Most complex engine design
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Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 18,488
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From: The Big, Oregon
Most complex engine design
The award goes to the Bristol Hercules sleeve valve engine:
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jan 2005
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Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,228
Likes: 5
From: Running Springs CA
While not slide valve, the 28 cylinder Pratt and Whitney R-4360 "corncob" is the most complex engine I've seen. The B-36 had six of them. That's 336 spark plugs per "tuneup"!
Aircraft engines developed in the 1930's and 1940's were so complex because they were pushing the envelope of power and efficiency with virtually unlimited war budgets. Jets rendered all this technology obsolete in less than a decade.
http://books.google.com/books?id=jiQ...support&f=true
Note in the lower drawing that the supercharger appears to be driven by a complicated planetary gear and fluid coupling arrangement.
Aircraft engines developed in the 1930's and 1940's were so complex because they were pushing the envelope of power and efficiency with virtually unlimited war budgets. Jets rendered all this technology obsolete in less than a decade.
http://books.google.com/books?id=jiQ...support&f=true
Note in the lower drawing that the supercharger appears to be driven by a complicated planetary gear and fluid coupling arrangement.
