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News, facts, and comments on the coming revolution for piston-engine aircraft.

In 1998, one diesel engine flew on a converted airplane for the first time since 1945. Today, close to 4,000 singles and twins are flying. This is the beginning of a worldwide trend which will eventually allow a rebirth of the piston-engined aircraft, around new specs and new missions.

DieselAir Research, Inc., the publisher of The DieselAir Newsletter, offers strategic intelligence services to the aircraft industry, its suppliers and its customers who ambition to benefit from this global change of paradigm which will mean new markets, new concepts, new services, new materials and components… You may be interested in our services if your firm designs and/or manufactures aircraft and components, aero engines, avionics, propellers and engine components, fuel systems or additives, advanced materials, or industry specific machinery for manufacturing of these; or provides aviation services such as fuel production or distribution; flight training, aircraft chartering, maintenance and operations (FBO’s); or airport management and design, traffic control, hangar, materials handling and storage equipment; or consulting and financial services for these industries; or advertising, sales promotion, trade shows, specialized publications.

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News of April 22, 2013

The Cirrus SR2XDH DeltaHawk diesel seems attractive compared with other Cirrus models.



 The Cirrus SR20 retrofitted with the DeltaHawk diesel V4 2-stroke 200HP is designated SR2XDH. DeltaHawk publishes on its website the following specs:


   SR 20
SR 2X DH (1)
SR22
SR22   Turbo
Price
   $332,000
$100,000(2)
$450,000
$525,915





Engine HP
200
200
310
310
Empty Weight lbs.
2080
2040
2225
2320
Gross Weight lbs.
3050
3050
3400
3400
Useful Load lbs.
970
1010
1175
1080
Full Fuel Payload lbs.
634
635
623
528
Fuel Capacity gals
56
56
92
92
Fuel Burn gph / hr @ 75% (3)
11.5
8.9
17.83
17.83
Range nm
627
1067
797
944
Climb Rate @ S/L
              828 fpm
    1000 fpm (3)
        1400 fpm
1400 fpm
Ceiling
17,500’
25,000’
17,500’
25,000’
Max Cruise kts.
156
196
185
219




(1) All numbers are estimated and are subject to change

(2) Targeted conversion price plus your aircraft


(3) Can maintain max climb rate to 18,000'


My comments, comparing, apples for apples, the Cirrus SR of 200HP, Avgas against diesel:
It looks like the diesel version is 40 Lbs. lighter for same power. This is due to the 2-stroke structure. But the full fuel payload comes out the same because Jet fuel is heavier than Avgas.
The fuel burn at 75% power is 22.6% less, but the cruise speed at 75% is higher by 40 kts, due to the higher ceiling. This explains the range of 1067 nm. If the SR2X cruises at same speed as the SR20 of 156 kts, we can safely expect a much lower fuel burn and even longer range.
If I read the tariff right, you will pay $332,000 for a new SR20 and then $100,000 for the DeltaHawk conversion.

posted at 4:59 AM


News of April 14, 2013

OPOC diesel engine development is progressing, but moving away from the aircraft market.



