In our impression, the rotary engine has long been bound to Mazda. This brand still has many supporters and fans even though its sales volume is only a fraction of Toyota's. Its car-making concept is definitely the biggest contributor. The biggest contributor to its car-making concept is the rotary engine.

Recently I saw a joke on Weibo: "Mazda: If I play with the rotary engine, I will run out of money. If I run out of money, I will sell the car. If I sell the car, I will have money. When I have money, I will play with rotary engines.”

While I was laughing, I once again deeply felt that the netizens’ “enterprise-level” understanding was in place.

The reason why this joke appeared on Weibo is because a few days ago, Mazda CEO personally admitted that the rotary engine will return as a range extender for pure electric vehicles. Although it is only a range extender, although it can only provide power, and although it cannot directly drive the wheels, when the rotor in the engine performs centrifugal motion again, those memories belonging to Ryosuke Takahashi and FC3S will come to mind. Feelings turn into tears, and faith condenses into dreams. We Mazda "brainless fans", in addition to using the keyboard to express encouragement, can only shout "Mazda is awesome" one after another.

As for why the rotary engine becomes a range extender, we will have the opportunity to elaborate in the future. In this article, I will take you to review the past and present of the rotary engine, and why it eventually became the ultimate belief of Mazda fans. The father of the rotary engine

We have to admit that the rotary engine was developed because of Mazda. Unfortunately, this Japanese brand is not the "biological father" of the rotary engine. The real inventor of the rotary engine was actually a German engineer, Felix Wankel.

Like most famous engineers from car companies, Dr. Wankel is also inextricably linked to World War II. In his early years, Dr. Wankel worked in the Reich Aviation Ministry of Nazi Germany, specializing in oil seals and rotary valves for aircraft and torpedoes and other weapons. With Germany's defeat, Dr. Wankel was imprisoned by the Allies for a period of time. After his release, he joined the NSU Automobile Factory (later merged by Audi) in the 1950s and began to concentrate on researching automobile engines.

At first, Dr. Wankel wanted to invent an engine without much vibration. He believed that the reciprocating motion of the piston was the largest source of engine vibration. After repeated attempts, Dr. Wankel finally In 1957, an engine that did not require reciprocating motion was invented - the rotary engine.

Tips: The rotary engine invented by Dr. Wankel was code-named "DKM54", but this engine could not be produced due to various reasons. Later, another engineer from the NSU Automobile Factory improved it and made it It can be mass-produced, and the engine code name has also been changed to "KKM?57P". The Principle of the Rotor Engine

So, since Dr. Wankel wanted to invent an engine with low vibration, this engine was naturally developed with the goal of "low vibration". First of all, a traditional four-stroke engine can do work once in two revolutions, while a rotary engine can do three times in one revolution, which is very efficient. Secondly, because there are no series of parts such as the crankshaft, traditional intake and exhaust valves, camshafts, etc., the size of the rotary engine can be very small, and because there is no reciprocating motion inside the engine, its vibration during operation is very small. Smaller and smoother.

To put it simply, the air chamber of the rotary engine is oval, unlike the traditional cylindrical shape. There is a rotating rotor inside, and the shape of the rotor is also very special. It is a shape similar to an equilateral triangle composed of three arcs. The rotor is meshed with the intermediate shaft through the gear, and the rotor continuously moves centrifugally.

The ingenuity of this design lies in the shape of the rotor and air chamber. During the operation of the rotor, the air chamber is divided into three parts. These three parts are responsible for intake and exhaust, compression and ignition respectively. Completes the job of a conventional four-stroke engine perfectly. In addition, it also adds an additional benefit, that is, the engine speed can be made very high, which has great advantages in terms of power generation.

Tips: As you can see from the picture above, the traditional piston engine has many parts, which brings a high failure rate and assembly difficulty, while the rotary engine with fewer parts has The advantages are clear at a glance. Those car companies that have studied rotary engines

From the perspective of the time, rotary engines are definitely products of the "black technology" level. In 1960, NSU put a 30-horsepower rotary engine on the Prinz model. Because of the rotary engine's small size and low vibration, the engine is even placed under the trunk floor.

At this time, the major car companies took a look: "With such powerful technology, I must not fall behind others!" (Similar to today's new energy vehicles and autonomous driving) So NSU began to sell rotors The right to manufacture engines and earn a lot of licensing fees from these car companies.

Then, the arms race officially began. At this time, most car companies around the world have started the research and development and improvement of rotary engines. Manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Citroen, General Motors, Porsche, Toyota, etc. are all involved in this technology.

Among them, the research and development speed is relatively fast. For example, Citroen has launched a dual-rotor engine in cooperation with NSU. The model is Citroen GS Birotor. There is also Mercedes-Benz's famous concept car C111, which is also equipped with a three-rotor engine with direct fuel injection. The most muscular Ford Mustang in our impression also uses a rotary engine. Even Rolls-Royce has developed a dual-rotor diesel engine and plans to use it in military models.

