In a piston engine, the same volume of space (the cylinder)
alternately does four different jobs -- intake, compression,
combustion and exhaust. A rotary engine does these same four
jobs, but each one happens in its own part of the housing. It's
kind of like having a dedicated cylinder for each of the four
jobs, with the piston moving continually from one to the next.
The rotary engine (originally conceived and developed by Dr.
Felix Wankel) is sometimes called a Wankel engine, or Wankel
rotary engine. In this article, we'll learn how a rotary engine
works. Let's start with the basic principles at work.