Former Mercedes Benz experimental engineer Angelo di Pietro conceived the Rotary Air Engine while working in his Melbourne-based Engineering business over many years.
In 1999 he made a major design breakthrough and the first prototype was constructed. Since then, six prototypes have been built.
Engineair has already successfully tested the powerplant in a roadgoing passenger car, a go-kart, a boat and as the power source for a utility vehicle.
The Di Pietro motor concept is based on a rotary piston. The Di Pietro motor uses a simple cylindrical rotary piston (shaft driver) which rolls, without any friction, inside the cylindrical stator.
The space between stator and rotor is divided into six expansion chambers by pivoting dividers. These dividers follow the motion of the shaft driver as it rolls around the stator wall.
The cylindrical shaft driver, forced by the air pressure on its outer wall, moves eccentrically, thereby driving the motor shaft by means of two rolling elements mounted on bearings on the shaft.
The rolling motion of the shaft driver inside the stator is cushioned by a thin air film. Timing and duration of the air inlet and exhaust is governed by a slotted timer which is mounted on the output shaft and rotates with the same speed as the motor.
Variation of performance parameters of the motor is easily achieved by varying the time during which the air is allowed to enter the chamber: A longer air inlet period allows more air to flow into the chamber at high pressure and therefore results in more torque.
Motor speed and torque are simply controlled by throttling the amount or pressure of air into the motor. The Di Pietro motor gives instant torque at zero RPM and can be precisely controlled to give soft start and acceleration control.
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