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The Turbo - Compressor and the Supercharging of Aero Engines*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Extract

If the amount of printed matter published on a technical subject is any guide to the general state of knowledge on that subject, then neither the turbo-compressor nor the general problem of the supercharging of aircraft engines can be very well understood at present, much less the combination of the two. Apart from the brief treatment accorded to the behaviour of engines at high altitudes, and supercharging in the well-known text-books on engines, the only printed matter available on the subject is contained in papers published in technical journals (so far as one knows), viz.:—

“ Supercharged Aero Engines,” R. F. R. Pierce, the Journal of October, 1926.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1931

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Footnotes

*

Any opinions or original theory contained in the following are the Author's own and carry no official sanction.

References

Note on Page 1054 * It must be remembered here and throughout, that P 1, T 1, etc., are the conditions immediately on entry to the rotor, and owing to the limited dimensions of the impeller inlet, they are often appreciably below those of the atmosphere.

Note on Page 1054 † In other words, for a constant supercharger speed the supercharger compression ratio increases with height, a fact which does not seem to be realised.

Note on Page 1057 * As equals the maximum attainable work capacity, the constant k might be termed the “ Work Capacity Coefficient.”

Note on Page 1058 * In actual practice the density will be modified owing to cooling in the carburettor, which will be greater on a hot day than on a cold day—that is to say, the effect of the carburettor will be to reduce this variation in power, but nevertheless it is a well-known fact that a car engine “ pulls ” better in the cool of the evening than during the day.

Note on Page 1062 * Throttling does not reduce the compression temperature, but it reduces the compression density and also results in an increased proportion of residual gases in the burning mixture, both factors reducing the rate of flame travel.