The ECTA’s Joe Timney sent me this video yesterday and I watched in a couple of times just to take it all in. The video is about the Duke engine which is an “axial” piston engine. What the hell does that mean? Well in basic terms you have to picture the cylinder from a revolver style gun. Instead of bullets, there are pistons in it. Using the Duke as the example, we’re talking about a five piston cylinder. Instead of the pistons turning a crank like in an inliner or V-style engine, they are all hooked to a plate, via connecting rods. Said plate is setup up move in a wave like motion as the pistons go up and down. This wave like motion spins a crankshaft and that’s where the power is transferred to whatever you are driving. Since the pistons themselves are all spinning in the rotating cylinder, the head is as interesting as the rest of the engine.
Rather than valves like you’d have in a normal engine, the Duke uses ports like a rotary. As the piston comes by the intake port, it draws a charge. As the piston comes up, it rotates into the combustion area where one of three spark plugs fires it off and then it rotates past and exhaust port on the way to the next spark plug. The guys working on this engine claim that it is lighter, has less moving parts, and is more powerful than conventional designs. The best part is that this thing isn’t just a paper tiger. There is footage in the video of an actual engine. We wish we got to hear it run on the dyno, but the shots of the guts of the machine moving around shows some amazing machine work and are basically mechanical porn.
This video isn’t exactly new as it was released in 2011, but it is the first we have ever heard of the engine and we thought you’d dig it. The compact design seems right for planes and stuff, assuming power levels and reliability are there. It would be a trip to have one in a small car and go ripping around in it. Can you imagine popping the hood at a cruise night with this thing tucked between the fenders? You could call it whatever you wanted (we’d do Flux Capacitor) and no one would be able to tell you any different.
We don’t think our inline of V-style engines are in any danger from the Duke at this point, but it is very, very cool to see this type of thought and innovation being employed by smart people. We’re suckers for outside the box stuff and this engine took the box, set it on fire, and then danced around it.
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE WEIRD AND COOL DUKE AXIAL ENGINE IN-DEPTH!
like putting head gaskets on a Rubik’s cube.
Crazy Brits! If the Wankel engine couldn’t make it what chance does this have? Work to make gas/ diesel engines more efficient.
It’s a glorified hydraulic pump from a tractor it has a swash plate and all cool idea
where’s “Drake” come in? Everything I see is talking about a Duke engine.
That’s a type of motor referred to as a “Barrel Motor.” They were used to power torpedoes as far back as WW 1 (I believe). It’s a little bit like an axial A/C compressor, but with spark plugs.
Exactly what I was thinking, A/C compressors with spark plugs.
Interesting,I bet you could stack another bank of cylinders like in a rotary, could even go off the back of the same rotating assembly. Eliminating the valve train frees up a lot of power but it still looses some verses the rotary in that it has to reverse the longitudinal motion of the pistons. Man I’m all for saving ‘green house gas’ emissions. Not, think I’ll burn a tire now.
Sealing that rotating cylinder to the fixed head is going to be the key challenge. Hard to tell if it will be easier or more difficult that a Wankel. I could see it going either way.
Once again, this has been done before, but with stationary cylinders and fixed heads.
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i am pretty sure john delorean wanted or came up with a very similar engine design
Seems every couple years I run into a new video showing off the fantastic new engine that a highly educated group of geeks has come up with. Opposed cylinder comes to mind. I have to wonder why none of them make it to market… I love the concepts and the benefits all seem compelling but somehow, nobody wants to mass produce them and attach their name.
3 Questions: Does it come in sizes above 400 cubic inches? How do you mount a super charger on it? How much $?