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Thread: Something Slightly Different...

  1. #1
    Regular Member Penfold101's Avatar
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    Eek Something Slightly Different...

    For those of you who know what goes on under the bonnet of our motors, I found something rather interesting tonight...

    As we all know, out engines are mostly 4 cylinder in-line powerplants, with the odd V6 thrown in for good measure. if you carry on up the scale, you get your V8's, 10's and 12's. You can add turbo's, superchargers, etc till your heart's content...

    You can also look at the Boxer engines, Porche's Flat 6, TVR's Straight 6, the VR6's from VW, and then the W12 engines from the same manufacturer.

    These are all different ways to configure the cylinders in an engine, for various purposes and power outputs. What I came across tonight is a little different...

    As an engineer by trade, I've always been fascinated by how things work. Planes, trains, automobiles, all get equal attention from me - and trains are one of the msot overlooked ways of transportation when it comes to the powerplant. Ye Olde Steam Engine used pistons and cylinders, it just pumped high pressure steam into them and used the piston motion to move the wheels. Electric trains take huge AC currents from overhead wiring or a third rail and change it into DC for the traction motors at the wheels. Diesel locomotives, however, are slightly different...

    You'll have seen them all over the place - pumping out huge plumes of black smoke but most people haven't a clue what goes on inside them - they're just called Diesels...

    Simply put, they use diesel engines to drive an alternator which provides the power for the wheels. Sounds a bit like a Honda Prius to me, but in a nutshell that's all they are. What varies is how the power is generated. Mostly used in the old 70/80's diesel locomotives are 12 cylinder marine engines. However, various other types have been tried, and in the course of this study I came across the Deltics...

    I swear I have never seen anything like this in my life...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_...note-dkbrown-0

    Imagine putting that in a Vectra....

  2. #2
    Regular Member izonoky's Avatar
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    Vehicle : VECTRA C

    Trim : SRI

    Engine : 2.2

    Year : 2006

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    amazing, I guess they'd also be found in supertankers too.

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    Regular Member VXR_DV's Avatar
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    Absolutely not.

    A scary and unreliable piece of kit, if ever there was one.

    Found in some trains and smaller ships.

    dv.

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    Regular Member Ste's Avatar
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    To give the trains their proper name, they are called 'diesel electric'.

    My old company used to have rail packs using a 19 litre turbo charged diesel engine and an alternator.

    Trains take a large amount of energy to get moving (inertia being so large) but only a fraction of that power to maintain speed, as rolling resistance is fiarly low and they are quite aerodynamic. Hence the powerplant layout they have.

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    Regular Member Hideous's Avatar
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    Vehicle : Insignia

    Trim : SRi Nav

    Engine : CDTI160

    Year : 2012

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    I love this one: -


    The most powerful diesel engine in the world: -

    The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.
    It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.
    The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.
    Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:

    Total engine weight:
    2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)

    Length:
    89 feet

    Height:
    44 feet

    Maximum power:
    108,920 hp at 102 rpm

    Maximum torque:
    5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm
    Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.
    For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.

    Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.
    The internals of this engine are a bit different than most automotive engines.
    The top of the connecting rod is not attached directly to the piston. The top of the connecting rod attaches to a "crosshead" which rides in guide channels. A long piston rod then connects the crosshead to the piston.
    I assume this is done so the the sideways forces produced by the connecting rod are absorbed by the crosshead and not by the piston. Those sideways forces are what makes the cylinders in an auto engine get oval-shaped over time.

    Installing the "thin-shell" bearings. Crank & rod journals are 38" in diameter and 16" wide:

    The crank sitting in the block (also known as a "gondola-style" bedplate). This is a 10 cylinder version.
    Note the steps by each crank throw that lead down into the crankcase:


    A piston & piston rod assembly. The piston is at the top. The large square plate at the bottom is where the whole assembly attaches to the crosshead:

    Some pistons:

    And some piston rods:

    The "spikes" on the piston rods are hollow tubes that go into the holes you can see on the bottom of the pistons (left picture) and inject oil into the inside of the piston which keeps the top of the piston from overheating. Some high-performance auto engines have a similar feature where an oil squirter nozzle squirts oil onto the bottom of the piston.
    The cylinder deck (10 cylinder version). Cylinder liners are die-cast ductile cast iron. Look at the size of those head studs!:

    The first completed 12 cylinder engine:

    This is a copy of the page produced by Todd Walke

  6. #6
    Regular Member Ste's Avatar
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    Look at all the little people !

    Did you notice the ladders in the crank throw reliefs in the block?

  7. #7
    Regular Member Penfold101's Avatar
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    Right lads, now all we have to do is build a ship around it...............

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    Regular Member SignumPhil's Avatar
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    Looks like the first engine built for people with hands as big as mine to work on!
    And that Deltic engine is fascinating

    Phil

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    Regular Member 67688c's Avatar
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    Thats what you call a BIG,BIG,BIG engine, certainly interesting, as was the read about the Deltic engine... thanks guys.

    Now if VX can build a car around it, maybe old Jeremy Clarkson will like it.
    Last edited by 67688c; 24th October 2008 at 18:37.

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    Ah, the good old Deltics. They're some yoke.

    Lots of YouTube stuff on train diesels.

    This one is one of my favourites, really makes those guys with tuning boxes look environmentally friendly (it's a GE 4400CW) :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYpXwLg5GeM

    A Deltic doing it's thing:

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t4-4l1T2aP4 (some good vids on the related page of this one too)

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