I find this very interesting

Erudite_Eric

:) Actually the hotel I am in in Germany got hit by a car. It bust one of the main wodden uprights and pushed it and the wall into reception. I dont thihnk it would be hard to go straight through if you had some welly behind it!

Chris Maunder

Fully sick, mate. Takes me back to my RX4 days. BRAP, BRAP, BRAP[^]!

R Giskard Reventlov

Ah, memories... Never worked with them but did do a short course in college that covered the topic. Mind you, that was so long ago that I would not have recalled the subject without that article to prompt me. I think it may be too little too late for these marvelous little pieces of engineering: I foresee efficient electrically powered vehicles becoming the norm in the next 10 or so years, consigning all of the other engines to history and vintage/antique collectibles.

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

Member 4194593

The "Omega" was very promising, but manufacturing (machining) was a bitch! Dave.

Erudite_Eric

Did you work on these engines then? Let me look up the Omega...

Erudite_Eric

Did you have a background in mechanical engineering too Mark? I still love it, more than software, but the pay is bad, jobs non existant, and you cant travel the world doing it. but my real passion is still for machines.. Anyway, back to the fuel. Electric is interesting, but its all about energy density; electric just doesnt deliver compared to other fuels. And particularly with the kind of technology I linked to, in addition to water injection to use the extra thermal energy, will give efficiency and smoothness way beyond todays diesels. Imagine an engine that can do 7 k rpm, is smooth as silk and gives 50 mpg at 100 mph. Thats the kind of diesel that could be done with this technology. I really cant see why we stick with the classic 4 pot valve scavenged system.

AlexCode

Ok but: less moving parts == less moving mass less parts == lighter engine It might consume more but revs up much faster than a piston engine. Also, the time invested improving this type of engines is nothing compared to the time invested in piston engines. No further developments make sense now as we moved on to new techs but still it's an ingenious peace of mechanics :-D

R Giskard Reventlov

Erudite_Eric wrote:

Did you have a background in mechanical engineering too Mark?

Yup: spent years working with Jaguar and Lotus amongst others. Miss it, really. Nothing quite like building an engine and then turning the key for the first time. Or restoring an old car. Like a 1932 Merecedes or an amphi-car or a head-to-tail rebuild of an E-Type or rewiring a burnt out Jensen Interceptor (that was cool because the factory used to buy looms from different suppliers so the wire color was never consistent. Fun. Anyways, it's only a matter of time until electric vehicles become feasible; apart from anything else, it's what the public think they want. Oh, the reason we stick with those engines is because of the noise. :-) Oh, don't ask me now how to fix anything: that's what the AAA is for!

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

Member 4194593

Eric, I did try Google. There are a lot of "Omega engine" hits, but none (at least the 100s of descriptions that I looked at) that matched what I remembered. I think it was in the 50's or early 60's that Mechanics Illustrated or Popular Mechanics had an article on it. It was a toridle engine with 4 "Cylinders" and 8 Pistons, where two pistons were attached to each end of a piston rod (looked like a hammer head and handle on each end), and there were two of these piston rods at 90 degrees to each other, the pistons were in 4 cylinders, opposing each other. There was no wasted energy trying to stop the piston at the end of its stroke as in a normal engine, the "down" stroke for one pair of pistons was the "up" stroke for the other pair. You utilized the stopping energy of the first pair to intake the other cylinder of the pair, and to compress the charge in one of the other cylinders, and exhaust the spent charge from the other of that pair. It was a 4 cycle engine and the firing proceeded around the toride. I found one similar design on Google with 3 cylinders in the shape of a triangle, but it was not the Omega. They had a prototype that they attached to a heavy frame and attached a 6 FT propeller with 12 high strength bolts. They started the engine, then from an idle they gave it full throttle. It sheared off all 12 bolts. Man what torque! If my guess is correct, this was early 60's and I left for the military and lost track of my youthful tinkering. If you find anything on this, send me a link. Dave.

Member 4194593

Eric, I searched some more and the best I could find was the following (although the Omega Engine I remember is not among the described engines): "http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/POWER/unusualICeng/toroidalIC/toroidalIC.htm" I give up. Dave.