Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #46768
From: George Lendich <lendich@aanet.com.au>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Round Radiators
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 11:07:54 +1000
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Ed,
Thanks mate I found my notes and you are indeed right 3cu" per hp and 55 deg from Vertical.
My notes say 20 to 30 deg will increase cooling and increase drag.
Over 30 deg things improve and at 55 deg, cooling effectiveness is 30 deg greater than non-inclined and drag is less than at 20 deg inclined.- my notes say 30 degrees so I assume that degree F. 
 
I must also correlate those figures on size to BTU's before I go ahead.
I have included my notes on the subject for youeself or anyone interested OK.
George (down under)

Ambitious undertaking for certain, George.

 

I think the rule of thumb you are looking for is 3 cubic inches of core volume for each HP.  So 180 HP rotary would require 180 * 3 = 540 cubic inches of core.  My two GM cores are 10x9 x 3.5 *2 = 630 cubic inches and they are designed for Freon rather than water.  So a “real” water radiator would undoubtedly do better and 540 does not seem unreasonable.

 

Regarding the incident angle, I would say it’s the angle relative to the incoming airflow.  So if you stood the core vertically, then 55 deg would be the most you would want from the vertical – but, I must say that unless you are also designing and understand the effects of “angle of attack” on the small air channels and can shape them to give you the characteristic you want, I would hesitate to vary much from 70 - 90 deg.

 

Some folks have quoted studies where cooling improved by inclining the radiator, but when I read the report, it was clear the reason the cooling improved is that with a slanted radiator orientation – you could place a larger core which resulted in better cooling until around 22 deg from vertical – after than it seems the air had a harder timing making the turn to flow into the air channels and no further improvement even with increased size was found. At least that was my interpretation of the data.

 

This is an area I admit to only a very limited understanding – and certainly not enough feel comfortable designing a radiator – however, if you have an acquaintance who has some experience in that field, go for it!!!!

 

Good luck.

 

Ed

 


From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of George Lendich
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 6:48 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Round Radiators

 


Ed,

Bernie's comments on weird have prompted me to start my investigation on a round radiator, PWR locally has an engineer who is interested in my ideas and we may move to develop a prototype.

It seems the easiest way to manufacture this type of radiator is along the lines of the stacker radiator, used mostly for water to oil  and are very efficient for this purpose. I've seen where people are using them for radiators in racing. To optimize the suitability for my application the air flow channels would be modified for reasons of maximum surface area, turbulence etc.

 

Naturally a round radiator need to be thinner rather than thicker ( unlike the round intercoolers). In my design the air flows from the centre outwardly and taken back toward a butterfly to control the exit air flow.

 

The inlet would need to be shaped  to maximize pressure as would the internals. I can't easily explain everything but I would appreciate some help with sizing fore hp etc. I do have notes on the subject and will have to find them again but I think a rule of thumb is either 3 sq" per hp or 3 cu" per hp and radiator incidence in excess of 55 deg and if the angle is taken from the vertical or horizontal.

Any help is appreciated!

George (down under)

 



__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 3267 (20080714) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

Subscribe (FEED) Subscribe (DIGEST) Subscribe (INDEX) Unsubscribe Mail to Listmaster