![\"\"](\"https:\/\/liquidpiston.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/X-Mini_Two-Angles1.jpg\")
Small engines that are used to run leaf blowers, lawn mowers and even smaller industrial equipment are known for being very loud and not very powerful.<\/p>\nSmall engines that are used to run leaf blowers, lawn mowers and even smaller industrial equipment are known for being very loud and not very powerful.<\/p>\n
But a company in Connecticut is developing a new type of tiny engine<\/a> that is very quiet, very powerful, and has only two primary moving parts.<\/p>\n Nicknamed the “X Mini”, the 70 cc engine sounds like something out of science fiction. But for the developers at LiquidPiston who are testing a prototype of the engine at its Bloomfield, Connecticut, headquarters, this tiny new engine could actually change the way small engines are used in the future.<\/p>\n The Little Engine that Could … Change Everything<\/strong><\/p>\n The X Mini is a rotary engine, meaning it has no pistons. But what it does have is a lot of punch: five horsepower and an astonishing 15,000 RPM. Yet it’s 30% smaller and lighter than the smallest piston engine in use today.<\/p>\n The engine can on either gasoline or diesel. Because it’s designed for small engine applications such as landscaping equipment, under its current design it runs on a mixture of gasoline and oil, the same mixture that’s currently used in most motorized lawn equipment that provides lubrication and power simultaneously.<\/p>\n The concept of the X Mini may seem familiar. Remember those old television commercials for Mazda cars that said, “Mazda engine goes Hmmm”? Those were Wankel engines that powered Mazda’s RX series of sports cars.<\/p>\n Like the Wankel, the X Mini has just two moving parts: A rotor and a shaft that transfers power from the engine. Because there are so few moving parts, the engine can be smaller, lighter and more reliable than a traditional piston-fired motor.<\/p>\n It also has much less vibration, which minimizes the amount of noise it creates. And anybody who has ever used a leaf blower or weed whacker can tell you what an advantage that is.<\/p>\n A Lesson in Mechanics<\/strong><\/p>\n So how is the X Mini different? Here’s a video that explains how:<\/p>\n X Mini Prototype Demo Video<\/a><\/p>\n In a conventional four-stroke reciprocating piston motor, a piston moves up and down within a cylinder. This movement is caused by airand fuel drawn in with a downstroke and compressed in an upstroke. As the mixture is detonated, the piston reaches the top of the cylinder. This explosion forces the piston down, providing power . Exhaust gasses are then purged on the following upstroke and the whole process is repeated.<\/p>\n The X Mini doesn’t have a piston. Intead, it has a rotor that looks like a rounded triangle. This is a shape known as an epitrochoid.<\/p>\n This rotor rotates in an eccentric orbit within an oval chamber. Each rotation results in three power “strokes”. This type of motor has a much higher power to weight ration. It’s also lighter and much simpler than a traditional piston motor.<\/p>\n To keep weight down even lower, the X Mini is composed of 95% aluminum. Plus it uses a pair of counter-balancers to minimize vibration.<\/p>\n While right now, it is intended to be used to make landscaping equipment that is quieter yet more powerful, other applications could include powering drones, scooters and even industrial equipment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Small engines that are used to run leaf blowers, lawn mowers and even smaller industrial equipment are known for being very loud and not very powerful. But a company in Connecticut is developing a new type of tiny engine that is very quiet, very powerful, and has only two primary moving parts. Nicknamed the “X … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,293],"tags":[976,1079],"class_list":["post-7245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-material-handling","category-news","tag-featured","tag-material-handling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12373,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7245\/revisions\/12373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}