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Message
Tracy once used a copper line running coolant through his oil
pan, but this was on an early version of his 13B adventures.
Wasn't he running his
fuel return through the pan on the way back to the wing tanks?
I've thought about
trying to use the fuel loop for oil/fuel heat exchange, but I don't think you
could do this full time. The problem would be when you only have a few
gallons of fuel in the tanks. I think the fuel temp could rise faster than
the skin of the tanks could cool it. It would make an interesting
experiment.
Another application of
this fuel/oil cooling that comes to mind is for aux cooling when needed.
Say I install that small Fluidyne oil/air cooler, and it won't allow me to use
full throttle for an unlimited climb. I could augment that with the
fuel/oil exchanger for climb only. You'd have to monitor the fuel temp and
shut it down if they got too high. Of course it also means extra
hoses, and valves of some sort to divert the return fuel. Probably more
trouble than it's worth unless you could use it full time.
Interestingly, a Navy
helicopter instructor was telling me that the turbine engines use an
oil/fuel exchanger. I guess turbines need the fuel to be warm, and also
need a way to cool the oil. Apparently, this does both.
Cheers,
Rusty (don't get me
started on wacky ideas)
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