We were rained out of our test flying last night, and probably will be again tonight. This is very disappointing, as every day I feel like we’re learning more and getting closer to solving our oil temperature issues. What we have done in preparation for that next test flight is installed vortex generators ahead of the engine and oil cooler NACA inlets, and mounted pitot tubes in both of the oil cooler ducts (inlet and outlet) and connected them to a digital manometer. This will allow us to optimize our ducting to get the best cooling with the (potentially) smallest ducts possible. My oil temperature probes to check cooler inlet and outlet temps (and thus total drop across the cooler) should be in tonight, which will be a big help as well. We’re also looking to add a bump in front of our nose cooler similar to what Rene Dugas has on his airplane, which I believe that will help pull or allow the air to exit the cooler. We will mock this up and tape it to the fuselage to test it out. Sadly, it looks like my Positech oil cooler, which I expect will be a huge improvement, won’t ship until 17 June.

Posted By: Brett Ferrell
Wednesday June 9th, 2010 at 9:46 PM

Categories: Blog
Tags: Blog

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