Introduction

Internal combustion engines have been around for more than a hundred years. There are various
types of engines: reciprocate piston engines and turbines. Between the reciprocate piston
engines, they can be classified in two and four strokes and they run on various types of fuel.
Depending on this, they can run on Diesel cycle or Otto cycle. In any of those cases, the piston
engines have been developed for a long time. They are reliable and a well-known technology,
but they are complex and create a lot of vibration.
On the other hand, turbine engines nowadays are confined to aviation or industrial applications
where a better efficiency is desired. They can burn a great variety of fuels. In addition, this
engines have low vibration and a relatively simple structure. However, they work at very high
RPM, therefore, they have a very high fuel consumption as well as pollution.
The engines varieties explained before re the most popular. But there is another engine concept.
This engine is a step in between the conventional piston engine and the turbine. It turns around a
central axis like a turbine but it works with rotary pistons that varies the volume of their
chamber in function of the position in the engine. This offers the advantages of both engines:
low vibrations and a relatively constant torque output, as well as lower RPM. But the models
developed were not so successful on that purpose.
In 2004, a new type of rotary engine was conceived, the inventor claims that can represent a
viable alternative to the reciprocate engines. In this study, that claims will be tested. Giving a
mathematical simulation of the theoretical potential that this engine could have.

Background Information
Internal Combustion Engine
The internal combustion engine generates energy from the reaction of a fuel with an oxidizer,
which causes an explosion. The reaction products are gases, and the reaction itself generates
intense heat that causes the gases to expand at an extraordinarily rapid rate. The expanding
gases push against a piston, which is then forced to move, and the result is mechanical energy
that has been harvested from the chemical energy within the fuel and the oxidizer (Winograd,
2010).
The four-stroke reciprocating internal combustion engine is so called for using a four-stroke
combustion cycle, which was first designed by a German engineer, Nikolaus Otto (183291), in
the year 1867, and is sometimes called the Otto cycle. The four strokes are intake, compression,
combustion, and exhaust. Everything occurs in the same cylinder, in the same space, but in
chronological sequence (Winograd, 2010).

The Four stroke engine

This engine has four different stages in their working cycle as represented in Figure 1. First,
ingest a mixture of fuel and air or just air, depending if it is Otto cycle or Diesel cycle. Second,
compress it. Third, cause it to react, by spark or adding fuel, converts the chemical energy into
thermal energy. Fourth, expand the combustion products. Finally, eject the combustion products
and replace them with a new charge of fuel and air (Spakovszky et al., 2008).

Figure 1 Four stroke engine displacement (Spakovszky et al., 2008).

This principle has been applied in all sorts of configurations and applications, from small lawn
mown engines, to giant ship marine engines, passing through airplanes and cars. In all this
applications, it varies the number and size of cylinders, the rpm and even the fuel it uses.
Therefore it is a well-studied and developed engine. But, cylinder engines principle has not
changed future developments are investing big amount of resources and looking for small
efficiency improvements.

Brayton Cycle Turbine

It is another kind of engine, in which air enters the axial flow compressor ant ambient
conditions. It is compressed to some higher pressure, raising its temperature in the process.
Next, upon leaving the compressor, air enters the combustion system, where fuel is injected and
combustion occurs, having a combustion essentially at constant pressure. Finally, the
combustion mixture leaves the combustion system ad enters the turbine, where the energy of hot
gasses is converted into work. This thermodynamic cycle is called Brayton Cycle (Brooks,
2000).

Figure 2 Brayton Cycle Turbine (Brooks, 2000).

Turbine engines in cars was tested by various companies. It started in 1953 with a top secret
project at Chrysler Corporation. This project built more than seventy turbine cars in two
decades. The Chrysler Turbine, from 1964 to 1967 was lent to the public in a campaign never
seen before. The main characteristics of this kind of engine was that with very few adjustments
it could run with virtually any fuel. Also, this engine has a complete absence of vibration
(Lehto, 2010).

