A Dyna Cam or Revolver Cam engine fitted for aircraft use.
The General Aviation (GENAV) industry and its consumers have been facing a serious dilemma for a number of years now. As you know, leaded fuel has been banned across the board for ground based vehicles here in the United States for a number of years, but general aviation aircraft are still using high-octane leaded-fuel in most of its fleet. The EPA has been battling to have leaded aviation gasoline similarly banned, but there has remained a serious problem: The majority of existing GENAV engines cannot safely operate on un-leaded gasoline. Competitions have been underway for many years to see if one or more of the major Gasoline Refining Corporations can develop an unleaded gasoline blend that is safe for use in airplanes, but to this date, nothing is yet widely available for purchase.
Leaded gasoline for ground vehicles has already been banned for 24 years (in 1994!), but, while the FAA had targeted unleaded aviation gas’ (AVGAS) introduction to GENAV by 2018, nothing has yet actually happened to make this a reality, even though the FAA’s Fuels Program Office had been tasked to fulfill this objective. This means that today almost 170,000 GENAV aircraft are still gassing up with fuel containing that otherwise banned nasty Tetraethyl lead.
Although many GENAV airplanes can safely use straight Motor Gas (MOGAS), providing it has no Ethanol in its blend, and many airplanes have been FAA Certificated to legally use it, the supply of MOGAS without any Ethanol is becoming progressively harder to find, and most refiners have simply phased out making their blends without the alcohol. Additionally, because of EPA requirements and policies, even if the MOGAS is a non-Ethanol blend, it is not required to label it as such, making it a potentially dangerous purchase for an airplane user.
MOGAS with Ethanol is actually hazardous to aircraft engines, and, in fact, it is also damaging to many older automobiles and trucks, which were not designed to safely use gasoline containing Ethanol. Because the Ethanol absorbs moisture, it tends to seriously corrode old styled rubber fuel lines and other components in older vehicles.
The Dynacam Engine is very different from conventional reciprocating type airplane engines, and is enough different that it has no trouble using MOGAS. However, that is only one of the superior features of this radical engine design. There are a number of additional advantages over regular AVGAS powered aircraft engines. The photo above shows what this new engine design looks like.
Here, below, are some other views of the engine with its significantly different configuration:
Dyna or Revolver Cam Engine showing its lack of externally exposed cylinders. It take a form more like a jet engine.
Here, above, is a cut-a-way view of one of the Dyna Cam engines such as those intended for GENAV aircraft.
Here is an illustration of the unique piston movement seen inside a Dyna Cam engine.
Here is a general introduction to this unique new engine, one that has been patented, but not yet introduced to the GENAV market in a serious way:
The original engine is patented and the Company (Axial Vector Energy) has now made patent applications and received patent pending status for additional features that have been refined. Activity and contacts from the website indicate that there are a lot of buyers for this new engine technology. The first production engine has been assembled and has completed its initial testing. The Company has had to design and build a custom dynamometer on which to complete engine testing. After testing has been completed on the first engine, it was installed in a Cessna 182 light aircraft. It has also been installed in a Piper Cherokee in order to be able to demonstrate the engine’s superior performance capability.
Additional installations are being discussed with owners of several experimental homebuilt aircraft here in the U.S., including, a LancAir, an RV6, a custom designed pusher fashioned after the Long Easy canard plane (a newly designed homebuilt called the Atlantica), and several others, including a SeaBee, a Seawind homebuilt, and it will also possibly end up in a Cessna 185.
The initial Dyna-Cam Engine to be manufactured and sold is rated at 200 HP. That would make it equivalent in HP to the Lycoming O, or IO 360 opposed-cylinder air-cooled engine already in widespread use throughout the GENAV industry (See below photo). But this Dyna-Cam engine is only 13″ in diameter, 40″ long, and weighs but 300 pounds with basic accessories. It has unique features and major benefits over conventional engines of similar weight and power. The benefits include:
- 50% smaller size,
- 50% fewer replacement parts,
- Lower manufacturing costs in equal production,
- Better fuel economy,
- Smoother operation – it can idle as slowly as only 150 RPM!,
- Lighter weight per torque HP output compared to conventional air-cooled engines,
- Plus nearly 100% higher torque enabling the engine to turn high-efficiency propellers with lower noise output at lower RPMs,
- Liquid, rather than air-cooled
Below is one of most popular GENAV four-cylinder air-cooled engines with about the same power as the above Dyna Cam Engine. The following video explaining the new Dyna-Cam engine is about 12:00 minutes long. Remember to turn your speakers on to hear the audio.
Lycoming IO-360 Four cylinder 180 HP Air-Cooled Aircraft Engine
Below is another short clip of this same type of new engine, which shows it in action in a cut-a-way video format, but here it is called the Axial Vector Engine – the video is less than 1:00 long:
