Quote:
Originally Posted by Christ
Thing is, any piston engine with more than 2 cylinders could start with air injection... Any rotary engine, including single rotors, can also start this way.
The pressure necessary could be generated, on a turbo engine, by adding a separate accumulator tank to the intake manifold with a check valve. Turbo spools to twenty psi or so, fills the volume in the tank. Later, when the engine should restart, air is injected to whichever cylinder is highest in the stroke after tdc. Rotary, just blow some air into the (closed) inlet manifold...
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on the Ship i was stationed on we had Emergency Diesel Generator Sets that were air started with a combination of a large air motor and what we call "Jet Assist" (might be called that elsewhere but i'm not familiar with Diesel engines other than these I speak of), a solenoid valve opens when power is lost sending air to the air motor and the jet assist which shoots large amounts of air through the compressor of the Turbo Charger (to give an initial boost of air pressure into the engine and also to spool up the turbo). Once the engine speed is up to proper idle speed a small fly-weight (centrifugal) governor actuates a lever action switch which allows current flow from a small PMA (permanant magnet alternator) to the ECU and the Generator (the Diesel is purely self sustaining until the ECM powers up, mech fuel pump, the PMA powers the glow plugs, etc.), as well as to the solenoid the started the process. once the generator set is loaded a standby air compressor is started if required to recharge the air flasks where the high pressure air is stored.