Detroit Bureau publishes: Detroit-based power train company EcoMotors has landed a $200 million deal to produce its innovative OPOC (Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder) motor in China, a deal that initially will see the “breakthrough” engine design used for stationary generator applications – though the U.S. company’s chairman says off-road and commercial use, as well as automotive applications could follow. The OPOC concept has generated significant interest in recent years because of compact size, low emissions and high efficiency. EcoMotors claims it can be as much as 50% more efficient than an advanced turbo-diesel, though the strategic agreement with Zhongding Power, based in Zuancheng, China, may be the real test to prove that advantage in the real world rather than a laboratory test bench. Zhongding plans to begin producing its version of the OPOC in 2014 and hopes to have capacity in place for up to 150,000 of the engines annually – projecting potential revenues of “over US $1 billion.”
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is a key EcoMotors investor. “This agreement is a key milestone in bringing our innovative engine technology to market and underscores the potent disruptive force” EcoMotors claims the OPOC engine can be, according to a statement from CEO Don Runkle. The potential for the engine – some versions of which are small enough to carry in a briefcase – has drawn significant interest since EcoMotors began to go public several years ago.  Among the key investors in the company are Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Silicon Valley’s legendary fund manager Vinod Khosla, of Khosla Ventures. The basic design of EcoMotors’ engine, meanwhile, was developed by Peter Hofbauer, former head of powertrain development at Volkswagen AG. But the basic concept behind it dates back decades and a much less efficient version was once used by the Soviet military, among others.
The suburban Detroit firm has been negotiating deals with a number of possible customers, including one with the big truck maker Navistar that continues to move ahead, Runkle told TheDetroitBureau.com in an e-mail following the announcement of the Chinese deal. But the strategic agreement with Zhongding could be the real breakthrough by putting the first version of the OPOC into production by sometime next year.  The initial application will be for “genset’s,” the executive explained, or stationary generator, “then off-road, then commercial vehicles. We are also in discussions with them for a second smaller engine that would be applicable for passenger cars. We also have three other customer LOI’s (not yet public), two of which are potential pass car applications.” Runkle hinted three “U.S.-based companies” not yet identified are also exploring applications for the OPOC. With its high efficiency, low parts count and claimed ease of manufacturability, the new engine might seem a perfect fit in a world where the conventional internal combustion engine is facing tighter emissions and mileage standards around the world.
That said, EcoMotors still faces an uphill battle. There have been a number of potentially promising alternatives to the time-tested gasoline and diesel engines that dominate the auto industry today, including the Wankel, Stirling and two-stroke. The Wankel, or rotary, recently went out of production when Mazda ended the run of the RX-8 sports car. An ambitious Australian firm, Orbital, set up a plant to produce its version of the rotary near Detroit around the turn of the Millennium, but that project never got underway and Chrysler eventually turned the facility into a conventional engine plant. The Chinese deal could be the real test to see if OPOC is ready to prime time.
Our comments: After first promoting a helicopter design (notably with Eurocopter), then a truck application (with Navistar), OPOC seems to find significant interest in China, but for the mass market of genset’s, later industrial vehicles and possibly automobile. Zhongding Power will invest $200 million aiming at volume of 150,000 a year. This is definitely not the aviation market. For aircraft applications the geometry of the engine is not at all favorable because the double opposed cylinder design means an engine which spreads very wide on both sides of a propeller axle. Unless one adds a bevel transmission gear and shaft, which is heavy, costly, delicate and not very efficient. One mystery around the OPOC engine is its fuel efficiency. The only claim published is “up to 50% more fuel efficient than existing turbo diesels.”  We would love publishing something more accurate such as a figure for Specific Fuel Efficiency in kWh per gram or Lb. of fuel or other.As of now, the FairDiesel project in the UK is the only one claiming at most 150 grams per kWh for small and midrange powers, a figure which is still theoretical but has been validated, and its architecture is ideal for both airplanes ans helicos.

posted at 3:18 AM


News of March 04, 2013

Surprise: Two Cessna 206 (models G and H) equipped with the Centurion-Thielert V8 are flying in France.