On the other hand, A lot of prejudge was present on the time. Additionally, it was especially
sensible to not good quality fuel such as Tetraethyl. Good quality fuel was hard to find and its
efficiency in the city was very poor. Additionally, it needed exotic materials and very precise
tolerances, making this engine more expensive. Moreover, in 1981 the program was closed
because of the financial problems, the challenge of reducing engines NOx output and the need
for downsize the cars for front wheel drive (Lehto, 2010).

Figure 3 1964 Chrysler Turbine (Ziga, 2015)

Rotary Piston engines

Rotary piston engines are an intermediate step between piston reciprocating engines and turbine
engines. They are meant to offer the best of both worlds, a well-known technology such as
piston combustion
Those engines have two main components: First, an outer component with end walls
perpendicular to the axis and a peripheral wall parallel to the axis of the engine, defining an
internal chamber. Second, an inner component with its peripheral wall mounted within the
chamber. They form a plurality of variable volume chambers within the outer component
(Wankel and Hoeppner, 1961).

Figure 4 Variable volumes chamber in a rotary engine (Wankel and Hoeppner, 1961).

Wankel engine
It is the most successful of the rotary engines. It has a plurality of epitrochoid lobes in the
outside body and that number plus one apex portions in the inside body. The outer body is
stationary and the inner body performs a planetary rotary movement relative to the outer body.
This type of engine includes the four strokes of intake, compression, expansion and exhaust. It
include gears to mechanically couple inner and outside bodies together with the inner body
performing a planetary movement respect to the outer body (Wankel and Hoeppner, 1961).

Figure 5 Wankel rotary engine scheme (Ruf and Steinwart, 1976).

Disadvantages of the Wankel Rotary Engine

It has a bigger fuel consumption, it is also most expensive and less flexible engine. It also is less
durable. Even though it is lighter than a piston engine, it is not significant enough to have a real
impact on the vehicles size and weight. However, it represents an intermediate stage between
piston and turbine engines in terms of vibrations and size (Richardson, 1973). Also, it has
unbalanced forces and the high speeds create wear/friction and leaking problems (Peng, 1994)

The Szorenyi Engine

Peter Szorenyi analysed the internal displacement and relationship between the stator profile
and the centreline axle in a quasiturbine engine (Mohammed, 2014, Szorenyi, 2004). He
deduced that there was a four leaf clover around the centreline of the stator and that the
mathematical form was sin2 (King, 2013). With this in mind, he developed a geometric shape
that describes a right isosceles triangle hypotenuse extremes in constant contact with a surface
where the other corner has the movement with the equation described before (King, 2013).
This curve was patented as The Szorenyi Curve, bringing a wide range of different profiles
depending on the values that are used in the equation (King, 2013). With this principle is
possible to create all sorts of mechanisms that involve variable volume chambers such as
pumps, hydraulic motors, compressors, etc. For the purpose of this study, the engine variant will
be studied. (Szorenyi, 2004)
Additionally, Szorenyis invention consists of accommodating the four-segment equilateral
hinged rotor in a coaxial confinement housing such that the four vertices of this rotating
equilateral parallelogram coincide with the confining curve (rotor housing internal contour) at
any angle of rotation (Szorenyi, 2004). Therefore, it has four chambers defined by a
deformable rhombus, meaning that instead of three power strokes per revolution as the most

widely used version of the Wankel engine has, it has four, and this is equivalent to an eight
cylinder engine (King, 2013, Peng, 1994, Szorenyi, 2004).
Moreover, the Szorenyi engine does not use a ring gear driven around a fixed pinion as it
happens in the Wankel engine. Therefore, it doesnt present the disadvantage of the Wankel
engine of having to operate at high rpm. The Szorenyi engine, therefore, does not need a
reduction gearing. What is more, in some applications it could be connected directly to the end
mechanism (could be an airplane propeller), reducing overall weight, avoiding mechanical
complexity and saving space (King, 2013).
A series of prototype tests has been performed, but this engine is still in a very primitive stage
and there is a long way until this development is proven to be worthy of further research and
development. If this is proven, it could have a great future in aviation and other applications
(King, 2013).

