Rotary internal combustion engine with exhaust purge and method of operating the engine

A rotary engine (10) has a purge port (42) located rearwardly of an inlet port (40) and forwardly of an exhaust port (44) along a direction of the revolutions of the rotor (24). The purge port (42) is in communication with the exhaust port (44) through each of the chambers (32) along a respective portion of each revolution. The inlet and exhaust ports (40; 44) are relatively located such that a volumetric compression ratio of the engine is lower than a volumetric expansion ratio of the engine. A method of operating such engine (10).