Once fuel and air enter the engine, the rotation of the disk creates shockwaves that compress the mixture.
[2] Earlier wave rotor implementations were mainly axial flow, where the scavenging process of returning hot compressed air back into the turbine is complex.
[3][1][citation needed] It promises to be up to 60% efficient, 30% lighter, and 30% cheaper to manufacture than an equivalent conventional piston engine, and to reduce emissions by 90%.
[5] The research team is led by Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Norbert Müller and has been given $2.5 million funding from the United States Department of Energy's ARPA-E program.
Müller's team hoped to have a vehicle-sized 25 kilowatt (33 hp) wave disc engine/generator ready by the end of 2011.