Subject: Intake manifold
From: Rotary Engine
Date: 10/8/2007, 4:36 PM
To: AARotary Engine


Paul

I noticed many intake designs have constant diameter intake pipes  while
Guru Racing and a few others taper theirs down to the intake port.

I will make my intake manifold out of carbon or some other heat  resistant
glass epoxy GRP so I am free at the moment as to the course and  profile they
will be.

I thought to go from 60mm id at the intake plenum with the  adjustable length
portion being able to extend another 120mm within the intake  intake plenum.
From the plenum  to the slide throttle, a distance of about 320mm  I would
like to taper the tubes down to 50mm gradually over their length.

Injectors are right after the slide throttle so fuel mist  separation is not
an issue.  Other than being a pain in the butt to construct the  tapered pipe
are their any disadvantages or advantages to such a design?


Thanks

Doug

It is mentioned in:
Scientific Design of Exhaust and Intake Systems. Philip H. Smith
and John C. Morrison Published by Robert Bentley. ISBN 0-8376-0309-9

http://www.rb.com


-- 
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.


Paul


I sense this has been an well debated subject on your  newsletter:)  I did
find a forum that gave me a clue to stay with constant diameter  pipes and
verify length on the dyno. My concern has always been what happens  when the
supercharger or turbocharger fails.  Assuming I have a bypass  valve I am
suddenly operating in a N/A mode so that would need the testing.


........................................

 http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=80364

"You will need access to an engine dyno to determine the optimal  runner
length/shape and optimal plenum shape. Intakes and exhaust systems  are
voodoo black magic throw the chicken bones pieces of an engine and  need to
be designed as such. You could do Helmholtz
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/Helmholtz.html calculations to  match the
runner length to your desired operating band but in the end  without a dyno
to test various runner lengths you're just shooting in the dark at  a target
even the automakers can't theoretically hit. Yes, even the  automakers use
dyno's to determine the optimal designs for their intakes.

Now you can get close (Ricardo
http://www.mscsoftware.com.au/produc...sy5_engine.htm ) to help  you predict
a good design but require reams of data to be even 20% close to an  optimal
design.

For a force-fed application, runner design is less of a factor  than for a
N/A design. Plenum volume is the key---the rule of thumb is plenum  volume >=
engine volume when force-fed. A large plenum has a few draw backs  though so
it is not the magic bullet either. A large plenum breathing  through a single
butterfly will have a lag between throttle opening and engine  response.

Basically, there is no easy recipe for intake design. There are  some rules
of thumb---long thin runners=low end torque, short fat  runners=high RPM
power plenum volume=engine volume for supercharged applications  but there is
no perfect solution nor is there an easy formula (Helmholtz  calculations can
get pretty scary when one takes valve timing exhaust pulse  velocities,
intake pulse velocities exhaust length and desired operating  conditions into
consideration---even then there are 12937492137 not even accounted  [factors]
so you are nowhere near optimal)."


No chicken bones bones at our house I wonder if mouse bones will  work?

Doug Fir



Paul & Doug,
On the theory that getting a good impedance match for the acoustic  wave
between the plenum and the engine intake throat will give the best
performance, I think the Guru  tapered  designs are on the right
track.   An exponential horn would work.  But, at the 100hz to 125hz
acoustic frequencies involved, there would be no way (here comes the
proverbial aircraft trade off) to fit a proper exponential horn  into an
airplane.  And, I'm not sure how you could have both a horn and  variable
length.  But, here is the horn I like the most for attempting an
impedance match on a fixed length intake.  It is the Quadratic Throat
waveguide developed by Charles Hughes at Peavey Electronics.  It
combines a straight sided (megaphone style) mouth with a circular arc
taper on the throat.  The geometry is shown in the attachments and  would
be easy to reproduce with a composite structure.  I would let the
mouth(s) be the whole side of an air filter box.  Then, the  remainder of
the geometry is defined by the throat size and how much length you can
fit in.  Hughes' study can be found here:
http://home.carolina.rr.com/charliehughes/Articles/QTWaveguide/ QTWaveguide.html

Hughes found that the acoustic wavefront remains spherical in this
horn.  So, the interaction between horn mouths at the plenum should be
predictable.  Of course our acoustic wave is superimposed on a moving
stream.  One big unknown is how this matters.

Aubrey Thompson

It is not difficult to taper the bore of the insert.  I did this  in
my p ports, tapering down from the 1.625"  throttle plate to 1.5" id
at the port. The length of the taper was about 2 inches or so.    I
think it might cause  a last second spurt into the into the
combustion chamber.   Jerry

On the other hand it could look like a discontinuity and cause unwanted reflections.
I think Matt put it very well awhile back.


"To add...   I think the organ pipe tuning effects are most apparent in the section
of pipe extending from the intake port to the first main discontinuity in the runner.
Any significant change in runner cross section or shape causes what is essentially an
impedance mismatch, which causes a reflection.  That reflection causes a momentary
pulse of pressure to travel back down the runner towards the port.  If the timing
of that reflection coincides with the timing of the port drawing air in for the
next rotor face, the net volumetric efficiency is increased (maybe significantly).."

Or decreased.

Paul Lamar

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