Treadmill Dyno

[taylorp035]

Sorry for the lack of updates the last few weeks.

After testing many glues to seal the main seal into the head, we finally settled on some copper infused RTV, which is good for 700F.  The real break through was how we applied the RTV and making sure there was enough in the cracks to actually seal.  Previous attempts showed areas where there was no glue.  The result of a well sealed engine is shown in the video, where the engine idles much better now and much more reliably.

In other news, all three wheels are now mounted in the car, and we decided shortly thereafter that the suspension was a too soft in the front and in the back.  So, some modifications have been made to make things a bit stiffer.  We also aligned the wheels such that they track properly and so that we can make the required 50 ft radius turn in both directions.  Next up will be testing the brakes, of which we may install a support to make sure the whole assembly doesn't just snap off the main frame rail.  This added support may also be designed to simultaneously act as an anti-sway bar, of which the car needs very badly.

[taylorp035]

The new car driving for the first time.  I think this is the best supermileage video we have ever made.

[bart]

   Congratulations! Must be nice to see all that work paying off.
So when are the race (s)?

[electrondady1]

it looks wicked Taylor , congratulations to you and your team.

[taylorp035]

   Congratulations! Must be nice to see all that work paying off.
So when are the race (s)?

The competition is June 6th and 7th at Eaton's Proving Grounds in Marshal, MI.

it looks wicked Taylor , congratulations to you and your team.

  Thanks from the both of you!   I hope it works out the way we planned.  After last night's work session and testing, I think the aerodynamics and rolling resistance are as good as we have been planning for.  The tubeless radial tires are going to work.... we were very concerned that our large drive sprocket was going to be too large in diameter, but it looks like the belt clears the ground by ~3/16"     Next is to make one of the 3 engines we have work better than a stock engine.  Else, a stock engine will have to be fitted.  We also need some more starter batteries, as we have worn out / killed off too many of the ones we own.

As you can see, the correct shape from the thermoformed window is going to help a lot compared to last year.


To go along with some giant blue stripes going over the top, we are going to include a nice logo of our design on the side of the car   It will get spray painted on later this week.

[Bruce S]

Did you due a rolling distance ? how far after the engine is turned off does it roll even on standard roads?
Sounds wicked too!
 I like seeing the blue flame from the exhaust. 

[taylorp035]

Did you due a rolling distance ? how far after the engine is turned off does it roll even on standard roads?
Sounds wicked too!
 I like seeing the blue flame from the exhaust. 

Well, on the test track, you drop 4 feet in elevation, starting at ~21 mph down to 10 mph, the car rolls for about 1.2 miles, but that could be farther with the new tires and aerodynamics.

[SparWeb]

That's a pretty blue flame!

Tell the kids you get thrust from afterburners. 

[taylorp035]

We made page 1B in the news paper!

http://goerie.com/behrend-students-build-ultrahighmileage-car

Today, we hope to have the new mini OHC engine running!

[DamonHD]

Good write-up, and a familiar-looking lab!

Rgds

Damon

[taylorp035]

I thought it was an excellent article.  The layout in the newspaper looked really good.

Here is some action shots of the car driving.

[electrondady1]

you call it "the sea cow" ?

[taylorp035]

We won yet again!      This time with a score of 1,290 mpg and a good design report score.  We actually took 2nd in terms of fuel mileage, where BYU achieved an impressive ~1,330 mpg, but they didn't fair so well on the design report score.  We believe this to be the first time the design report has actually swayed the 1st place winner.

you call it "the sea cow" ?

  Yes, it's nickname is the sea cow, since it looks like a manatee when it's upside-down. 


Here is a picture when we entered it into the "Most Visually Appealing Vehicle Contest":

[Frank S]

Great job  and congrats
did you use your rotary valve engine or the conventional head design?
would be interesting in reading about an after race tear down evaluation

[taylorp035]

Great job  and congrats
did you use your rotary valve engine or the conventional head design?
would be interesting in reading about an after race tear down evaluation

We used last year's 12.3:1 CR rocker push rod engine with the stock 148 cc block.  The rotary valve and our mini OHC engine did not run well enough to be put into the car.

