<VV> Air-cooled Diesels (No Corvair) - was: V-style corvair engine

[Dale Dewald]

At 09:57 6/06/2008 -0400, Mr Mann wrote:

>lots of examples on diesel air cooled engines, do diesels run at lower 
>operating temperatures in general?

Actually, diesels tend to operate better and more efficiently at higher 
temperatures.  The only real reason to have them operate at "standard" 
temperatures is to preserve oil lubrication and to avoid strength loss of 
the metal components.  In the mid-1980's to 1990's there was a bunch of R & 
D work done to construct a diesel engine from ceramic components (piston, 
cylinder liner, head, etc) that would have no conventional cooling system.

A significant problem, beyond the obvious materials and lubrication 
technology, is that high operating/combustion temperatures lead to high NOx 
emissions--which our EPA heavily regulates.

Dale Dewald
Hancock, MI