Paul,

I've been thinking about the turbo compound idea a bit since we talked

about

it last Sunday.  I'm thinking that the exhaust turbines used for a
turbocharger aren't really that well suited for putting horsepower into

the

crankshaft.  They are designed to spool up quickly and optimized for

driving

a centrifugal compressor.

I was looking at the turbocharger used on the P-38 and the B-17 and it's
fairly large in diameter with the exhaust exit well away from the shaft so
the force on the blades work a longer moment arm.  I think it also turns
much slower.  I'm thinking a configuration like this would be much more
efficient for our purposes and would allow normal gears to feed the power

to

the crank.

Steve Brazil

Perhaps something like this? Cheaper and more durable than building a two

liter

four cylinder turbo charged 500 HP piston engine. It should burn at least

5% less

fuel per HP generated than the very best piston engines, given there is at

least

as much wasted energy in the exhaust as comes out of the engine shaft.

Paul Lamar

OK, Now your onto something. Except, where is all that heat going to go?
Heat soak the engine real fast. Built into the front of the engine, all the
hot air is also going through the radiators. It would be allot quieter
though.
Thomas Phy RV-7


The radiators are shielded. The temperature of the exhaust is lowered
by the kinetic energy removed from it.

Paul Lamar



Paul,

I thought I was an early in type of guy! Either you are very early in or you
are an all night worker?

Eric Barger,


The problem is my silly email provider, Earthlink, slows down to a creep every night
at 9 PM. So I take a nap for a few hours. The stuff hit the fan a day or so ago as
it started around noon. I became enraged :) I have been on their case big time about
it because I don't want to change providers or email address. Supposedly it is fixed
but it may take a day or so to confirm.