Theoretical concept
The stator or external curve is generated by the base extremes A and B of an isosceles right
angle, translating and simultaneously rotating triangle with the following constraints. The center
point P of the base AB (of length c) of the triangle must be located on an inscribed circle of
radius c/2 and center at point O. The vertex C of the triangle must always be located on one of
the four lobes of the curve of the form r=sin(2) where angle is the angle between line O and
the positive vertical (y) axis and also OB and the positive horizontal (x) axis. (Szorenyi, 2004)
Moreover, the mathematical definition of the housing profile coordinates is well-defined and
named as Szorenyis curve.

x=0.5 {sin 2 + 2 sin2 2 }{sin +cos }

y=0.5 {sin2 + sin 2 } { sincos }
2

Equation 1 Szorenyis stator equation profile (King, 2013)

Figure 6 Curve construction Diagram (Szorenyi, 2004)

General Engine Characteristics

When this engine is configured to run into Otto cycle, four power strokes will be produced per
revolution of the rotor. This particularity can provide a power output similar to a V-8
conventional reciprocating engine at identical RPM which each cylinder having a similar
volume than the maximum capacity of the rotary engine chamber (Szorenyi, 2004).
In this engine, there is a continuous generation of power strokes, offering constant torque. Also,
thanks to its architecture of four hinged segments, it is balanced at all rotational angles,
therefore, it a low rotational vibration. Furthermore, it is supposed to have a higher torque than
conventional engines even at low RPM and also doesnt need a flywheel. In consequence, this
engine must have a very high response and acceleration at the time that reduces its fuel
consumption (Szorenyi, 2004).

Figure 7 Variable volume chamber in the Szorenyi engine (Szorenyi, 2004)

Other related developments

There have been another patents related with rotary engines, the patents that reference
Szorenyis invention or are related with it varies in importance and focus. There are also studies

of rotary engines that are related with this invention that were conducted before and after the
Szorenyis engine development.
In 1964, a Rotary Piston Type Compound Internal Combustion Engine was patented, this
patent talks about a rotary piston internal combustion engine that is combined with a second one
which acts as an air compressor, using the exhaust gases to run the compressor (Motoaki, 1964).
Gilbert also created a three combustion chamber engine with slid able reeds, in consequence
varying its volume. It used valves to control thee fuel and didnt require seals (Guilbert, 1975).
Bando took another approach, he developed an elongated roller side seal for a rotary engine
(Bando and Bando, 1995)
However, those inventions as well are not related with the research topic.
Jordan proposed various rotary piston apparatus, with two or more segments rotating inside of
the stator. One of the proposals have four segments and it is similar to what Szorenyi created
(Jordan, 1967, Jordan, 1968). Wilson also patented his rotary engine which pistons were
arranged to follow the escalatory movement in an elliptical path. Also in this engine, the
follower members were moved using external link members (Wilson, 1972).Still, none of them
defined the stator equation (Jordan, 1967, Jordan, 1968, Wilson, 1972).
Niemand created a five pistons rotary engine, making it rotate in an oval cylinder. It provided a
higher durability. On the other hand, he couldnt construct a four piston engine, saying that it
was unrealizable (Niemand, 1968).
Ishida created a four piston rotary engine in 1975. Those pistons formed a rhombus inside the
stator. The stator was a concentric ellipse with a rotating shaft in the centre and each piston was
articulated with each other using a pivot shaft and its lubrication was combined in the
carburettor and also, it regulated the airflow using valves. However, it didnt mathematically
defined the shape of the stator neither (Ishida, 1975).
Jordan kept developing his idea, and in 1980, he made a patent of a rotary engine that worked
with fuel mixture or diesel injection. It had four identical pistons in its housing connected
between them with pivots located on each piston end. The innovation was the variable length
arms that connected the pistons with the crankshaft. However, one disadvantage was that the
moment of combustion are transmitted to the inner surface of the housing. Also, he didnt
defined the stator curve neither (Jordan, 1980).
Peng made a research on rotary machines where he introduced the concept of quasi-dimensional
models. Furthermore, he proposed an eight chamber rotary engine with internal/external
combustion system with a pre-combustion chamber (Peng, 1994). However, even though his
literature review mention all kinds of rotary engines, he concentrates on his development with
no further study of the other variants of rotary engines.
Saint-Hilaire proposed a new rotary engine with a four degree of freedom rotor (X, Y, , )
contained in a stator. This invention does not need a central shaft or support. Also, it has a
variable shape rotor with four pivoting blades supported by four carriage supporters.
Furthermore, this engine has some common particularities with the Szorenyi engine. It have
compression and expansion happening at the same time, it also make four strokes in every
rotation, a shaft might be only needed to transmit the torque, but it is not structural
indispensable, it can work with plenty of different fuels, does not present vibrations and has a
low noise presence. Additionally, it is more efficient and creates less NOx than a conventional
engine. It also utilize a mathematical calculated internal housing and have four power strokes on

