Wierd question for the Oldsters in the group.

Between injection pulses, what is the residual pressure in the high-pressure line between the injection pump and the injector on a 'Roid?  Is this residual pressure fairly constant or does it vary with speed/load?

The reason I'm asking is this:  If there is a standard "residual" pressure in the lines between pulses, I can calculate the max pre-heat on the fuel in that line before it flashes to vapor.  Seems to me that heating it to just somewhat under the vapor-flash pressure would do great things for the atomization of heavy fuels.

Any comments from the Illuminati?

Roark

Harv_44:  "...I have orders from the better half it's to be moved to the house and a shed built for it.  Works for me..."

(Laughing!).  Isn't it INTERESTING how these things go from being a social embarassment ("... he's just addicted to that danged engine, Vera, I tell you it's just not natural!...") to being a flat-out necessity?   

BTW:  If you think SWMBO'd is thrilled by this, just wait until the teenage daughter realizes she can run a blow-dryer, curling iron and boom-box off it while charging her cell phone and iPod!  (Yep.  Looks like ya shoulda got the Triple and the 20KW head.  LMAO!!!)

Roark

An idea for anyone looking for heat-storage:  Take a peek at a hot-tub design made by "Sof-Tub".  These are made entirely from very thick structural foam.  They're known for their insulating capabilities.  (They use the heat from the pump motor to heat the tub.  It takes a couple of days to reach a comfy temp, but once it's there, it stays very warm). The sides and bottom are heavy-duty semi-flexible foam 4 to 6 inches thick. The top of the tub is sealed with a removable foam cover about 6 inches thick.  A very well insulated system indeed.  They hold about 400 gallons.

You can often find these things, discarded by owners who don't know how to take care of them, for next to nothing.    Rarely is the foam damaged.  Usually it's the liner that's shot, and it's often repairable with very little effort. (They come with a repair kit).   If the entire liner is missing, consider taking the whole schmutz down to your local spray-in bed-liner guy and have him shoot the inside with polyurea.  

These tubs might made an ideal thermal storage system for someone.

Roark

Mobile_Bob:  I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy.  I'm thinking a few tons of 'crete, AND resilient mountings couldn't hurt in the long run.   (Thinking out loud here, if you want to compare notes, I've got a Baldor 80KW with a 175 gallon belly tank pushing better than 5500 lbs mounted on a 35,000 lb pad. hheheheh).

Just remember:  They called Noah crazy.

Roark

Thank you, Gentlemen!

One of the problems with being a 'Noob is the sheer weight of the water under the bridge... most of which passed before I ever started lurking just a few weeks ago.   

I don't own one of these engines yet, but I'm fixin' to change that.  Being an engineer, I'm already obsessing on the care and feeding strategies, and how to make it all work when the world goes gronky.  And gronky it DOES go!

FWIW, the eye-wall of Hurricane Ike missed us by exactly 6 miles.  I live in a very, very tiny rural town (pop 1400), so we were the last priority on the power company list.  Main Street got power back 17 days after it went out.  So the lesson I learned is "be prepared".  Nobody really wants to believe the infrastructure will go down, and stay down, for weeks on end.  But it does.  And when it does, you'll fall into one of two categories:  Those which "have", and those which "have not".  I prefer to be in the former category, hence my presence on the board.  I learned as many learned, that those little 5500 watt Briggs & Stratton mills are fine for occasional, light-duty use, but they're sub-optimal to power a house, even in "limp-mode".   

Any resemblance between my brain and a sponge is purely intentional. 

Roark   

A question for the ‘noodlers here:

Assume for a minute you’re running a twin-cylinder Lister(oid) that was made in the last 10 years or so.  Things are chugging along nicely after the mother of all hurricanes/a-bombs/ice-storms/tornadoes, etc.  You’ve got the house lit-up like a Christmas tree, you’ve got oodles of fuel, and your family is worshipping the ground you and Mr. Lister walk upon. Your neighbors love you because the tap works, the toilet flushes, and you've got ice to make margaritas.  Somewhere around midnight however, there comes a Really Major Problem and the lights all go kittywhumpus.  Something is dreadfully wrong with your genny.  In fact, the last time you heard noises like this, they came from your own stomach after you ate your sisters first casserole.

Some troubleshooting in the dark proves conclusively that Cylinder #2 is well and truly dead.  (Call it a cracked piston, bent rod, bad rod bearing, siezed injector pump, or a wheezy injector. Take your pick, or invent your own malady and season to taste). The important point here is it’s BAD and you do NOT have a spare for the bad piece, and you can NOT repair it.  Cylinder #2 is kaput, but Cylinder #1 is just fine.

The question:  Assuming your back was up against the wall and you had to pull a rabbit out of the hat, could you run this engine as a single-cylinder?  In other words, could you pop the rod bearings, slip-out the piston and rod assembly, spike the fuel rack on #2 to the closed position, (etc), pull the push-rods, and then fire this engine up and run it on just one cylinder?

From what I see, this seems possible.  But as I’ve never actually taken one of these critters apart and played with it, I’m completely guessing here.  But the answer is important to me.

Comments?  I’m interested in deep-fallback options for a Lister(oid) twin.  I've got a wife who turns into Sybil-At-The-Switch without hot coffee, and a son who will go nuclear without access to his Wii.   Sustainable, deep-fallback power is important, folks.

Roark

Chris, that's an incredibly sanitary job.  I've worked on aircraft that weren't that well thought-out or functional.

Love the "Field Flash" button!  I hadn't thought of that one.  Hope you don't mind if I steal liberally.

Roark