onetrack

Indirect injection (IDI) was the primary diesel design up until the late 1950's, when direct injection (DI) designs became more favoured. The IDI system utilises a precombustion chamber to commence the fuel burn.

Many heavy industrial diesel engine designs dropped IDI in favour of DI in the late 1950's and early 1960's, because the early IDI designs could not meet the efficiency requirements of the newer, high speed (2000-2500RPM) diesels being produced in that era.

Older IDI designs became smoky and lost efficiency at high RPM's, and DI offered lower thermal losses, so DI became more prevalent. Caterpillar stuck with IDI until the late 1970's, when tighter diesel emissions laws made DI a better choice.

However, a number of Japanese and European manufacturers have stuck with IDI designs, thanks to improved design abilities created by computerisation, and improved real-time combustion studies.

IDI still does have some advantages, both in lower manufacturing cost and the ability to utilise lower injection pressures - but as a general guide, the current ruling diesel designs are DI, electronically-controlled piezo injectors, and extremely high pressure common-rail fuel injection systems.

A couple of the problems associated with CR fuel injection are - the heat generated by pressurising the fuel to exceptionally high pressures (30,000psi or 206Mpa) has to be removed via fuel cooling - and any water in diesel fuel in a CR system causes catastrophic damage to delicate, high precision, fine tolerance injectors, the high pressure pump, and associated valves.

Another problem is common rails bursting with the extremely high pressure, thus posing a major personnel and fire hazard. So much so, that some manufacturers encase the high pressure rail inside another protective layer of heavy tubing.

It's interesting that the U.S. Military is very big on "multi-fuel" engines. They want engines that will run on a wide range of fuels, so that their forces don't get caught out with the wrong fuels for an operation.

The U.S. military fuel standard is JP-8 - which is essentially aviation fuel. JP-8 is used as a backup to diesel in multiple applications. It is used for powering aircraft, powering tanks, used in heaters and stoves, and even used as a coolant.

JP-8, as a kerosene-based fuel, does not have the energy content of regular diesel, and diesel engines run on it suffer from a power reduction of around 10-15%.

There also have been issues with premature fuel injection equipment wear in some military equipment - but the injection equipment problems are mostly confined to vehicles with rotary fuel injection pumps - such as the Stanadyne injection pump found on the 6.2L and 6.5L Chev V8 diesels, fitted to the Humvees.

Because rotary fuel injection pumps use only one pump plunger for all cylinders (instead of individual injection pumps, as in inline Bosch/CAV/Lucas-Delphi/Zexel/Kiki Diesel/Nippon-Denso injection pumps), they are always prone to increased wear rates. Injection pump lubrication additives are a must for these style of injection pumps.

Surprisingly, I've actually been able to purchase a few items from RS Online and Element 14 at reasonable prices - but I do agree, a lot of their pricing isn't competitive.

It always pays to compare pricing once you find the exact specs/part number, it can be a real eye-opener sometimes.

I was looking for a jaw-type drive coupling insert replacement recently, and my usually good local bearing supply house wanted $65 for it - yet AIMS Industrial is selling it for $17.97!

They're also called anti-vibration mountings, vibration isolators, or rubber mounting blocks, and Mackay manufacture a large range here in Australia - but there are also a lot of imported types for which you will pay a lot more for.

You need to be able specify the loading, the use, the mounting bolt diameters and threads, and whether you need mountings with studs cast into the mounting, or with nuts cast into the mounting.

It pays to acquire a view of the manufacturers catalogue to find out what they make, and their specifications for each of their products.

I use either Flexible Drive Agencies, or my local industrial bearing supplier, to provide my rubber mounting needs. Surprisingly, eBay often has good rubber mount offerings. You can also order online from RS Components or Element 14.

https://www.mackayrubber.com.au/vibrationisolators

https://maxxrubber.com.au/products/rubber/anti-vibration-isolation-mounts

https://www.flexibledrive.com.au/product/vibration-control-isolators-mounts

https://au.rs-online.com/web/c/engineering-materials-industrial-hardware/anti-vibration-levelling-components/anti-vibration-mounts/

https://au.element14.com/c/fasteners-mechanical/shock-absorbers/antivibration

You could never get any petrol engine to produce the sheer torque of a diesel engine, full stop. If you could, tractors and locomotives would return to petrol power.

