PART ONE

Cowling and Cooling

of
Light Aircraft Engines
By John W. Thorp, EAA 1212
909 E. Magnolia, Burbank, Calif.

Lecture Delivered April 13, 1963 Before

Chapter 11, Experimental Aircraft Association Author John Thorp poses with his "Sky Skooter," further
improved with a new engine cowling similar to that used
on the "Navion."

HISTORY Technologically, current small airplane power plants

Although the Wright brothers' first flights in Decem- may be compared to military and air carrier power plants
ber, 1903 were with a liquid-cooled engine, the light weight of the middle 30's. Economics will place some technical
advantage of direct air-cooled engines has been apparent aspects out of our control. However, there is much room
almost from the first. for improvement. Many of the techniques advocated by
Most light airplanes down through history have been researchers of 30 years ago for the improvement of then
powered by air-cooled engines, and it is safe to assume current military and transport power plants are applicable
that virtually all have been plagued by some cooling prob- to little airplanes of today. We can do well to review the
lems. This is because cooling takes engine power that is earlier works of Weick, Biermann, Schey, Brevoort, Camp-
needed for performance. The designer wants the engine bell, Pinkel, Stickle, Silverstein, Manganiello, Theodorsen,
in his plane to cool, but because he wants all the perform- Taylor, and others on this subject.
ance that he can get, he will not tolerate any unnecessary
WHAT IS COOLING?
allocation of cooling power.
Available engine power, on the other hand, is inti- Waste heat from the combustion process is conducted
mately tied to cooling and the output of a given size of through the cylinder wall material to the outer surface of
engine has increased at about the same rate as has the the cylinder where, in direct air cooling, it is wiped off
improvement in cooling technology. by cooling air-flow.
Both airplane performance and engine service life To reduce the quantity of air which would need to
are influenced by how well the designer solves the cooling flow past the surface to hold temperatures to acceptable
air-flow problem. It is all too frequently apparent that structural limits, fins which increase the radiating surface
the designer of small airplanes, both professional and ama- of the cylinder are used. Fin proportions have more often
teur alike, have not given engine cooling the attention it been dictated by manufacturing considerations than by
requires. cooling needs. The problem is to get enough cooling air in
contact with the cooling fins to hold temperatures within
acceptable limits without consuming a disproportionate
amount of cooling horsepower.
Before and during World War I, when airplane speeds
were low and the problems of manufacturing adequately
finned cylinders were mainly yet to be resolved, engine
rotation was employed to provide windage to insure con-
tact of cooling fins with enough cooling air. The rotary
engine cools almost as well running on the ground as it
does flying, and offers a number of other intriguing ad-
vantages. Unfortunately, rotating such a large mass of in-
tricate machinery brings in many other problems and,
except to antique fans, the rotary engine is now only a
nostalgic memory.
(Leo J. Kohn Photo) The motorcycle approach of leaving unbaffled cylin-
An improvement over the previous arrangement, the
modified "Sky Skooter" employed many new ideas in
ders out in the air stream was used for some time. It is
cowling and augmentation. intriguingly simple, but the need for more performance
18 NOVEMBER 1963
through increased engine power and lower power plant
drag pretty well rules out this system for modern design.
Most contemporary light airplane cooling systems
may be characterized as having an internal flow system,
in which the finned cylinders are bathed, and an exterior
shape more or less conforming to the requirements of
the airplane's exterior contours. The power requirements
to provide adequate internal flow should ba as small as
possible, at the same time, the exterior shape of the
cowled engine should offer little or no more drag than
that portion of the airframe which it replaces. These then,
along with good engine operation and adequate service
accessibility, are our objectives in power plant design.
WHAT DOES COOLING COST?
For current contemporary unsupercharged light air-
cooled engines used in most small airplanes today, about
20 cubic feet of air per minute is required to cool to ac-
ceptable temperature limits each brake horsepower being
used. For cylinder finning, as we know it today, this
amount of cooling air-flow will provide adequate cooling, (Photo by John E. Miller)

