Felix Wankel

摘要

Combustion engine design is dominated by the reciprocating piston design, but one engineer pushed against convention with the development of rotary technology. Felix Wankel was convinced that rotary combustion engines offered smoother operation, improved packaging and in some cases a better power-to-weight ratio than more established technologies. The idea for a rotary engine - which achieves the four strokes, intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust, while rotating - came to Wankel when he was a teenager, He dreamed he had driven to a concert in a car he had designed that was powered by a new type of powerplant that was half-turbine, half-reciprocating engine. It was the beginning of his career in combustion engine design.