Try asking the caravanners how they go with petrol power. The ones convinced that big V8 petrol engines are the go, grimace when they talk about fuel consumption.

If you try to get the torque from a petrol engine that a diesel produces, fuel consumption rockets.

With both petrol and diesel nearly the same cost per litre today, diesel is a no-brainer.

My workshop neighbour, a truckie, runs a Nissan Patrol 6cyl 4.8L petrol, and he regularly repeats the old joke, about how it can "pass anything but a service station".

I agree that diesel stinks. But with changes in the formulation of petrol, I now find that petrol stinks as much as diesel, today. So, not really a major bone of contention.

There are differences in formulation between Jet A-1 and diesel. Jet A-1 is referred to as a kerosene-type fuel, and diesel is referred to as a distillate fuel oil. They come from different distillation processes - but this doesn't mean that a diesel won't run satisfactorily on Jet A-1. 

The main differences are that Jet A-1 does not have a minimum cetane rating - whereas diesel does, as it's refined to meet ASTM D975 - which standard was set in 1931 - but which standard has been modified several times since its initial formulation.

The biggest change to diesel in recent years is in the reduction in sulphur content. Australian fuel specifications now specifies (since 2009) ultra-low sulphur diesel - 10ppm - and a reduction in sulphur means problems with lubricity, so the oil companies/refiners now add lubricity improvers to counter the major reduction in the lubricity of diesel.

Jet A-1 is still relatively high sulphur content, so you have increased lubricity with the added sulphur. Jet A-1 has anti-freeze additives, so it will still flow at -40°C. 

The problem with modern diesels is that fuel parameters are now much narrower than with the older diesels, and ECU's on modern diesels will shut down fuel supply if the fuel doesn't reach the ECU's programmed parameters.

The wax problem (filter plugging in cold conditions) we had with diesel was related to the diesel obtained from Bass Strait crude in the 80's and 90's, which contained high levels of wax.

It became recognised as a source of cold weather problems, and was dealt with by the late 90's. A reduction in the level of use of crude from Bass Strait, in crude blends, with blends of lighter crude from other parts of the world, was the solution.

We must be careful of comparing Australian diesel to American diesel. American diesel is refined to different specifications to Australian diesel, and comes in several grades. 

We have only one grade of diesel, and our fuel specifications are based on European fuel specifications, not U.S. specifications.

American diesel also largely utilises American crude. We have fuel produced from crudes from all over the world, and the crudes are blended to produce the specified end product.

In addition, Australian fuels are now largely produced by refineries in Japan, South Korea and Singapore - who produce both diesel and petrol specifically refined to meet Australian Fuel Standard Regulations 2019.

DPF's are largely a failed and costly technology, IMO. The horror stories of DPF problems surface in every motoring discussion. Even Toyota are not immune, with a class action pending over the dreadful DPF problems of the 2015-2019 Hiluxes.

The greatest single problem with diesels today is they're becoming more and more high-tech all the time, with multiple levels of electronic controls, common rail injection running at extremely high pressures, and closer and closer tolerances - with the likes of injection equipment tolerances being reduced to half what they were 20 years ago.

On the other hand, electronic control of injection has led to vast improvements in diesel performance, with multiple injection stages reducing diesel knock and improving economy, DLC (Diamond-Like Coating) now providing vastly improved engine component life (particularly in highly-stressed items such as injectors), and low-friction engine designs are now making diesel engines very responsive.

But DPF's are sending diesels backwards, in that DPF's increase fuel consumption (they require fuel to be injected into the DPF to burn off the carbon, add major costs to operating a diesel, and increase the fire hazard potential of diesels.

The bottom line is DPF's are not required for aviation diesels, so that's an item you would immediately remove from any diesel engine used in aviation.

.....CASA - only we work faster and more effectively at reducing the numbers of club members!"

"Temple? - did you mention a Temple?", said Turbo. "I can advise everyone that I have ready-made transportable Temples available, which will furnish the needs of the Aviation True Believers, and delivery is only just a tad over 3 mths from placing the order, and with each Temple comes a free.......

OME - Williams Brothers Models produced all types of scale aircraft models and parts, they did produce a scale model of a 9 cyl P&W - but it appears the virus has nearly knocked them out of business, the bloke running the operation is trying to get back on his feet again. They produced numerous aircraft scaled items up to 1/4 scale, maybe emailing him might give you some assistance?

