Wankel rotary engines are used as power units in contemporary machines such as unmanned aerial vehicles and automobile range extenders due to their high-power density. A challenge of the engine architecture is the maintenance of an effective seal around each chamber while simultaneously minimising parasitic frictional losses. This paper investigates, experimentally, the suitability of laser surface texturing to reduce frictional losses at the apex seal-housing interfaces of Wankel engines. To inform the design of the laser surface texture features an analytical model is created to characterise the tribological properties of the apex seal-housing conjunction. The performance of the texture features is evaluated experimentally, and the results indicate that laser surface texture features can reduce frictional power loss by up to 30% at the apex seal-housing interface.

由于它们的高功率密度，Wankel旋转式发动机在现代机械中用作动力单元，例如无人驾驶飞机和汽车增程器。发动机架构的挑战是在每个腔室周围保持有效密封，同时将寄生摩擦损失降至最低。本文通过实验研究了激光表面纹理化处理的适用性，以减少Wankel发动机的顶点密封壳接口处的摩擦损失。为了告知激光表面纹理特征的设计，创建了一个分析模型来表征顶点密封-外壳连接处的摩擦学特性。通过实验评估纹理特征的性能，