Mark Goldes sent me this site for
Wankel's:
75 hp and only 80 pounds - that is the perfect size
for a Prius-style hybrid. This one is multi-fuel too but apparently they haven't
tried H2.
... not ot disappoint "Ron" ....
But ... OK, there is nothing new under the sun
(almost) ....and it's "tortoises all the way down," but in this report, S.A.E.
did not go far enough 10 years ago:
They had a different definition of "hybrid"
back then
Salanki, P.A. (Univ. of Toronto,
Ontario (Canada)); Wallace, J.S.
pp. 35-46 of Strategies in Electric
and Hybrid Vehicle Design Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., Warrendale, PA
(United States) (1996). 143p. (CONF-960204--: International Congress and
Exposition of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Detroit, MI (United
States), 26-29 Feb 1996).
The hydrogen-fueled engine has
been identified as a viable power unit for ultra-low emission series-hybrid
vehicles. The Wankel engine is particularly well suited to the use of hydrogen
fuel, since its design minimizes most of the combustion difficulties. In order
to evaluate the possibilities offered by the hydrogen fueled rotary engine,
dynamometer tests were conducted with a small (2.2 kW) Wankel engine fueled
with hydrogen. Preliminary results show an absence of the combustion
difficulties present with hydrogen-fueled homogeneous charge piston engines.
The engine was operated unthrottled and power output was controlled by quality
governing, i.e. by varying the fuel-air equivalence ratio on the lean side of
stoichiometric. The ability to operate with quality governing is made possible
by the wide flammability limits of hydrogen-air mixtures. NO{sub x} emissions
are on the order of 5 ppm for power outputs up to 70% of the maximum
attainable on hydrogen fuel. Thus, by operating with very lean mixtures, which
effectively derates the engine, very low NO{sub x} emissions can be achieved.
Since the rotary engine has a characteristically high power to weight ratio
and a small volume per unit power compared to the piston engine, operating a
rotary engine on hydrogen and derating the power output could yield an engine
with extremely low emissions which still has weight and volume characteristics
comparable to a gasoline-fueled piston engine. Finally, since engine weight
and volume affect vehicle design, and consequently in-use vehicle power
requirements, those factors, as well as engine efficiency, must be taken into
account in evaluating overall hybrid vehicle efficiency.
Now if they had only known about the Prius back
then ,or if Toyota only knew about the small Wankel engine fueled with hydrogen,
and its multifuel capability - then Ron Popiel wouldn't get credit for tying all
the loose ends together into one primo package.
Jones