.......appendages, in an effort to acquire more monkey gland serum, so that Turbo could have another back-up sales winner, if Monkey Brand 2 stroke oil sales fell away, thanks to monkeypox.

But bull had rushed down to his local GP when the lesions on his hands appeared, in a desperate attempt to find out the cause. "It's not monkeypox, it's moneypox, as Cappy suggested", said the Doc.

"It's caused by handling too much paper money, particularly the larger denomination notes, and it can be cured by keeping right away from any kind of currency for at least 6 months", the Doc went on.

"I can't do it!!", cried bull. "That's too difficult for me to do, because I have to handle.........

I managed to get hold of a copy of the West Australian at lunchtime, and photographed the article about the crash. There's still no information available, as to the identity of the pilot.

.....no-one knows where bull's hand has been - and just the look of his calloused and grubby hands is enough to make the average aviator recoil from a proferred handshake by bull, with the thought that the monkeypox must have originated in Tasmania, because.....

Information is scant, and I do not subscribe to the West Australian, thanks to a poor level of journalism - but the basic information is as follows.

"A 62-year-old man has died in the State’s South West after the ultralight aircraft he was flying, crashed shortly after take off.

Just after 9am Saturday (21st May 2022) the man took off from a private airstrip on a Quinninup property, 30km South of Manjimup, and the aircraft crashed shortly afterwards."

The name of the deceased has not been released, and little further information is currently available.

I've often wondered about utilising the smallest and latest Honda diesel - the 1.6L, iDTEC engine. This U.K. built engine first appeared in 2013, and its design was centred around light weight, low friction losses, and responsiveness that equated a petrol engine. I have never found an actual weight for this engine, apart from a constant parroting that it's "47kg lighter than the 2.2L iDTEC engine". This means it must be around 110-120 kgs in weight.

The 1.6L iDTEC engine was reworked in late 2017 and weight was reduced slightly again, and thermal efficiency was again improved. The major change was from alloy pistons to lightweight, low friction steel pistons - which also allowed for a weight saving of 280g in a new, stiffer cylinder head design, to match the steel pistons. A new, stiffer block with more ribs was announced. The engine is an open deck, alloy block and alloy head engine, 4 valve heads, high pressure common rail injection, and a variable vane turbocharger. Plateau honing of the bores combined with numerous other refinements means the 1.6L iDTEC engine has friction losses on a par with a similar size petrol engine.

The engine produces 120PS at 4000RPM, and I reckon it's a candidate for a light aircraft engine. All the Honda engines I've come across, or had anything to do with, are exceptionally reliable and long-lived engines. 

https://tridenthonda.co.uk/posts/2018-01-24-2018-civic-i-dtec-diesel

Not to worry, it's high speed, 800mph tape.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3102312/Shocked-passenger-takes-photo-airport-worker-using-TAPE-engine-shell-easyJet-plane-moments-off.html

There is one field where advances can be made with current batteries - and that is in moving to Structural Batteries - i.e., batteries that are structural members, as well as providing the power source.

That clever Mr Ralph Sarich and one of his companies, Cape Bouvard Technologies, have been working on a structural battery for some years now. The benefits of the CBT Structural Battery are multi-pronged - lower production costs, simpler to manufacture, weight savings, and improved efficiency.

The CBT Structural Battery development appears to have slowed in the last couple of years, possibly due to COVID-19 impacts, but I'm sure they're still on track to produce a commercial product, or at least an advance in battery technology, pretty soon.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aesr.202000093

https://vimeo.com/265095127

The materials are already being produced. There's a massive stockpile of Lithium ore in W.A. - so much so that a couple of Lithium miners had to shut down operations until the Lithium uptake improved.

The problem is actually bottlenecks in battery production, and trying to build manufacturing facilities fast enough.

Unfortunately, as Kevin says, it's the Chinese who can knock up new battery manufacturing facilities in a month, while we in the West dither around with a reluctance to invest. Property investment is always top of the list for investment monies, instead of battery manufacturing facilities - but one day that will change when the property market undergoes a major correction.

