Ok, so I'm new to the rotary world, and I really don't entirely understand how the rotary engine works. Oh, I pretty much get how the various cycles happen to push the rotor round and round. From what I see in pictures, the rotor has a teethed hole in its middle, which goes around a round gear, which I expect is stationary. That is, the gear stays still and the rotor goes round and round around it. Yes? So what I'm not getting is this: the rotor goes round and round, but how is that motion transferred to the wheels (which is to say, to the transmission)?

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/rotary-engine.htm

 

http://www.stevemullin.com/rotary101.htm

 

Another useful like with info and animations on rotary engines.

http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.com

Tyler8
2005 6MT Shinka

 

The gear that is fixed on the rotor mates to a gear that is fixed on the housing, helping keep the rotor moving thru the housing correctly, these gears arnt like the gears in a transmission, they are both stationary, no power is moved via these gears.

The way the power makes it to the transmission, and thru to the wheels is via the eccentric shaft. This shaft is the same as a crankshaft in a piston engine, there are 2 lobes, offset by 180* in a 2 rotor engine such as the RX8. These lobes fit in the center of each of the rotors. As the rotor turns, the round lobe on the eccentric shaft has to stay in the center of the round hole in the rotor....this requires the eccentric shaft to rotate on its axis....this action turns the flywheel that gives the power from the combustion to the transmission.

in this image you can see the 2 lobes on the eccentric shaft

 

Thanks, guys. I think I've finally got it now. Especially helpful was the site Tyler8 pointed to, which has a section where they take the whole engine apart piece by piece, so you can really see how the whole thing fits together. What I had not been able to see in the usual diagrams and animations (such as at howstuffworks), which all just show the process from a straight-on view, is that the gear in the middle is itself hollow and the shaft passes through it, and that the teeth only extend part way into the rotor, leaving room for the lobe of the eccentric shaft. I had been imagining a solid gear running all the way through the rotor. Thanks again, my life is enriched!

Krankor
2005 6MT Shinka

 

Damn ... I was going to use my "FM Technology" story ...

"FM = ******* Magic"

 

Rotor goes round and round. Turns an eccentric shaft round and round. This turns a flywheel round and round. The clutch plate connects this to a transmission which turns round and round which turns a drive shaft round and round which drives a differential round and round which transfers the round and roundness to the wheels.

 

What a very well rounded explaination Lego

 

this thread has seen quite a few informative posts, but i'll add another good link.

http://www.rotaryengineillustrated.com

now there's a site you'll want to bookmark!