Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #3009
From: Bill Schertz <wschertz@ispwest.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Good news, Bad news
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:54:54 -0700
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Message
Rusty,
Consider the following.
 
If you had a 'supercharger' (belt driven) instead of a turbocharger, you would agree that the supercharger is sucking power from the engine to do it's job.  Friend of mine has one, and estimates that it takes about 30 horsepower to run the supercharger.  If you were driving this supercharger , and keeping the manifold pressure to 30", then you would be getting *less* power from the engine-supercharger combination than a NA engine.
 
The same may be happening with your turbocharger.  It is sucking power by increasing exhaust backpressure, but you are restricting the manifold pressure that needs to be higher in order to generate more power. You have to generate your net power *plus* the work the TC is doing.
 
Does this make any sense to you?
Bill Schertz
KIS Cruiser # 4045


----- Original Message -----
From: Russell Duffy
Sent: 9/15/2003 9:36:44 AM
To: flyrotary@lancaironline.net
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Good news, Bad news

1. The BUC is draggy, even worse than we thought (but doesn't really explain the lousy climb rate)

This is a given, and the new cowl is being mentally designed as I type.

2. The Warp Drive prop is never going to be an optimum high speed stick. (but hell, you're not even to moderate speed yet) My gut feel is that you should be running at least 17 degrees at tip. Anything less than 16 is a waste of time unless you are resigned to flying a draggy RV-3 which I'm sure you are not. This is assuming about a 68 - 69" prop length.

Your gut feeling is pretty accurate. Warp originally estimated that I'd need 18 degree (3 blade, 68") for a 200 HP engine. I just got off the phone with them, and they're going to be calling back later today with some real numbers. Off the top of his head, he said these sound a whole lot like what the gyro guys get with their 120 HP Subaru's. Sadly, that's about what I expected to hear, but I guess the good news is that I may have identified the largest issue. The turbo's really becoming more trouble than it's worth (Tracy, this is where you say "I told you so").

3. Your CG is near the fwd. limit which generates a LOT of trim drag.

4. You may be underestimating the effect of gearleg & wheel fairings (I think you mentioned you don't have them yet) I found that I could not make ANY final decisions on airframe/engine performance, prop pitch or even cooling until these were in place.

On the RV-8, the gear fairings and pants made about 12 kts difference at cruise speed, but didn't change climb performance that I could tell.

Turbo stuff:
I have no turbo experience but my best guess is that the air temp sensor should be up-wind of the turbo. Let the MAP table programming take care of the temp rise due to adabiatic (Sp?) heating from the turbo. This should work at low levels of boost like you are running and will eliminate the big mixture difference between A & B controllers. With this setup in a worst case scenario, the mixture might go too rich at high boost, a much better thing than too lean.

I'll have to think about this some. You're correct that it would be the safer way to go. On the 3rd gen, the temp sensor is in the intake manifold, which is a large chunk of aluminum. Unfortunately, the sensor isn't well isolated from the heat of the manifold itself, so it tends to read the heat of the manifold almost as much as the air that passes through it. One almost certain way to blow up an engine is to drive your car for a while in the winter, then park it for a few minutes. By the time you get back in, the temp sensor is reading some really high, heat soaked temp, and will continue doing so for about the first 10 minutes of driving. The air getting to the engine is freezing cold, so when you jump on the throttle, you get fuel to go with 150 degrees, but have 30 degree air. Boost + lean mixture = new apex seals, and maybe new turbos.

Thanks,
Rusty

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