By now it’s no secret that Mazda’s working on bringing back its famous rotary engines, but a patent for a new SkyActiv-badged rotary motor has now officially been published.
Titled ‘Rotary Piston Engine Mounted on Vehicle’, US patent 20160084158 was made public on March 24th after being submitted last December, and will colloquially be known as the SkyActiv-R.
Compared against its predecessor engines, the SkyActiv-R has been rotated 180 degrees, so that the exhaust port is on top and the intake is located on the bottom.
All-new 'SkyActiv-R'
Positioning the intake port at the bottom also means that the intake manifold will have to be longer and extend downwards, giving the engine an extra boost of air over a more conventional design.
Mazda refers to this as a “dynamic forced-induction effect”, while the top-mounted exhaust will have a shorter passage, reducing resistance and thereby extracting more power still.
In other words, the new rotary engine won’t just be well packaged but will offer plenty in terms of performance, though it’s not yet known how powerful it will be, or how efficient either.
Maximum power, what about efficiency?
That said, given that the rest of the SkyActiv powertrain range matches brisk performance with frugal emissions and economy, it’s possible Mazda has finally found a way around the rotary’s Achilles’ heel.
Along with the new engine, Mazda is expected to announce a long-awaited follow-up to the RX-8 based on the stunning RX-Vision Concept. Given that March 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the RX-7, it’s likely the new rotary-powered car could be out by then.