Copper may be the major metal shortage - but aluminium has replaced copper on more than one occasion. Besides, when there's an increase in price of a metal, the market responds with more miners going looking for viable copper deposits. In the W.A. wheatbelt, about 150kms NNE of Perth, a miner has just indicated they will proceed with a major copper mining project, a $1.3B project. 

The copper grade is pretty low - like about 0.3% - but it's highly viable operation, due to a shallow ore body, and also due to the current circumstances of high demand and a good copper price.

He's obviously policing both air and ground movements. I wonder if he can pull rank on an aviation officer? 

.......brothers in oppression in the other countries where "slave and master" are still in common, everyday use. But it was when seats were offered in Parliament to the Uluruans, that a rumbling growl of dissent started in the Southern regions (specifically, the Apple Isle) - and this growl grew into a howl, when it was publicised that only Uluruans of fluid gender would be allowed to take their seats in Parliament - and of course, this lead to a rush to re-organise the Parliamentary toilets, to deal with the..........

I believe the IC-A15 is now a discontinued product line, but the IC-A16E is a suitable replacement. The IC-A15 produces 5W of transmission power, and the IC-A16E produces 6W of transmission power.

https://www.ozpilot.com.au/product/icom-ic-a16e-8-33-25khz-ground-to-air-support-radio/

The problem with diesels in light aircraft is the level of the power pulses is much higher than a petrol engine. As diesel is a relatively slow-burning fuel (this is how you get vastly increased torque from a diesel engine), the piston is being propelled for a far longer period of time on the downstroke, than with a petrol engine. The high compression also adds to an increased level of propeller pulse. It is absolutely critical that a torsional pulse absorption coupler is used with a diesel engine in a light aircraft.

Guiberson and Packard ( both from around the late 1920's) produced diesel radials that were satisfactory, but neither could be classed as regular production diesels due to low production numbers and continuing development.

The Packard diesel died in 1931 when its chief engineer/designer was killed in an air crash in April 1930. Packard ceased any further work on the Packard diesel from 1931, as the chief engineer was the main driver of the project.

The manufacturing rights of the Guiberson diesel were transferred to the Buda Engine Co in 1940 - and Buda built the Guiberson specifically for powering military tanks and aircraft during WW2. However, it appears very few Guiberson diesels made it into aircraft - the majority of Guiberson diesel production went into tanks.

When the War ended, the manufacture of Guiberson radial diesels stopped and it appears no attempt was ever again made to fit them to aircraft. I believe high octane fuel availability after WW2 killed them off. The production numbers for Guiberson radial diesel engines are unknown, but it appears only a few hundred were built.

http://www.enginehistory.org/Piston/Diesels/Ch3.pdf

Caterpillar were engaged by the U.S. Govt during 1942 to redesign the Wright Cyclone R-1820 into a diesel engine - specifically for use in military tanks. Cat were very successful in doing this, and the engine was renamed the Caterpillar RD-1820. However, after only about 200 RD-1820 engines had been produced, the U.S. Govt canned the deal, on the basis that plenty of petrol aircraft radials were now available - and Cat were required to concentrate on the production of vital crawler tractors and motor graders and gensets.

http://www.theshermantank.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/TM9-1756A-Model-RD-1820-Caterpillar.pdf

The Junkers Jumo engines were by far the greatest commercial success story of the aircraft diesel engine - but they were all very large and heavy engines. WW2 effectively put a stop to Junkers Jumo diesel production, as the Nazis concentrated on the petrol aircraft engines, which could produce more power for less weight.

The Subaru Boxer diesel is currently being modified and produced in the U.K. for aircraft use, by a company named CKT Engineering. But it's a heavy beast - 230kgs - so that puts it right out of the ultralight ballpark.

http://www.cktaeroengines.com/ckt-240td-engine/

"Registered Design" is the common method used by manufacturers to try and prevent copying, rather than patents. Patents usually need to have an important new principle to be able to be registered, and they normally last for 21 years.

But Registered Designs are commonly used where no major new design principles exist - only the specified shape and style of operation of the part or components - and they're only good for 6 years.

This is why aftermarket parts are not normally available for a few years after the manufactured new product appears. However, trying to enforce Registered Design rights and Patent rights in China is a costly and drawn-out exercise, and many companies don't consider it's worth the effort to try and nail Chinese offenders. The greatest effort goes into protecting "Brand Names", logos, and trademarks.

