In a message dated 9/17/2004 9:39:21 AM Central Daylight Time,
randy.smith@intel.com writes:

<< Ferinstance...No one responded to my third point last week regarding how
 particular the 13B is regarding gasoline and its various grades and
 flavors.  Not a word regarding the SCORE technology allowing it to run
 Diesel/Jet/Kerosene.
 
 -Randy "silence fore and aft!  Bosun, take that man's name!" Smith
  >>


Sorry! I must have missed that.

John Deer tried to get the Navy to use a very large two rotor (around 1000
HP) rotary to replace the Colt (Fairbanks Morse) 38-D81/8 OP diesel in
stationary power generation. The advantage was going to be that it would run on
anything the ship had available. Bunker C, diesel, avgas, JP-4 whatever. The other
advantage was (is) compared to the OP engine it was very compact. It had to be
mounted on a little platform to get it in line with the alternator shaft. Made
the generator room look empty. Plus it was not designed in the 20s. The Navy
still cannot get over loosing their sails, and just refused to believe their
own test data that proved that the rotary was better by a factor of ten on every
test point. And much cheaper operating costs. So does the Navy now have 8 big
rotaries on every aircraft carrier?

No.

Even without the stratified charge feature, the rotary (NA) will run on the
lowest octane rating fuel you may ever run across. The large combustion surface
and the low temperature of the rotor housing tends to produce low flame front
speeds. The same effect you would get from a very high octane motor fuel in a
piston engine.

 This makes detonation just about impossible. We used to race on 87 octane
with extra Texaco 30 wt oil mixed into the fuel to further reduce the octane.
Timing no more than 20 degrees BTDC.

This is also the only thing any Texaco oil is good for. Well, OK, starting
brush fires too. So there you are, two things Texaco oil is good for.

Now we have real race engines and run 93 octane (no alcohol) with 1 oz of
Redline 2 cycle in each gallon. Timing now is 27 degrees BTDC.

None of this applies to forced induction rotaries. Forced induction raises
the compression ratio. That means faster flame front speeds. The higher the
boost the higher the compression and the faster the flame front. Now the overly
large combustion chamber is no longer an asset but a detriment. Fuel/air  near
the rotor tips ignites from high pressure and radiant energy from the
approaching flame front.

All detonation is charge temperature dependent.

So you add an intercooler so some of the "heat of compression" from the turbo
can be removed. Also too low a fuel octane may become a problem (flame front
speed too high) and the ignition timing must be retarded. Also oil and water
temperatures become critical.

I can go on for hours. How much can you stand?

Lynn E. Hanover