Wankel Rotary Engine
Designing, simulating, fabricating, and testing a Wankel Rotary engine that can serve as an alternate option to the conventional piston engine with a higher power delivery, higher torque, lower volume and weight and less complexity. The project inherited a huge design endeavor as little, or no resea
2025-06-28 16:29:59 - Adil Khan
Wankel Rotary Engine
Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject SummaryDesigning, simulating, fabricating, and testing a Wankel Rotary engine that can serve as an alternate option to the conventional piston engine with a higher power delivery, higher torque, lower volume and weight and less complexity. The project inherited a huge design endeavor as little, or no research paper was available about the designing of this sort of engine.
The wankel rotary engine is more preferable in airoplanes with turboprop engines. They can even serve as a secondary backup source in electric vehicles due to theor smaller weight and volume. They are much more potent in smaller accessories as Go-carts, chain saws etc. Most of all due to their simplicity, they can serve as a stepping stone for Pakistan to initiate vertical integration in manufacturing technique.
Project ObjectivesThe objectives of the manufacturing of Wankel engine include
- CAD modelling of the engine parts and their assembly,
- identification of rotor’s motion and thermal analysis of the engine assembly via the determination of impact forces and temperature increment at different places,
- kinematic motion analysis
- manufacturing the desired components via specific outlined techniques.
- assembling and running the engine
- measuring torque and power of the rotor engine, and,
- overshooting the whole structure comparing its result to a Piston engine
A huge iterative approach was adopted that linked the engine to the large number of auxiliaries involved. Building the mechanical portion of the engine is one thing but our project involved running the engine thus sub projects were induced; starting system, ignition system, lubrication system, cooling system, sealing system, just to name a few. All these systems then had to be linked to the engine, which dominated the decision in sizing the engine's overall dimensions. Another thing that was kept in mind throughout the design phase was the manufacturing process that would lead to such dimensions and geometry. This was done due to the short budget and less availability of professional resources available to us.
Once the design was completed, simulations were ran to see of the engine is kinetically correct. This was followed by thermal analysis. Another validation study of the kinematics of the engine's motion was done by a laser cut acrylic prototype fabrication that confirmed the correct design.
A special machinist shop was found that fabricated a spur gear and inner ring gear to our desired specifications. Wooden patterns were made which were to be used in casting. Hence another design of all components were made with shrinkage, machining, draft allowances etc. Once the wooden patterns were made, they were given to the casting individual.
Casting is to be followed by 3 axis CNC milling machining, that reduces machining time and gives accurate dimensions.
The end involves assembling the engine parts and linking each part with the auxiliaries.
Benefits of the Project1. Higher power delivery
2. Higher torque
3. Higher power/weight ratio
4. Smaller volume.
5. Simpler design & easier to manufacture
6. Less vibrations
Technical Details of Final DeliverableStarting, running and testing the engine. The engine assembly will eventually be followed by a test run that would involve starting the engine initially. This would be followed by testing the power and torque output on a dynamometer. This value for the given sized rotary engine would be compared to the same sized piston engine.
The complete setup would initiate by an external power source that drives the engine, this is done via a starter motor hooked up to a car battery engaged with a flywheel that is clamped at one end of the shaft. This spins the shaft and eventually the rotor which automatically develops vacuum in the housing at the place of intake. An air filter followed by a carburetor (of Honda 125 cc Euro 2 bike) delivers the airfuel mixture and into the cavity b/w the housing and the rotor. As the rotor spins further it eventually starts cramping up the air fuel mixture in the compression phase. We have designed our rotary to give a compression ratio of 8. This compression is followed by the combustion phase, where spark plugs light up and ignite the air fuel mixture.
The correct timing of the spark plugs lighting up revolves around the ignition system. A CDI ignition system is used, where a permanent magnet is attached at the other end of the shaft and a coil of copper plate is fixed. As the magnet revolves within this coil, an electric current is generated in the coil which is stored in the capacitor part of the CDI unit. A small pulser magnet is also attached atop of the magnet which gives a similar signal to a sensor attached on the coil plate. Whenever this extruded part passes against the sensor a signal is sent to the CDI unit, which tells the unit to discharge the capacitor at once. This part of the magnet is lined perfectly to establish correct timing. The discharged current then flows into the primary induction coil that essentially acting as a transformer increases the voltage to nearly 12000 Volts which is dumped into the spark plug that ends up igniting the mixture. The expanding hot and pressurized gases move the rotor forward and provide power and torque that can be extracted. the end is the exhaust phase where all these mixtures exit through a pipe opening in the housing.
Since the engine is naturally cooled, fins are attached to keep it under extreme temperatures.
Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther IndustriesCore Technology OthersOther TechnologiesSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 80000 | |||
| Acrylic prototype | Miscellaneous | 1 | 4500 | 4500 |
| 125 cc ignition system | Equipment | 1 | 3500 | 3500 |
| 125 cc intake system | Equipment | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Metal billets | Equipment | 1 | 13000 | 13000 |
| Lasani sheet & Gimsa Glue | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2500 | 2500 |
| Casting | Equipment | 1 | 20000 | 20000 |
| Gears | Equipment | 1 | 6000 | 6000 |
| Long thread bolts | Equipment | 16 | 300 | 4800 |
| mild steel rods | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Flywheel & starter motor | Miscellaneous | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| Oil seals | Equipment | 6 | 250 | 1500 |
| 3D printing | Equipment | 1 | 5900 | 5900 |
| CNC machining | Equipment | 1 | 7300 | 7300 |