This has been making the rounds on the ol' internets again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c19kn3drdFU
Intriguing, but I just can't imagine how they're going to keep all that compression in the cylinders after a while. It just seems like it would be tough to hold that moving seal over a long engine life.
Thoughts?
The "crankshaft" seems very tough to keep properly lubricated let alone it would seem massive amounts of oil would be needed.
Love the idea though, who is taking bets on mazda trying to snatch this tech up?
Makes a very cool video.
In the real world, I'm not so sure.
Although they have simplified the valve train, it seems every other piece is more complex, and has added friction.
2 wrist pins per piston, moving seal, etc.
I can just imagine going to the local machine shop with wear on that "reciprocator" and asking them to "shave off a few thousandths". Huh??
so it works like an old disk valve kawasaki 2 stroke, except the disk is at the top of the combustion chamber, the cylinders aren't ported, and they spin around? yeah that isn't complex at all... although in their defense I would not want to be the guy trying to design a traditional valvetrain for an axial engine... only thing I've come up with has one camshaft per cylinder and bevel gear drives off of the crankshaft. the intake and exhaust would be fun to work out also, but integral supercharging would be pretty easy to do! 
I don't understand something about that. The video does not show any details of the block other than intake, spark plug and exhaust valve. How does the charge stay with the cylinder from the intake to the spark plug? Isn't the cylinder traveling in a slot? It doesn't seem like there is enough detail given on the block casting for this to make any sense to me.
That being said, this is just a new twist on an old idea. Wobble plates and swash plates were used in all sorts of axial engines back in the day. The navy uses an axial engine in torpedos that is not exactly like that, but related like a distant cousin.
TJ is right this is very similar to quite a few early 20th century designs with swash plates and wobble plates. Most were made to run, but were too heavy or complicated for the intended applications at the time. The sliding cylinder to head seal will be a real challenge. There are quite a few old designs out there to be improved on...
This engine defines the word "Kludge". Neat concept with an impossible execution.
I think it would suffer the same sealing and lubrication problems as the Coates rotary valvetrain...
I had an old outboard that had a rotary valve.
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