Wankel rotary engine
E395833
The Wankel rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that uses a rotating triangular rotor instead of reciprocating pistons, known for its compact size, smooth operation, and use in select Mazda sports cars.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Wankel rotary | 1 |
| Wankel rotary engine canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3864701 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Wankel rotary engine Context triple: [Mazda Motor Corporation, hasTechnology, Wankel rotary engine]
-
A.
Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine
The Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine was a widely used early 20th-century French aircraft engine known for its single-valve-per-cylinder design and extensive use in World War I fighter planes.
-
B.
Raptor vacuum engine
The Raptor vacuum engine is a high-efficiency, methane-fueled rocket engine developed by SpaceX for use in the vacuum of space, particularly on upper stages and deep-space missions.
-
C.
Continental R975 radial engine
The Continental R975 radial engine is a nine-cylinder air-cooled gasoline aircraft engine widely adapted during World War II to power U.S. armored vehicles, most notably the M4 Sherman medium tank.
-
D.
BMW 801 radial engine
The BMW 801 radial engine was a powerful German World War II air-cooled aircraft engine widely used in Luftwaffe fighters and bombers, noted for its reliability and advanced engineering.
-
E.
Mitsubishi Kinsei radial engine
The Mitsubishi Kinsei was a Japanese air-cooled radial aircraft engine widely used in World War II combat aircraft.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Wankel rotary engine Target entity description: The Wankel rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that uses a rotating triangular rotor instead of reciprocating pistons, known for its compact size, smooth operation, and use in select Mazda sports cars.
-
A.
Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine
The Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine was a widely used early 20th-century French aircraft engine known for its single-valve-per-cylinder design and extensive use in World War I fighter planes.
-
B.
Raptor vacuum engine
The Raptor vacuum engine is a high-efficiency, methane-fueled rocket engine developed by SpaceX for use in the vacuum of space, particularly on upper stages and deep-space missions.
-
C.
Continental R975 radial engine
The Continental R975 radial engine is a nine-cylinder air-cooled gasoline aircraft engine widely adapted during World War II to power U.S. armored vehicles, most notably the M4 Sherman medium tank.
-
D.
BMW 801 radial engine
The BMW 801 radial engine was a powerful German World War II air-cooled aircraft engine widely used in Luftwaffe fighters and bombers, noted for its reliability and advanced engineering.
-
E.
Mitsubishi Kinsei radial engine
The Mitsubishi Kinsei was a Japanese air-cooled radial aircraft engine widely used in World War II combat aircraft.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (65)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
internal combustion engine
ⓘ
rotary engine ⓘ |
| application |
aircraft
ⓘ
automobiles ⓘ go-karts ⓘ motorcycles ⓘ range extenders for electric vehicles ⓘ |
| combustionChambersPerRotor | three ⓘ |
| commercializedBy |
Mazda Motor Corporation
ⓘ
surface form:
Mazda
NSU Motorenwerke ⓘ |
| coolingMethod |
air-cooled
ⓘ
water-cooled ⓘ |
| cyclePerEccentricShaftRevolution | one power stroke per eccentric shaft revolution ⓘ |
| cyclePerRotorRevolution | three power strokes per rotor revolution ⓘ |
| developedInCountry | Germany ⓘ |
| firstCommercialUse | NSU Spider ⓘ |
| firstCommercialUseYear | 1964 ⓘ |
| fuelType |
gasoline
ⓘ
hydrogen ⓘ natural gas ⓘ |
| hasAdvantage |
compact size
ⓘ
few moving parts ⓘ high RPM capability ⓘ high power-to-weight ratio ⓘ smooth operation ⓘ |
| hasCombustionProcess | spark-ignition ⓘ |
| hasConfiguration |
four-rotor
ⓘ
single-rotor ⓘ three-rotor ⓘ twin-rotor ⓘ |
| hasDisadvantage |
apex seal wear
ⓘ
challenges meeting emissions regulations ⓘ higher hydrocarbon emissions ⓘ oil consumption ⓘ relatively poor fuel economy ⓘ |
| hasHousingShape | epitrochoid ⓘ |
| hasLubricationMethod | oil metering into intake or combustion chamber ⓘ |
| hasRotorShape | Reuleaux triangle-like ⓘ |
| hasWorkingPrinciple |
four-stroke thermodynamic cycle
ⓘ
rotary motion instead of reciprocating motion ⓘ |
| inventor | Felix Wankel ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Felix Wankel ⓘ |
| notableModel |
Citroën GS Birotor
ⓘ
Citroën M35 ⓘ Mazda Cosmo Sport ⓘ Mazda Cosmo Sport ⓘ
surface form:
Mazda R100
Mazda RX-2 ⓘ Mazda RX-3 ⓘ Mazda RX-7 ⓘ Mazda RX-8 ⓘ Norton Classic motorcycle ⓘ Norton Classic motorcycle ⓘ
surface form:
Norton F1 motorcycle
|
| notableUser |
Mazda Motor Corporation
ⓘ
surface form:
Mazda
NSU Motorenwerke ⓘ |
| peakPopularityPeriod |
1960s
ⓘ
1970s ⓘ |
| usedAs |
auxiliary power unit
ⓘ
light aircraft powerplant ⓘ range extender in plug-in hybrid vehicles ⓘ |
| usesComponent |
apex seals
ⓘ
eccentric shaft ⓘ epitrochoid-shaped housing ⓘ oil control rings ⓘ side seals ⓘ triangular rotor ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Wankel rotary engine Description of subject: The Wankel rotary engine is an internal combustion engine that uses a rotating triangular rotor instead of reciprocating pistons, known for its compact size, smooth operation, and use in select Mazda sports cars.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Wankel rotary