A true GA jet engine
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Fuel
- At GA speeds, piston engines are much more fuel efficient.
- But AVGAS is much more expensive than AVTUR
- As a result, you roughly break even on fuel costs per hour and on payload (the engine becomes lighter, but the amount of fuel you have to carry becomes greater).
- But AVGAS is much more expensive than AVTUR
- As a result, you roughly break even on fuel costs per hour and on payload (the engine becomes lighter, but the amount of fuel you have to carry becomes greater).
Wankels actually would make a pretty good diesel, as their closer to a 2stroke in function, ie higher power/weight ratio. The reasons why they are inefficient as a gas engine has to do with intake/exhaust overlap, and low compression ratio due to heat annealing the tip seal springs.
http://www.der-wankelmotor.de/Motore...lls-royce.html
http://www.der-wankelmotor.de/Motore...lls-royce.html
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rigpiggy, thanks for the link. I seem to remember that Rolls Royce made a very large Wankel diesel many years ago to power a military tank (I think). I believe it used two stages in a type of supercharger arrangement. The other cause of poor efficiency is the large surface area to volume ratio of the combustion chamber. This causes considerable heat loss, thereby wasting much of the useful energy in the fuel.
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Another Aircraft Engine
An interesting thread.
Just to prove the I.C. engine is not yet finished.
There is some very interesting work being done in the UAV engine world.
http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/20...006-214342.pdf
C E Taylor
Just to prove the I.C. engine is not yet finished.
There is some very interesting work being done in the UAV engine world.
http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/20...006-214342.pdf
C E Taylor