Peter Zutrauen wrote:
Hi Folks,
I'm a Europa builder, and new to the list, and look forward to learning
more about these very unique engines. After some research, I figure (as
I assume most listers have) that the most reliable auto-conversion is
the rotary.
Anyway, here's my question; does anyone here have any experience with a
single-rotor mazda?
Also, I was wondering:
- what the all-up wet weight might be with redrive
- how much horsepower (~100hp?)
- what the fuel burn would be at 75%
- if there were problems with rough-running with only the one rotor, as
there are less pulses per rotation than an normal 4-banger.
- would adding a turbo increase efficiency (in addition to the
normalizing)?
- if leaned out as far as possible, would the efficiency be comparable
to a rotax 4-banger?
I could only find one single rotor example on the web, built by Yaw
power products (apparently no longer in the aviation biz) for Gerry Hess
up here in Canada somewhere. Could anyone point me to his email address?
Apologies if these question have already been answered.... is there a
searchable archive for this list somewhere?
Any info/experience would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers and many thanks,
Pete Zutrauen
Europa A239 dual-wing
david mccandless wrote:
Hi Peter,welcome to the Newsletter.
We have 6 or 8 single rotor builders on this site, various aircraft;
I'm also a Europa XS builder, so that is two of us who can think beyond
of the century of the Wright Bros. There have been a number of
promising developments over this last year. These have mostly concerned
the redrive gearbox and electronic engine management by Tracy Crook at
Real World Solutions, more info on these is available from his website.
The editor of this newsletter, Paul Lamar, has developed an optimised
intake system with beautiful castings for the aircraft application to
suit various 13B models. At present, he is dicking about reinventing the
remote water pump but as soon as we can get him refocused on the
important issues, lightweight end housings, int.al. will be a real possibility.
There have been a number of successful single rotor engines down the
years, some using half Mazda engines. A SIMPLE guide to power and fuel
questions is to halve any of the equivalent 13B figures. However, since
the aircraft application can be optimised for a narrow speed band due to
prop speed restrictions, tuned intake/exhaust systems coupled with
porting can yield better figures than the output of the car engine which
has to have wider more flexible torque and power bands. For instance,
half a Renesis engine would yield about 125 HP at 8500 rpm is standard
form, with a C6 redux box at 2.85:1, this is about 3000 prm at the prop.
Since Europas don't like props bigger than about 66 inches, this should
be fine. Specific Fuel Consumption is .45-.5, similar to a piston engine
of similar HP, rotarys don't really have limits as in reciprocating
engine with valves and con rods etc, so most people work on 6000 rpm in
cruise as this is where rotor bearing loads are minimum but by no way
limiting. Generally everthing that works for a 13B will work for a 6.5b
single rotor engine, there are torque pulsing questions with the single
rotor that have been discussed which may or may not be a problem. Ask
the rotary motorcycle people and they will tell you it is much smoother
that any piston engine once the rotary is off idle rpm. Turbocharging
will probably reduce this vibration; at present, I will most likely go
this route as it has many side benefits, like quiet ops and altitude
perf at the expense of increased complexity and a little extra weight.
You should go www.thecarricos.com for background info on this site, and
a CD is available with all the archives of ACRE from Paul L. Contact me
directly at daval@iprimus.com.au for further info ref the Europa
problems. I live in Perth, Western Australia, Best Regards, Dave McCandless
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