If the Chinese try to sell something using a well-known Brand Name or trademark without authorisation, the products are generally seized at the port of entry to the Western country and destroyed.

As to the manufacturing processes behind the Chinese Rotax, I would have to opine they are a completely unauthorised copy of the Rotax, reverse engineered - and as long as they do not use Rotax logos, images, and trademarks, or copy Registered Design or Patented parts and components, where the Registered Design and Patent rights are still in force, then they're operating legally. They can also use Rotax part numbers "as reference" without fear of being sued.

The greatest single problem with reverse-engineered parts, components or engines, is that the company copying usually has no access to original specifications of metals, alloys, heat treatment/aging methods for hardening and toughening, welding wires used, and a dozen other specified requirements - which means the company copying must examine the part or component and then test for hardness, toughness, elasticity, resistance to corrosion - and also melt parts and components and try to find out the individual constituents of those parts and components, such as trace metal and mineral additives. It can be done, but it is expensive and time consuming to get it exact. An Atomic Absorption Spectrometer is required.

Specified tolerances are another area that is unknown, if you do not have the original blueprints and factory specifications. Maybe the Chinese stole them from Rotax - industrial espionage is huge, and the Chinese are at the forefront of that industry.

There's a factor in the increased number of road vehicle fires which has not been mentioned - and this may also be likely to apply to aircraft. As manufacturers have strived with great effort to keep the tare weight of road vehicles down, they have started using a lot more magnesium alloys. And as we all know from high school science, magnesium and its alloys burn like roman candles in a fire.

So the increase in the use of magnesium alloys has only added to the already-increased fire potential, caused by much-increased wiring, increased number of electronic devices installed, and the very high pressure fuel systems, as Turbo mentioned.

Then there's also the problem, when using water on a fire - drenching with water is the recommended treatment for Lithium battery fires - but when water is sprayed on burning magnesium alloys, they explode!

It all basically comes back to keeping your systems and devices simple, and low in number, and you reduce your fire risk.

....arm and a leg, and that's when all the fun stops. However, bull was determined for that not to happen to him, so he fought the flutter until it stopped, then concentrated on re-starting the frozen engine.

It was very fortunate that bull had brought along his hair dryer on this trip (because he was sick of his hair being continually messed up as a result of the open cockpit) - and he reached around behind him, plugged in the hair dryer to the convenient 3 pin outlet on the 12V/240V inverter he'd installed behind the instrument panel, fired up the dryer onto full heat, and directed the hot air blast onto the engine cowling.

Because it was a Sunbeam hair dryer, the engine defrosted straight away, and then fired right up - just in time, as the tops of trees came within reach. Bull heaved a sigh of relief, and vowed to never again.........

Unconfirmed reports are coming in, that U.S. investigators who are involved the examination of the FDR and CVR are now becoming convinced the aircraft nosedived solely due to pilot control inputs.

Whether that was due to a cockpit intrusion, a medical event or events, a suicidal pilot, a fight between pilot and FO, is yet to be determined.

The investigators have simply said, "the aircraft responded as designed, to control inputs, when it was placed in a steep dive". As to why those inputs were initiated and stayed there is the $64 question.

The investigators noted that no response came from the cockpit as attempts were made to contact the crew, as ATC noted the aircraft leaving its flight level.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/18/someone-in-cockpit-behind-china-eastern-plane-crash-reports

......habitat of the wax wasp, which is an extremely rare variety of wasp that is on the endangered species list. What is even more concerning to the Greens, and other Bob Brown supporters, who aren't entirely green, is that the wasp's entire lifespan is spent.....

.....a fully integrated course that gives the student a race car licence, a LAME licence, a pilots licence that covers every endorsement - and all on the one licence!

"This is a Win-Win situation for everyone", announced Turbo as he showed off the glittery green and gold licence form, which contained a Turbine Inc stamp authorising its use, in any country of the world.

"Hold on", said Cappy, "Isn't this pushing the boundaries a bit? I mean, its up to the individual countries to authorise a licence, and this seems to be overstepping sovereign authority a bit?"

"Not a problem!", said Turbo loftily, "I've already addressed this little problem, thanks to my personal friendships with most countries leaders, dictators and Presidents - and in fact, only just the other day, I was advising......