I read that his body was found in Antwerp harbour. His wallet, watch, cigar case and so forth were taken from him and sent to his family. His body was tossed back in the water. Not sure if that part is true but I did read of it.
I was recently in the U.K. and the papers are full of governmental ideas about banning Diesel powered vehicles from the roads especially in London. Years ago people were encouraged to buy Diesel cars in the interest of fuel economy but the pollution given off by them is having effects on health. I can't imagine them removing Diesel vehicles from the roads given that damn near everything is powered with a Diesel engine. Gasoline powered cars are in a minority over there.
54light15Years ago people were encouraged to buy Diesel cars in the interest of fuel economy but the pollution given off by them is having effects on health. I can't imagine them removing Diesel vehicles from the roads given that damn near everything is powered with a Diesel engine.
The situation changed dramatically with the discovery of nanoparticulates in Diesel exhaust.
This is not a 'politically expedient' thing like carbon cap-n-trade, or a complaint against "black smoke" opacity or coal-rolling; it is not even a result of analysis into increased benzopyrenes etc. from compression ignition. An unfortunate problem is that, to my knowledge, none of the current "DPF" designs do much to reduce the dangerous particle size. I think there are ways to reduce nanoparticulate generation, and to provide better 'exhaust filtering', but many of those ways are not suitable to "economy" road vehicles or particularly net-cost-effective operation.
Meanwhile, with modern materials and manufacturing, and pervasive low-power electronics, building practical GDI (gasoline direct injection) engines gives much of the advantage of a compression-ignition cycle without requiring actual full compression heating, using a fuel that is less susceptible to early quench.
The situation with trucks, even as small as Class 4, is different. But I don't expect there to be as much issue with practical alternatives ... of course, having said that, the problems that Shadow's owner keeps mentioning had better be solved, and solved relatively quickly, to keep the Diesel option fully attractive.
We covered diesal automobiles a few months ago in this forum
I have been exposed to Diesal Particulates for the last 25 years from the time I was taking the City bus to school and now to work. Since the AC does not work in the summer having the windows open makes things worse.
54light15I was recently in the U.K. and the papers are full of governmental ideas about banning Diesel powered vehicles from the roads especially in London. Years ago people were encouraged to buy Diesel cars in the interest of fuel economy but the pollution given off by them is having effects on health. I can't imagine them removing Diesel vehicles from the roads given that damn near everything is powered with a Diesel engine. Gasoline powered cars are in a minority over there.
I thought that Blue fluid fixed that. I have a Mercedes SUV Bluetec Diesel and it pollutes less than most non-hybrid gasoline cars because it uses that Blue fluid additive. Maintenence costs are less than my past GM cars (Buicks) and I only need to take it in once a year compared with 2-3 times for the Buick. Fuel economy is better than my Buick Lucerne and past Buick LeSabre.....even though it weighs more and has a 4 cylinder engine, it has faster acceleration then the Lucerne or LeSabre had with a 6 cylinder engine. So I am a very happy camper.
BTW, last time I posted something like this one of the roving Forum Trolls said I was wrong but offered no refuting information or facts.
Buses and Trucks are supposed to have a reburner that is supposed to solve that issue. But it reduces fuel econ.
RME Meanwhile, with modern materials and manufacturing, and pervasive low-power electronics, building practical GDI (gasoline direct injection) engines gives much of the advantage of a compression-ignition cycle without requiring actual full compression heating, using a fuel that is less susceptible to early quench. The situation with trucks, even as small as Class 4, is different. But I don't expect there to be as much issue with practical alternatives ... of course, having said that, the problems that Shadow's owner keeps mentioning had better be solved, and solved relatively quickly, to keep the Diesel option fully attractive.
Having once worked at a major North American manufacturer of automobiles on technology related to gasoline direct injection engines, I was told that those too generated sooty smoke, maybe not as much but more than a conventional gasoline engine.
The biggest difference between spark ignition (gasoline) and compressions ignition (Diesel) engines is, the big difference. Cylinder size has an upper bound with spark ignition, witness the huge number of cylinders on the last generation spark-ignition aircraft engines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-4360_Wasp_Major. Cylinder size is limited by spark knock -- premature detonation of the air-fuel mixture prior to the main flame front reaching it, and even on those engines with so many cylinders, they had to use highly leaded gasoline with greater-than-100 octane ratings.