As for an evaluation, I would say the car was only rolling at about 60-70%, due to poor steering alignment and us having problems with our tires all day (we went through 4 tires, mainly due to not having rim tape on one of our rims).  The engine was also not being very efficient, as I would guess in the 5-6% range.  We checked the AFR and it was exactly where we wanted it.  The weather was actually quite good, with 5-10 mph winds and 60F and minimal sunshine.  Given another shot, I bet we could break 2000 mpg no problem.  At the beginning of the day, we had guessed 2507 mpg, of which we thought was the most likely score for us since there was a $100 prize involved.

We had plenty of other problems to contend with also, including smoking our ESC for the starter, exploding a starter pinion gear, and fighting a brushless starter motor that the coils had been overheated.  It didn't want to turn the engine over very well.  We also had to replace our front windshield, as we couldn't see worth anything out of our thermoformed one.  The ground clearance between the drive belt and the ground was only ~1/16", which  made it hit a lot of little rocks while driving.  We later switched to a larger diameter tire to fix this problem.  We made of total of 6 runs, with 3 being good.  The 3 failed runs were caused by a flat tire, a broken starter pinion, and another flat tire.

Here is a video of the mini OHC engine in action.  You can read more about it in the description on the video.

[Frank S]

Thanks; Will you be involved again next year or is it time for you to pass the torch on

[bart]

   Congratulations to you and your teammates!
Great to see all that hard work pay off with a win.

[DamonHD]

Yes, congrats!

Rgds

Damon

[SparWeb]

I think Taylor is too modest to post this photo of his teammate hoisting the trophy:


(I found it on the teams' website).

Earned with all the perspiration and inspiration that the great Edison valued.  Way to go guys!   

[Bruce S]

CONGRATS!!
Yet more proof and persistence will pay off!
I also like the Safety banner in the back ground  .
3 CHEERS!
Bruce S

[taylorp035]

Hmm... I wasn't expecting someone to post my own pictures LOL.  We are still trying to upload all of the photos, of which me with the trophy is not up there yet.

Thanks; Will you be involved again next year or is it time for you to pass the torch on

No, I graduated a few weeks ago, so no more supermileage for me.  There are lots of great students who will have the chance to do even better.

The cool part is that the up and coming students get to start off with a great car, unlike when I started and the car was a tank.  Now with that being said, the engine department has a lot of potential to be made better.... an easy 200-300% I would say.

[SparWeb]

... We are still trying to upload all of the photos, of which me with the trophy is not up there yet...

Yes I didn't think it was you - unless you've gained weight and shaved your head!!!

So you never mentioned your major through all this - M.E. I assume? ...or EE?  IE?  CE?

[taylorp035]

So you never mentioned your major through all this - M.E. I assume? ...or EE?  IE?  CE?

I am a mechanical engineer.  About half of the team is also M.E.  We also had a few E.E.'s and computer engineers.  The club used to be almost entirely MET's, but that stopped around when I started 4 years ago.  I think the MET's valued more the high horsepower tuned engine designs  than the now tiny, fuel efficient engines we put in the car today (the cars used to weigh 200-400 lbs).  It was a very strange shift, because the adviser is a MET faculty member.  In my opinion, the MET's are just as capable as the ME's when it comes to making a car.

The team members who end up staying with the club are of the type who like making their own projects and like to work with their hands.  As you guys are probably well aware, it's hard to find people like that today.

[SparWeb]

Then you may be facing the work-place soon.  Totally different set of challenges.  Good luck to you there, too. 

I'm thinking of my situation upon graduation.  I also needed a bit of time to finish the heavy-lift aircraft competition I was in (like the SAE comp.), before getting to my first "career" job.  I count myself lucky to have landed where I did, a near-perfect match, but most of my classmates weren't so fortunate.  That was back in the 90's, and I don't think anything is much easier for graduates these days, either.  Over the years I helped 2 other guys from my school hired into the company I was working at, but it was very hard keeping track of the rest.

[taylorp035]

Then you may be facing the work-place soon.  Totally different set of challenges.  Good luck to you there, too. 

I landed a full time job 3 months ago at the place I wanted to work.  My good grades, the supermileage car and several good references inside the company made things easier (but by no means a walk in the park).  A 3.9 or 4.0 GPA does not get you into the company I work for.... they were looking for a particular type of person/engineer.