each revolution with no dead time. However, it has a different structure than Szorenyi engine
and the mathematical formula has more variables to be defined (Saint-Hilaire et al., 2000).
There have been a number of rotary engine inventions related after the creation of the Szorenyi
engine. Okulov also created a balanced rotary internal combustion engine. It has four interlinked
pistons where the rotor goes inside or outside of a circular or non-circular stator with various
mechanisms to shape the deformation of the pistons assembly. The external rotary combustion
engine variant would have a high pressure compressor. He also suggest a novel way to lubricate
this engine using an oil pan. Additionally, he states that this engine has low friction and employ
a pre-designed combustion chamber. Furthermore, it could have 2 or 4 pistons, having the
engine components isolated from the exhaust gases (Okulov, 2005). He also claimed that it has a
simplified sealing system, being more efficient and with less NOx emissions and it is tolerant to
different fuels (Okulov, 2007). However, this work does not mathematically define the chamber
shape.
Al-Hawaj also developed a rotary mechanism with four segments linked to a central shaft. It
uses telescopic rods which connect the end of the rotor segment to the central shaft. He also
states that it solves the problem of the Wankel engine because it can be used at low RPM.
Moreover, it has four hinged pistons that are forming a deformable rhombus. In addition, he
defines the mathematically span of each rotor segment and the periphery coordinates for each
point. However, even though he uses the same idea of a four piston hinged rotary engine, he
used a different method and those utilize different variables from the Szorenyi rotary engine
(Al-Hawaj, 2014).

References
AL-HAWAJ, O. M. 2014. Rotary mechanism with articulating rotor. US patent
application.
BANDO, Y. & BANDO, K. 1995. Elongated roller side seals for a rotary engine.
BROOKS, F. J. 2000. GE gas turbine performance characteristics. GE Power
Systems, Schenectady, NY.
GUILBERT, J. 1975. Four cycle rotary engine with flexible combustion
chamber wall.
ISHIDA, C. 1975. Rotary internal combustion engine. United States patent
application. Nov, 11. 1975.
JORDAN, A. 1967. Rotary piston apparatus. United States patent application.
Jan 3, 1967.
JORDAN, A. 1980. Rotary internal combustion engine. US patent application.
Jan 1, 1980.
JORDAN, D. A. 1968. Rotary internal combustion engine. United States
patent application. Feb. 20, 1968.
KING, P. 2013. The Szorenyi Rotary-the four chamber rotary engine.
Autoengineer. Australia: Society of Automotive Engineers-Australasia;
Rotary Engine Development Agency.
LEHTO, S. 2010. Chrysler's Turbine Car: The Rise and Fall of Detroit's
Coolest Creation, Chicago Review Press.
MOHAMMED, M. A. 2014. Quasiturbine rotor development optimization.
Master of Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia.
MOTOAKI, Y. 1964. Rotary piston type compound internal combustion
engines. United States patent application. July 7, 1964.
NIEMAND, L. 1968. Combustion engine with revoluting pistons forming a
closed kinematic chain. United States patent application.

