Re: Pressurized systems


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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 15:22:10 :

In Reply to: Re: Pressurized systems posted by Kaegi [24.16.253.154] on Sunday, November 27, 2011 at 14:42:27 :

What you've basically said is that efficiency isn't everything to you, and that changing just one part of a system without considering the big picture isn't necessarily an improvement.

What I said is that the pressurized systems of modern vehicles have advantages other than simply allowing a smaller radiator. I wasn't saying we should retrofit PWs with tiny, pressurized radiators. What can't be argued is that all the energy that's being exhausted into the air via the radiator is energy that can't be used to move the vehicle. That waste heat starts with heat going into the cylinder walls during the combustion cycle, and the hotter those cylinder wall are, the less heat goes into them. The engineers knew this back in the 1930s, but no doubt concluded that with metallurgy what it was back then, with engine longevity already pretty low (compared to today) and with gas at 10-15 cents a gallon, it wasn't worth raising the initial cost or sacrificing engine life just to save a little gas.

I have a 1958 5 kW gas-powered generator set that uses a water-cooled non-pressurized 65 cu in 4-cylinder Hercules flathead motor cooled via a radiator that's twice the size of the one on my 1994 Honda Civic. It does indeed make some of the energy in the gasoline into electricity, but it makes the vast majority of it into heat. I spent a lot of time getting it running and then concluded that it was completely impractical in this day of $3.50/gal gas. But yes, it can probably keep itself cool in the hottest desert heat.



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