The job fairs for the engineers were pretty good once I became a senior.  I would say that most people got a job of some sort.... many of the jobs required re-locating down south where they need a lot more engineers than up here (Exxon, FMC,....).  All really good paying jobs if you wanted to re-locate.  Some of the local job offerings were much lower on the pay scale.  Non-engineering majors definitely had a much harder time getting a job.  PLET's all pretty much have three job offers without even submitting a resume. 

Having "Penn State Behrend" on the top of my resume holds a lot of weight when compared to other schools, even University Park students.  If I couldn't find a job at one of the ~130+ companies that came up for the fall and then spring career fairs, then I could go to UP where they have somewhere around 1,000....


Here is a picture of why we didn't get as many MPG as we were hoping for...   I have another super blurry picture showing the flame extending about 12" past the end of the ~10" exhaust pipe.  As you could imagine, this is not very efficient    But cool, most definitely!


And a video looking into the combustion chamber while it was running...... just like looking directly at the sun, you should only do this with the proper safety attire on    <--- AKA safety glasses and/or do the looking with a camera!

[SparWeb]

I landed a full time job 3 months ago at the place I wanted to work. 

Then I guess it's time for you to join the big leagues:   www.eng-tips.com 

[taylorp035]

It time to bring this thread back   The rotary valve engine 2.0 will be made soon.  This will be completely homemade, based on a 1940-1950's B&S model N 2 hp engine.  2" stroke X 2" bore.  The new rotary valve head has been designed and the parts have just arrived.  1" diameter rotary valve, which is very large.  9.5:1 compression ratio and a single spark plug.  There are a lot of design improvements and several simplifications that have been made.  The end goal of this engine is to prove the design, not necessarily for high rpm or high horsepower.  If the head works well, a new lower end to the engine will be figured out so speeds can hit 10-12k rpm, from 3600 rpm for the current design.  The valve and carburetor have been sized to handle the future increase in power.

[Bruce S]

This looks like it's gonna get interesting!
Is it once again for school competition?

[SparWeb]

Welcome back, Taylor   

I look forward to seeing this.  And hearing it: somewhere between the piston pulse and the valve whirr.

[taylorp035]

Is it once again for school competition?

Nope.  Personally funded and no rules to go by 

Welcome back, Taylor   

Thanks!  It's been a while since I have had the luxury to play with a windmill.  A new generator will have to be procured for double duty as a dyno and a windmill again.  I might go the extra large brushless outrunner motor route since I own a lot of large scale RC equipment.  I'm thinking of a motor doing double duty as a starter motor and generator, all while being controlled by a radio controller.  That way I can hook up a servo to the throttle on the carb and vary the load without standing too close to the engine... as well as being really cool.

[taylorp035]

Time for some progress photos.  This shows about $200 invested and about 40 hours time of machining (~9 days so far) between my brother and I.  I'm waiting for the carburetor to show up (19mm Mikuni) and I need to get a half link for the #25 chain and probably a new spark plug.  Having a working ignition system is always nice when you are making an experimental engine and don't have a starter motor.


There is a cross bar with some springs and bolts that is missing in this photo.  They will hold down the end of the two side brackets.


Combustion chamber with high temp o-ring.  You can see the mesh size from making the g-code.  It's actually quite smooth.  The peak of the combustion chamber is 0.300" from the deck of the engine.  2" piston diameter.



The lack of ball screws on our mini mill left the half-pipe shape about 0.005" too narrow, so we used the remainder of the precision ground steel and about 1/3 of a tube of valve lapping compound to go the rest of the way on a lathe.  Very smooth surface and most importantly, it is straight.



Here is the valve.  The two port holes are 110 degrees apart, causing 5.6 degrees of "valve overlap".



Breathing capacity is enormous when compared to the stock engine.  This shows the stock intake valve 100% open

[SparWeb]

Any thoughts about a lubrication system?  I know that it's meant to run sporadically, but if wear starts to show up (presumably on the half-pipe channel first) do you have a plan to lubricate?

[electrondady1]

i see one port in the head
i see one diagonal  port in the rotating valve.
does this one angled port do both intake and exhaust?
looking forward to seeing the intake /exhaust manifold perhaps that will enplane