OKULOV, P. 2005. Ballanced rotary internal combustion engine or cycling

volume machine.
OKULOV, P. D. 2007. Balanced rotary internal combustion engine or cycling
volume machine.
PENG, L. 1994. Fundamental research on a unique rotary machine. PhD,
McMaster University.
RICHARDSON, R. W. 1973. Automotive Engines for the 1980's. Eaton's
Worldwide Analysis of Future Automotive Power Plants, Eaton
Corporation.
RUF, M. & STEINWART, J. 1976. Rotary piston four-stroke internal
combustion engine. US patent application. Feb 24, 1976.
SAINT-HILAIRE, R., SAINT-HILAIRE, Y., SAINT-HILAIRE, G. & SAINT-HILAIRE, F.
2000. Quasiturbine zero vibration-continuous combustion rotary
engine compressor or pump. Google Patents.
SPAKOVSZKY, Z., GREITZER, M. & WAITZ, I. 2008. Thermodynamics &
Propulsion
[Online].
Available:
http://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/SPRING/propulsion/notes/node25.h
tml [Accessed October 10 2015].
SZORENYI, P. 2004. Hinged rotor internal combustion engine. U.S. patent
application. Apr. 13, 2004.
WANKEL, F. & HOEPPNER, E. 1961. Rotary internal combustion engine. US
patent application. June 13, 1961.
WILSON, G. S. 1972. Rotary engines. United States patent application.
WINOGRAD, C. 2010. Combustion Engine. Green Energy: An A-to-Z Guide.
SAGE Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA, SAGE Publications, Inc.
ZIGA, G. 2015. Chrysler Turbine, cuando se pens en la turbina para
impulsar un auto [Online]. Guioteca.com: emol. Available:
http://www.guioteca.com/autos/chrysler-turbine-cuando-se-penso-enla-turbina-para-impulsar-un-auto/ [Accessed OCtober, 12 2015].

Project Title
Mathematical Modelling Validation of the Szorenyi Rotary Engine

Project Justification/vision
Conventional piston engines are heavy, their efficiency, even though have been improved, is still
low. Thanks to its weight, they have affectation in most of the applications they are used,
moreover, apart from the fuel consumption, they also have an impact on the space they use in
cars and airplanes design, and in case of collision the affectation of them must be controlled,
requiring stiffer chassis and therefore, heavier.
In addition, turbine engines use a lot of fuel and are expensive to manufacture, moreover, they
work at very high RPM, using lots of fuel. Also, the noise generated is very high. The positive
side is the high power output and the ability to use any fuel and the absence of vibrations, even
though it is very sensible to bad quality fuels.
There is a step in the middle that theoretically could take the best of both worlds, the
architecture of the turbine engine and the piston engine working with their respective
advantages. These kind of engines have been called rotary engines, but they have not been very
successful until now due different efficiency and emission problems with the most known of
those engines which was used in the Mazda RX-8 specially derived of the high RPM it required
to work due its planetary system.
A relatively recent creation known as the Szorenyi engine promises to solve this issues and give
the rotary engine a second chance. This engine claims that it could potentially save a lot of
weight and space utilized by conventional engines. It also is simpler than conventional piston
engines and therefore lighter. Also, since it has defined sectors for the different stages of the
combustion process, making it potentially more thermal-efficient and having a lower mission of
NOx gases.
Moreover, it is claimed that this engine has four power strokes per shaft revolution, having the
same output than a V-8 equivalent engine with the advantage that the Szorenyi engine would
have a lot less vibrations, making able to have a softer ride in cars, motorcycles and other
applications.
When this engine is compared with the Wankel engine, it has the advantage of having four
power strokes, where the most used variant of Wankel engine provides just three. Moreover,
another difference of the Szorenyi engine is that does not have a gearing system inside of it,
contrasting with the Wankel engine structure, allowing a direct transmission of power with a 1:1
ratio between the hinged rotary pistons and the central shaft.
In consequence the Szorenyi engine should not have so many sealing and lubricating problems
as well as a better fuel consumption ratio and emissions. Making it a valid option worthy to be
developed.
The vision of this engine is to being used in aviation applications, replacing the Wankel engines
that are being used in some planes, saving weight and fuel. Not only that, this engine could be
used in many other fields.

