Rotary Engine:The rotary engine was an early type of internal-combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration, in which the crankshaft remained stationary and the entire cylinder block rotated around it. Its main application was in aviation, although it also saw use in a few early motorcycles and cars.
This type of engine was widely used as an alternative to conventional in-line or V engines during World War I and the years immediately preceding that conflict, and has been described as "a very efficient solution to the problems of power output, weight, and reliability".
By the early 1920s, however, the inherent limitations of this type of engine had rendered it obsolete, with the power output increasingly going into overcoming the air-resistance of the spinning engine itself. Another factor in its demise was the fundamentally inefficient use of fuel and lubricating oil caused in part by the need for the fuel/air mixture to be aspirated through the hollow crankshaft and crankcase.
Honda’s been in the news lately with their hydrogen FCX Clarity, but Mazda’s been pushing the hydrogen envelope as well, and with a rotary engine car. They were actually trying to create a workable hydrogen rotary engine all the way back in the early 1990s. And by 2003 they actually developed a concept, dual fuel RX-8 capable of burning both high pressure hydrogen and gasoline in it’s rotary engine.