However, major car companies have hit a wall after trying for a period of time, and none of the above-mentioned models has been a great success. In fact, the rotary engine did have flaws at the time. The biggest problem was that as the rotor rotated, the airtightness of the three top air seals of the rotor would gradually decrease, and because the rotor was constantly rubbing against the inner wall of the rotor chamber, there would be Severe wear and tear will significantly reduce the life of the rotary engine.

At this time, most manufacturers had given up and retreated, leaving only one craftsman "wearing a red suit" - Mazda. Mazda pushed the rotary engine to the altar

After the passage of time, the rotary engine has long lost its original halo. Today, it is more like a hot potato that no one dares to pick up. Under such circumstances, Mazda resolutely purchased all the patents for the rotary engine, and it also paid a huge sum of 280 million yen, which is equivalent to one month's salary of the company's 8,000 employees.

At this time, Mazda's sales were very poor, and there was a risk of being merged at any time. Mazda made a desperate move at this time, and it also has a bit of a "do it or die" flavor. Subsequently, the famous Mazda rotary engine research and development department was established, and later generations called it the "Rotor Forty-Seven Scholars".

It is hard for us to believe now that the problems that many car companies did not solve back then were actually solved by these 47 people. After countless attempts, Mazda finally pushed the rotary engine to practical use and released a shocking legendary sports car-Mazda Cosmo Sport.

You know, at the Beijing Auto Show just last month, this car also visited the scene as a "big guest" at Mazda's centenary celebration. Its importance is evident.

For most boys, this car must have appeared in your childhood, but you were all watching Ultraman Jack fighting monsters at the time. That's right, the MAT patrol car known as the "Land Tiger" in "Ultraman Jack" is the Mazda Cosmo Sport. This is a rare car in the "Ultraman" series that has not been "magically modified".

Without any surprise, Mazda Cosmo Sport was successful, and the success of this car also laid the foundation for the glory of the RX series. In 1991, the Mazda 787B racing car using a rotary engine won the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. This was also the most glorious moment in the "life" of the rotary engine and Mazda.

However, the event officials later banned the rotary engine from participating, and this competition became the "most dazzling swan song" of the rotary engine.

Everyone must know a little bit about the following story. The Mazda RX family was born, and the rotary engine became Mazda's "unique secret". The most impressive one among them is probably the RX-7 driven by the Takahashi brothers in "Initial D". The white FC3S and yellow FD3S are also regarded as "gods" by today's Japanese modification enthusiasts. Their status in Japan even surpasses the panda-colored AE86. The fall of the rotary engine

Although the "Rotor Forty-seven Scholars" spent their whole life solving the problem of scratches on the inner wall of the rotary engine, they could not solve the fuel consumption and emission problems left by the laws of physics.

Shortly after Mazda introduced the rotary engine to the market, the first oil crisis broke out. While oil prices soared, manufacturers such as Toyota and Subaru began to seize this rare opportunity and launched many "economical, practical and "Fuel-efficient" small car, Mazda rotary engine is cold.

Although Mazda survived the first oil crisis with amazing perseverance, what followed was not good news, but bad news, because the second and third oil crises began to come again. At this time, Mazda has "placed" the rotary engine from family cars to performance cars. This approach of shrinking the application range of rotary engines out of restraint is undoubtedly sad. The glory of the year disappeared and all the hard work was in vain.

We thought that FD3S in "Initial D" was the beginning of the myth, but we didn't expect that it would be the end of the myth. Although Mazda later launched the RX-8, this car was essentially a four-door, four-seater model, so it could not be called a pure sports car. After all, the RX-7 had no successor.

In October 2011, Mazda announced that the RX-8 model would be discontinued in June 2012, making the car the last model equipped with a rotary engine. Now, the unfamiliar audience should know why Mazda fans are so excited about the return of the rotary engine, right? Summary

In fact, there are too many stories to tell about rotary engines. For example, how did the "Rotor Forty-Seven" solve the problem of scratches on the inner wall of the engine? Why did Mazda choose a rotary engine as a range extender? Is it just because of sentiment? Why was Wankel able to develop such a magical thing as a rotary engine because he was highly myopic and didn't have a driver's license?

Okay, the last one is just for fun.

I just want to say that the story of the rotary engine is far from over. In the past few years since it disappeared, the automobile market has lost a lot of fun. Whether we are fans of Mazda or people who don't know the truth, we cheer on the one hand because of Mazda, and on the other hand, we just hope that today's car market can add a sense of fun. After all, a screen full of new energy vehicles and autonomous driving is pretty boring, right?

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.