The Knocker lives! In a new light aircraft engine!

G'day all! - It appears that some Poms have never forgotten the basic design beauty of the Rootes TS3, and they have now resurrected it as the answer to a new, light aircraft, diesel engine!
The aircraft industry is looking at a highly-likely, phasing out of avgas in the future, so they are looking at compression ignition engines that can use Jet-A1 (aviation kero). Avgas is effectively in decline, with high prices, falling useage and production, and pressure from greenies, making sure that it won't be around in maybe 10 years.

Avgas is a PIA to refineries and the EPA, because of the continuing need for lead in avgas. The specs for avgas are critical, and they can't just pour a crook batch of avgas back into other fuels, as it's regarded as a "contaminant" with any other fuel. You can't use pipelines, tankers or any equipment that has been in contact with avgas, for anything else.

The Poms have built a neat working model of a Knocker copy, with design simplification that has eliminated the rockers and single crankshaft, to one with two crankshafts coupled by a gear train .. but they are still up against weight. They went into "stall" mode on the design for a while (the DAIR website "recent news" is dated year 2000!) .. but they have now apparently handballed a licence to an American company to try and improve on the design and materials, to get the weight down to a figure that is more comparable with other current petrol aircraft engines, such as the Aussie Jabiru and the Rotax.

The Americans are looking at all kinds of exotic materials and design changes to pare the weight off. They have produced a version based on the original DAIR design, but are now looking at producing a refined model this year, using common rail injection, magnesium castings, and an electrically-assisted turbo (click on "activities" on the dieseltech site).
Just imagine! .. one day, soon .. you'll be able to jump in your old Knocker .. scream your way to to the airstrip .. then jump in your light aircraft .. and continue screaming on, into the sky!!! ...

www.dair.co.uk/

www.dieseltech.cc/

The technology in the TS3 motor came from the Junkers bomber engines, so has gone full circle.

If they are building a compression ignition engine why not run it on diesel fuel? A flying Perkins, what next?

If they are building a compression ignition engine why not run it on diesel fuel? A flying Perkins, what next?

love the flying Perkins concept cracked me up..

Atkipete - The DAIR engine can run on diesel or Jet-A1. The simple fact is, diesel is not often available at many airstrips or airports .. but Jet-A1 is .. so it makes sense to be able to run on both.
Re the flying Perkins .. you haven't seen one, until you've been in a C or D1300, fitted with a 6-354 Jerkins and a 5 speed O/D box. They'll do 130 kliks, no worries ..

The technology in the TS3 motor came from the Junkers bomber engines, so has gone full circle.

If I'm allowed to depart from my learned friend , I believe the Rootes engine - although using the same principle as the "Junkers family" of engines (Junkers, Krupp, Napier, Leyland L60), mechanically adopts a different power transfer system, as below:



Rootes^ - one crank and power coupling via rockers (from www.feweatherill.com/engine/ROOTES_ENGINE.htm )

Junkers:



and



Two cranks coupled via geartrain ( de.academic.ru/dic.nsf/dewiki/500080 in German)

There were also bigger OP engines by Fairbanks Morse in the US, Doxford in the UK and Malyshev in the USSR (now Ukraine) but those were exclusively marine/rail and bigger than the Junkers and the Rootes designs.

They're all smokers, check this out for the Malyshev OP copy of the Fairbanks Morse used in the Russian Raylways' heavy freight locomotive, the TE310M. 9000hp and no mercy





Notice the acceleration on a fully loaded coal train

and the best:



Train not as long as the longest Oz trains but look at the incline .

Cheers,

T

Pete, Atleast you would half a chance of getting a Perkins going again if you stalled it mid flight....if it was an Inter 554 diesel by the time you hotwired the glow plugs and found the can of start ya bastard....splat :-[

Basil

You have to be a bad driver to stall a Perkins, Bas. Those trains are making decent smoke, i thought the first one was a steam loco..

The Rootes engine had the same layout for power transfer as the 1937 Sulzer opposed-piston two stroke, which had a bore and stroke of 89mmx120mm and was made in 2, 3 and 4 cylinder versions. It had a piston type pump driven from one of the rocking beams instead of a blower to supply air for charging and scavenging. Wonder what happened to it, also the French one of the same layout of the early fifties?
Just out of interest, some Sentinel trucks were fitted with TS3s, may have been because the Sentinel diesels were no longer available.