Diesels don't have spark knock and are not limited in cylinder size, witness the simply massive slow-speed marine Diesels powering modern container ships.
GDI forestalls spark knock, but I don't think it completely eliminates the upper limit on cylinder size, which will forever be a problem for an economical railroad, heavy truck, marine, large earth-moving machine engine.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
The R-4360 was definitely not the limit for spark ignited engins, the Wright R-3350 had only 18 cylinders versus the 28 for the R-4360, with cylinder displacement coming in at 182 cu. in. as opposed to the ~156 cu. in for the P&W engine. The need for 115/145 avgas in these monsters was due to the amount of supercharging involved at a time when there was a slight awareness of the need to cool the charge prior to admission to the cylinders.
My understanding is that Jensbacher makes some spark ignited engines that are similar in size and output to locomotive engines. I also recall, perhaps incorrectly, that Caterpillar has offered spark ignited variants of their 3500 series engines for operation on natural gas.
Don't forget the producer gas engines from 100 years ago that were made with many of the same parts used for 1,000+ HP stationary steam engines.
CandOforprogress2Buses and Trucks are supposed to have a reburner that is supposed to solve that issue. But it reduces fuel econ.
I believe you're describing the 'regeneration' process for the diesel particulate filter (DPF) that is supposed to get rid of the visible soot opacity when the engine runs overfueled. When the filter gets 'sooted up' and begins to plug, the engine is artificially run with higher exhaust-gas temperature so that the filtered-out carbon reaches the oxidation temperature and 'burns out' -- this, of course, taking extra fuel (iirc about 6% for a given injection power setting) for the time involved.
Point is that the DPF doesn't trap the nanoparticles, which are the true major biological hazard found in modern diesel exhaust, except circumstantially. There are some nominally-carcinogenic chemicals in or on the soot particles, but they pose a relatively limited risk in comparison; the issue is more of perceived environmental quality.
If it helps any, the rowing tank at Princeton used a spark-ignition natural gas Cat engine of considerable size; I remember it being 12 cylinders and 3500-series, but will have to check at reunions time.
Is the basic concept of a diesal engine is when i leave a lid on a pan of frying food and the contents go into spontaneous combustion and the lid flies up by 10 feet with a ball of fire and darn near burns the house down?
Was Rudolph Diesel assassinated? No, but he was regulated out of existence.
CandOforprogress2Is the basic concept of a diesel [note sp.; you've had plenty of help in this thread] engine when i leave a lid on a pan of frying food and the contents go into spontaneous combustion and the lid flies up by 10 feet with a ball of fire and darn near burns the house down?
No, that is the working principle of the hot-bulb (or torch ignition) engine, often seen as a branch of the Otto cycle in early gas engines. The fuel is vaporized and carbureted, and ignites in contact with a hot surface or flameholder. The resulting rapid combustion generates a considerable volume of hot gas, which moves piston or lid.
The Diesel is a completely different thing; it heats the combustion air separately, while compressing it to higher oxygen density, then injects the fuel with as fine a spray or agitation as possible to mix it as close to stoich in the volume of hot air as possible. Each injected fuel particle then combusts in the hot air, first abstracting a little heat but then providing much more, and in the aggregate the fuel burn can go to completion in a reasonable time if there is even a little surplus oxygen in the charge air.
There is a comparable action in some designs of gasoline engine, notably 'motorcycle' two-strokes, away from and independent of the spark and its timing, and there the effect may be called polynucleate ignition.
Detonation is something different from diesel ignition, and I believe normally a compression-ignition designer will avoid as many shocks as possible. (The situation is very different in a pulse detonation-wave cycle, but that's yet another story...)
CandOforprogress2 Is the basic concept of a diesal engine is when i leave a lid on a pan of frying food and the contents go into spontaneous combustion and the lid flies up by 10 feet with a ball of fire and darn near burns the house down?
This ("fire piston" fire starter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39wmSBO2FM
is how a Diesel engine works. In other words, you push a lid down and you light off the food inside the pot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgKWwGv6y-E
So this idea might be older then Rudy Diesal himself?
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