DIY Oval Rotary Engine 2.0: Achieving Combustion At Will

Oval Rotary Engine 2.0 Overview

• 🚀 The video introduces the Traveling Combustion Chamber Oval Rotary Engine 2.0 (TCCORE 2.0), an improved and more robust design.
• ✅ This new engine rotates without much resistance, a significant improvement over the previous design.
• 💡 The entire engine, except for small springs, is 3D printed, showcasing advanced DIY capabilities.

Advanced Materials and 3D Printing

• 🌡️ Seals are 3D printed from TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), a stretchy, high-temperature resistant rubbery material, a tip learned from viewer comments.
• 💪 The engine body uses PPS-CF (Polyphenylene sulfide infused with carbon fiber), an engineering plastic known for high temperature, chemical resistance, and overall strength, despite its brittleness.
• 💧 Proper filament drying is crucial for TPU printing, with the Bambu Lab AMS HT dryer ensuring consistent results.

Achieving Combustion

• 🔥 The engine has reached a major milestone by achieving combustion at will, sometimes acting like a flamethrower.
• ✅ It can survive hundreds of combustion events without melting or falling apart, demonstrating its durability.
• 💨 The engine proves capable of generating vacuum, pulling in air-fuel mixture, and igniting it, with seals effectively containing combustion.

Ignition Challenges and Fuel

• ⚠️ The ignition system faced issues with unreliable, cheap spark generators that failed due to excessive current from the battery.
• ⛽ A propane/butane mixture is used as fuel to simplify the process, eliminating carburetor issues and making starting easier.
• 🔍 The engine has not yet run self-sustained, with potential issues like exhaust placement too close to the spark being investigated.

Design Innovations and Tools

• 💡 The "oval" shape, as opposed to "elliptical," is an artificial shape created by splines, designed to reduce friction and provide a smoother travel path for seals.
• 🛠️ The project highlights the power of DIY 3D printing for rapid prototyping, saving significant cost and time compared to outsourcing.
• 💻 Onshape CAD software was used for the entire design, praised for its cloud-based, browser-accessible, and robust capabilities.