Bill Freeman wrote:

Paul,

>From the Av Consumer article -

" The injectors consist of a small hollow tube [my favorite
kind of tube - Bill] with a magnetic pintle seated against a
sealing surface.  A solenoid collar slips around the injector
and provides the juice to open and close the pintle, metering
fuel  . . . " ---  lifting or tilting the 'pintle', I suppose.  What's
a pintle?

also ". . . this is a closed loop design, meaning it has operating
parameters written into the software and measures how well
it's hitting the desired numbers by sampling data from sensors
on the engine, specifically cylinder head and exhaust gas
temperatures."  The system does not use an oxy sensor for
mixture, but keeps the heads and exhaust in range, which
is actually more what we want for engine life.

"During idle, climb or max cruise, it automatically sets each
cylinder's mixture to what amounts to a best-power [mixture]
condition; 75 to 125 degrees rich of peak EGT.  At powers below
75 percent, it reverts to what TCM calls "hill climb mode" [????]
and begins economy leaning to about 50 degrees lean of peak EGT."

". . .CHTs rule.  If they climb beyond limits - specifically 420 F,
variable with engine type, the cylinder gets more fuel for cooling."

They flew a C210 with this system, but a std prop control - a "two
lever" system.  The system consists of two-cylinder units (Master
Power Controllers, MPCs).  Obviously, two for a 4 cyl, three for
a 6 cyl.  They are really working on reliability, all connections are by
Mil Spec canon plugs, expensive but reliable.  They say the system
draws 3-4 amps,  and that the backup battery is good for 2-3 hrs.
Critical sensors are doubled up, as are the internal chips in each
MPC, warning lights for any failed primary sensors or chips.
"Check Engine" at 10,000 ft!   It has mapped leaning modes for
some sensor failures, a limp home mode.  Timing varies, but not
beyond 22 BTDC - Continental says there is very little to be gained
by going farther in advance.  Ignition is all solid state with Hall
sensors in the accy case, so a major teardown is reqd to install.

Av Consumer says the system is underwhelming to use, may be
tough on marketing - no gee whiz for your bucks.  Basically
just works. The <75% power leaning occured over about a 2
minute time period during the demo flight, went to lean of peak
and stayed totally smooth.  They say a 6 cyl FADEC will cost
about $7K installed, YIKES!  May be a **long** time before I
buy a system for my C182.

Interesting stuff.

Bill

One thing you get for free in a system like this is a CHT/EGT scanner.
That can cost $3K alone for an aircraft engine. Did they mention that
in the blurb?

Paul Lamar


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