{"id":50074,"date":"2023-05-19T12:03:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T16:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50074"},"modified":"2023-05-19T12:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T16:03:35","slug":"1068044_mazda-patents-hybrid-powertrain-with-rotary-3-electric-motors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50074","title":{"rendered":"Mazda patents hybrid powertrain with rotary, 3 electric motors"},"content":{"rendered":"

To many purists, Mazda will forever be linked to the rotary engine<\/a> that the company first launched in the 1967 Cosmo Sport<\/a> and later in a series of RX-badged sports cars.<\/p>\n

Throughout the years, rotary engines have played a significant part in the company\u2019s history, including powering a Le Mans winner<\/a>, and earlier this year the engine made a comeback, as a range extender for the MX30<\/a> compact electric crossover, though not in the U.S.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But might we see a more powerful rotary in a modern RX? The biggest hurdle remains getting the fuel-thirsty engine to comply with the strict emissions regulations while also boosting output. Mazda\u2019s last rotary sports car, the RX-8, had only 232 hp but a V-8-like thirst.<\/p>\n

Patent activity suggests Mazda is looking at hybrid technology as a possible solution for a car with a rotary directly powering the wheels.<\/p>\n

\"Mazda<\/p>\n

Mazda patent describing a rotary hybrid powertrain<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As first spotted by The Drive<\/a>, a patent filed by Mazda with the United States Patent and Trademark Office was published this week<\/a> and details a hybrid system in which a front-mounted rotary engine (12) is paired with an electric motor (16), with the two power units sending drive to a transaxle (14c) and ultimately the rear wheels (2a). Two more electric motors (20), described as in-wheel hub motors, complete the powertrain, and give it all-wheel-drive.<\/p>\n

A similar patent<\/a> surfaced last year but the latest provides a lot more detail about the electric side of the powertrain. The two in-wheel motors are described as 17-kw (23-hp) induction motors, while the motor paired with the rotary is described as a permanent magnet synchronous motor with 25 kw (36 hp).<\/p>\n

The latest patent also has an interesting concept for the battery system (18) to store recovered energy and power the electric motors. It’s a unique variable-voltage system where four individual 48-volt battery systems are packaged for ideal weight distribution. The systems act individually during normal driving, but when peak power is required switches can connect the batteries to form 96-volt units. Such a design means fewer high-voltage connections are required, helping to reduce weight.<\/p>\n

Mazda hasn’t made any mention of plans to launch a modern rotary sports car, though there have been plenty of hints over the years, culminating with the reveal of the RX-Vision concept in 2015<\/a>. All of the patent activity suggests that Mazda hasn’t given up on the idea of a rotary sports car, even in a world of ever tightening emissions standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To many purists, Mazda will forever be linked to the rotary engine that the company first launched in the 1967 Cosmo Sport and later in a series of RX-badged sports cars. Throughout the years, rotary engines have played a significant part in the company\u2019s history, including powering a Le Mans winner, and earlier this year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}