I have been invited to visit the Gap-Tallard Airfield in South-eastern France by Charly Baum, and by Icarius-Aérotechnics. Charly is an old subscriber to DieselAir. I first discovered that Gap-Tallard is the most active GA airport in France, while hosting several flight academies, two civilian FBOs, an avionics business and a facility of the French Air Force. Gap-Tallard is 2,000 ft high. It will by 2014 host a new aerospace engineering school which is Charly’s baby after years of lobbying between the airport, the regional university academy and the help of the regional government (A region is the French equivalent of a Laender in Germany and of a State in the U. S.)
Charly is an experienced French pilot and parachute jumper, who has, with his son and associates, his feet in two businesses:
1.       The GAP parachute center, which attracts students and instructors from all over Europe and uses several Pilatus PC6 and one Cessna 206G diesel equipped with the Centurion-Thielert V8 4 liter. Charly also owns personally a magnificent Cessna 206H, also converted to the V8 diesel, refurbished like new, with state of the art avionics. These planes were the reason of my visit since until then I believed that, out of the 7 Thielert V8 diesels built, all were now idle due to lack of spare parts and customer service; and I was wrong.
2.       Icarius, which operates and maintains several Pilatus PC6 STOL high wing, fixed gear tail dragger monoplanes with a 600 to 750 HP turboprop. The PC6 is known in the US as the Fairchild AU23. These are multipurpose planes which are mostly used in Europe for parachute jumping. Icarius also buys, refurbishes and sells PC6 to other operators.
How come that these Cessna 206 are still airworthy? Charly told me the story: He was from the start an enthusiast of the 206 diesel for parachute jumping. He was, in 2007, mandated by the French Parachute Federation to promote the 206 diesel concept as an economical vector for ‘chuting. Compared to the ubiquitous Pilatus which burns 45 gph, it is smaller and much cheaper to operate, and it does have an impressive payload for its size and weight with a take-off weight of 3,800 Lbs.: 800 to 1,100 Lbs. according to fuel load. And it burns 12 gph at 75% power (135 Kts) and 9gph at cruise economy, around 110 Kts. So in 2007-08 he purchased a 206G in Ireland and a 206H in Belgium, and ordered from Thielert the V8 kit which Thielert was just beginning to promote when the firm went Chapter 11.
Charly reports: With the 206 V8 operating at 2,000 ft ASL, they execute 6 ‘chute rounds per hour at 5,400 ft ASL, 3 rounds per hour at 12,000 ft ASL, and 2 rounds per hour at 15,300 ft ASL. The V8 is a bit heavier than the original O-540 Avgas, but a heavy nose actually helps stability for that kind of mission. With extra fuel tanks meaning 120 Gallons total fuel, range with reserves can exceed 1,100 NM. I asked him how he explains that automobile engines havs such a poor reputation when converted to aircraft, he told me very seriously: ‘The Centurion V8 is exactly a Mercedes-Benz V8 diesel 4-liter. I suggest that no one told our two engines that they were now flying…’
But what about the service? I asked him. Charly says that at the time of Thielert’s reorganization under the Centurion flag, Thielert was proposing for the V8 a 100 hour TBO on the usual sensitive add-on: Clutch, gear and HP pump. 100 hour is of course very short, especially at a price well above €11,000, which, says Charly, spends almost exactly the fuel cost saved by diesel on gasoline engine, and was discouraging for most 206 operators. But it was compatible with a parachute operation in which what matters most is producing as many jumps as possible in a day with a reliable, trouble-free plane. And that is what Charly’s 206 is: If the TBO constraint is respected, the engine prove being extremely reliable despite the very harsh conditions of use, with a fast repeat of take-offs, steep climb, level flights and quick descents. His 206G has 750 hours and his 206H, which is not equipped for parachuting, has 200. And ever since 2007 Charly has obtained TBR quick service and delivery from Centurion, to this day.
So what’s going on? We are aware that Centurion-Thielert definitely is a going concern thanks to a very effective restructuring and a methodical policy to make of their engine a highly reliable machine now with a proven, international record. Charly’s experience with execution of the TBR which gave his hop several occasions to actually scrutinize any possible wear and tear damage is that, in fact, the engine could right now accept a TBR of 200 and maybe 300 hours. Why isn’t Centurion proposing again its V8 for 206 refitting, considering that, if more of these engines were flying, Centurion could quickly optimize the TBR kit and drive its cost down. It is up to Centurion to answer…

posted at 8:34 AM

Previous Posts

The Cirrus SR2XDH DeltaHawk diesel seems attractiv...

OPOC diesel engine development is progressing, but...

Surprise: Two Cessna 206 (models G and H) equipped...

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DA42 Fly By Wire progress: A big step towards a gi...

Peter Fines’ report on his home-built Jodel Mascar...

We wish that 2013 will bring you many good surpris...

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How many diesel engines are flying today worldwide...

What Continental Motors is working on looks good i...

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Mission Statement

Every month: news, facts, and comments on the coming revolution for piston-engines aircrafts between 130 and 400 HP: Retrofitting a diesel engine to run on Jetfuel or Kerosene, reduce Gallons/Hour by some 30%, eliminate ignition systems (magnetos, spark plugs) and their problems, eliminate mixture control, increase TBO to 2,400-3,000 hours, increase performance between 6,000 and 12,500 ft., and drastically reduce Operating Costs.

The letter is intended for piston engines aircraft owners, manufacturers, fleet operators and FBOs, re-manufacturers of engines for these aircrafts, manufacturers of engine components and ancillaries, and all professionals acting in decisions of engine exchange or refitting at TBO, in North and South America, Pacific Rim, African continent, and all parts of the world were Avgas, Mogas, Kerosene and Jetfuel are available.

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