Hi Tom, I think you've put your finger on the crux of the issue: "but there was no analysis to find a best quality practical solution."
Someone with a mechanical bent and some engineering knowledge will do just that when trying to solve a particular problem. In this case, for instance, listing the different options for valves and doing some preliminary calculations like you and I have posted here. Then the promising candidates get designed, prototyped and tested and the best picked for further refinement.
Someone who is a self-described "technology visionary", however, doesn't need to bother with that mundane stuff. If they did, they wouldn't be a "visionary", now would they?
Now if that person also has no engineering training and doesn't understand the fundamentals, they have no reason to believe their "vision" won't work due to conflict with the Laws of Physics or such. If eventually when they try to build their design and it doesn't work, it's not because the concept is flawed, it's because some detail needs to be tweaked.
So you get years of secret trial and error with claims that the engine is "runnin' sweet".
Harry knows he's running out of time. He didn't have the technical understanding to see why the poppet valves won't work, and he doesn't have the technical understanding to see why a rotary valve is also a bad idea. He sees the OSU eggheads think a rotary valve is a good idea so jumps on that bandwagon.
There's a kind of mentality of people who don't understand something themselves to rely on the credentials of "experts". Harry lives this. Look at all the PRs about their Technical Advisory Board (which he never consults...). It's been a major part of Cyclone's marketing. I think Harry is now relying on the OSU people because of their credentials rather than his understanding of the technology.
This is how he is minimizing risk in his own mind, not because he understands the rotary valve is technically appropriate for the application, but because the OSU people say it is.