Project Aims and Objectives

Aim:
To mathematically model and validate the Szorenyi engine theoretical concept.

Objectives:

To determine the characteristics of the Szorenyi engine compared to the Wankel and
reciprocate piston engines.
To analyse and understand the output changes of the engine when the Szorenyi curve
constant values changes.
To mathematically validate the work made by the inventor of the engine.

Research Question/Hypotheses
Szorenyi engine could have the potential to offer higher efficiency as well as lower NOx
emissions, since as shown in the literature, the Szorenyi engine has an specific place to
complete each cycle, it offers a better temperature control and a more continuous power
delivery, equivalent to a V-8 engine.
Also, since this engine does not use gears, it is mechanically more efficient than the Wankel
engine. Finally, each power stroke takes place every 90 degree shaft rotation whereas in the
piston engine it happens every 180 degrees. This difference makes a difference in the
combustion and is worthy to study.

Milestones and tasks

1. Develop a mathematical simulation of the Szorenyi engine with fixed values.
1.1. Develop the formulas required to calculate the area between the rotary piston and the
stator at any given moment.
1.2. Obtain the mechanical and geometrical relations of the engine.
1.3. Calculate the temperature and pressure on each moment for one piston
1.4. Crete the P-V diagram.
1.5. Write report.
2. Develop a series of mathematical simulations of the Szorenyi engine with different constant
values
2.1. Modify the simulation previously done in order to run it with different constant values
2.2. Analyze the effects of the different constants in the output values.
2.3. Write report
3. Simulate a piston and Wankel engines with the same volume and compression ratio.
3.1. Make a simulation of the Otto cycle piston engine.
3.2. Make a simulation of the Wankel engine
3.3. Write report
4. Tabulate, compare and interpret the results
4.1. Compare all the relevant results
4.2. Write final report

Experimental Approach
This simulations are going to be defined using information previously defined by other authors.
These resources vary from thermo-dynamic working parameters concepts of the engine cycle, as
well as equations and constants used in internal combustion engines.
Based on those parameters and equations, a simulation will be conducted to collect the data and
tabulate them. In consequence, the researcher will be able to compare the data generated
between the simulations and make a conclusion.

Data Collection
The research is based on data generated in base of simulations. This data will consists on
different values of pressure and temperature as well as the grade of fuel burned in the different
simulations.
To do this, first it is necessary to develop a way to calculate the different positions of the rotor
respect to the stator. Then, find the area comprehended between them at any given moment.
With this data, there is possible to calculate all the other variables required.
This research will be conducted using a computer and software as main equipment. Also the
data will be interpreted by comparing the results with the equivalent piston engine simulation
and determine the differences between them as well as the efficiencies.

Timeline

Utilization and communication strategy

This new concept of engine can have big applications in the automotive industry as well as the
aviation and even marine industry. The study will provide enough reasons to make this engine to
be worth of future research and future developments.
The communication plan includes to present the results in papers and technical magazines. Also,
it can be a milestone in order to bring conferences, seminars and technical demonstrations.
This study has taken as a base a US patent registered by Peter Szorenyi, therefore the results are
intended to validate the results of this invention.