REGI U.S. and Reg Technologies’ diesel RadMax™ engine is ready for assembly next week. The RadMax engine is an internal-combustion engine built around a rotary design. The companies report that a “RadMax engine would have two to three times the power and weigh half as much as a Wankel engine of the same size. Simplicity, power, and efficiency are key design priorities in the development of the engine, a truly revolutionary form of rotary power.

Reg Technologies owns the worldwide rights to the RadMax rotary technology and REGI U.S. owns the U.S. rights.

The engine is comprised of a disc-shaped rotor and driveshaft which turn the housing, or stator, which remains stationary. Up to 12 vanes mounted parallel to the shaft slide up and down along the outside of the rotor as they follow a track along the inside of the stator housing. Combustion chambers form between the rotor, stator walls and vanes, and their volumes change as the vanes move during rotation. Although the design could use only two vanes, the current version has 12, which generate 24 combustion events (intake, compression, ignition, exhaust) per rotation. The engine has a compression ratio of 20:1, which lets it burn a variety of fuels, including diesel. It also uses 13 moving parts rather than 40 for conventional piston engines. That’s because the rotor and vanes replace timing gears, connecting rods, pistons, cylinders, and valves. This should improve reliability and cut manufacturing costs. The engine also generates lower vibrations because all the components are spinning in the same direction. There are no pistons or valves making thousands of abrupt changes per minute. The combustion chambers are also balanced around the rotor, plus the rotor acts as a flywheel to smooth out power imbalances and eliminate destructive harmonics.

The RadMax engine has a variety of possible applications, ranging from the tiny weed-trimmer to the commercial and/or military jet engine, and a wide spectrum of uses, from air conditioner compressors to air and steam expanders to hybrid vehicle applications. Multifuel capability, fewer moving parts, high and efficient rates of combustion, low weight, reduced vibration, and ease of maintenance are but a few of the advantages this technology offers.

Paul Porter, Chief Engineer, states, “The fit checks were completed and all the parts have been reworked or corrected for assembly. The future tests will be to measure the first set of friction data and a baseline compression test without seals, and next with the seals. Future tests will be utilising diesel and natural gas as the fuel”