are sliding against the "head". The seal between the fixed ports and the sliding cylinders needs to withstand combustion pressures while sliding.

[fish]

this design is NOT NEW!
most automotive air conditioning compressors are built with a similar paradigm. Also Parker variable displacement hydraulic pumps are the same system. It is called a "swash plate"
The reason it is not used in internal combustion engines is excessively close manufacturing tolerances, high internal friction and low durablity/ highly fragile internal components.
The reciprocating piston, gasoline burning, internal combustion engine is a compromise of many many issues.

[fish]

perhaps this system combined with an external combustion engine would be viable and the best of both worlds.
I think maybe I will go hook an air hose to an extra A/C compressor & see what happens!

[Whiskerfish]

The Swashplate design itself has been around for 6 or more decades in Helicopter Rotor heads and probably longer in other applications. It is what transmits the flight control inputs to the rotor blades and provides control over the rotor plane. One part of it rotates with the rotor head and blades and one part is stationary and that is what the hydraulic servo's hook up to. The swashplate on a H-53 weighs hundreds of pounds and deals with thousands of pounds of force. In that environment it only runs at about 165-195 rpm (depending on the model) so the balance is not near as critical as it would be in a high speed engine.

I want to say I saw this basic design as much as 20 years ago maybe from one of the mechanics digest or popular science books of the day. It has been around a long time.