and provides us with a simple index to design or evaluate One of the most streamlined of radial engine cowl-
ings is always to be found on the Spartan "Executive."
a light airplane power plant.
If the sum of all of the open areas between the fins
of an air-cooled cylinder, capable of putting out 25 horse-
power per cylinder, added up to 8.2 sq. in., and we flow
(20x25) 500 cubic feet of air per minute through the fins,
the velocity through the fins will be 144x500=8800 fpm=
8.2
100 mph=147 fps.
Most small air-cooled engine cylinders will have about
8.2=.325 sq. in. of fin passage area per horsepower, and
25
to flow 20 cfm/hp will require approximately ICO mph
through the baffles. If the passages are smaller, the veloc-
ity will need to be higher. If the passages are more gener-
ous, the velocity can be proportionally less.
We now have an index for proportioning all cooling
air-flow passages. For conservation of en3rgy, we would
like to keep the velocity through the syst2m constant at
all points. This is not possible, but at least at 100 mph, all
passages should have an area of approximately .325 sq. in.
hp for most engines that we will be using. This index can
be refined for a specific engine by determining actual
passage areas and later correction factors for inlets and The original Thorp "Sky Skooter" featured an engine
outlets will be discussed. At least, we know that the cowl- cowling which, while conventional in its louvre openings,
ing inlet and outlet for a 100 hp airplane climbing at was exceptionally clean.
100 mph will be approximately 32.5 sq. in. in area, and
climbing at 65 mph they should be more like 50 sq. in.
Knowing the cooling air-flow quantity and velocity,
we can calculate the power required to cool.
If the total dynamic pressure associated with the re-
quired velocity through the fins is dissipated in producing
the required air-flow, a simple calculation shows a sort
of idealized minimum cooling power requirement.
HP = DV where:
375
D — qA and
q = .00256V2 = Dynamic pressure
A = Passage area in sq. ft.
= .325 = .00226 sq. ft./hp 100 mph
144
HP = .00226x25.6x100-.016 or 1.6% of total hp
375
required to cool at 100 mph velocity
through the baffles.
Actually, we never do nearly this woll. In the first
place, the power is put into the airstream by the pro-
peller, which is 50-60 percent efficient in a climb to pos-
sibly 80 percent efficient at high speed. Than we have
the inlet orifice efficiency, upstream duct efficiency, The cowl opening on this Goodrich "Cougar" allows for
(Continued on next page) an adequate flow of air at various angles of attack.
SPORT AVIATION 19
COWLING AND COOLING . . . pipe to the outlet valve, plus the resistance of the outlet
(Continued from preceding page) valve.
baffle efficiency, downstream duct efficiency and outlet The total internal flow drag of the cooling system is
gill efficiency, each a multiplying factor less than unity the inlet drag, plus the upstream passage drag, plus the
to reduce the overall efficiency. baffle drag, plus the downstream passage drag, plus the
We know of some fan-cooled air-cooled engines that outlet drag.
cool for 5 percent to 6 percent of engine output. Some It is obvious that closing any one valve or collapsing
helicopters are fan-cooled for 8 percent to 10 percent of either pipe will completely stop all hydraulic flow. Just
engine output. so with the air.
The best ram-cooled air-cooled engines in fixed-wing Also, it may be seen that the resistance at any part
aircraft that we know of cool for 8 percent to 12 per- of the passage will have an effect on the total flow, and
cent of the total power available. therefore will have an effect on the flow resistance of
If this is the best that can be done, then it takes each of the other parts. This is also true with an air
little imagination to see poorly designed and executed cooling system. If we restrict the outlet, all internal flow
installations taking twice this amount of power to cool. will decrease, and the drag of upstream elements will re-
If external protruberances to the cowling of a 100 hp duce. One of the functions of cowl flaps is that of a valve
airplane add only a half-square foot of drag area, we soak to reduce cooling air-flow, and drag when the speed is
up about 4 percent more power in climb and as much as increased and therefore need for cooling is reduced. If
16 percent at high speed. cooling fins are small, resistance at the baffles will im-
Paradoxically the cleaner we make an airplane de- pede cooling air-flow regardless of inlet or outlet con-
sign, the larger percentage the cooling horsepower ditions. If the inlet is too small, or in an unfavorable flow
becomes. location, nothing done to baffles or outlet will have much
On a 1930 biplane design, it was acceptable to leave effect on cooling.
the cylinders exposed. The Beechcraft "Bonanza" has very The five series resistance system analogy is, of
low cooling drag, but on such a clean airplane, the state course, an over-simplification, but it is a useful concept
of the art in power plant design is not consistent with the in analyzing cooling system problems.
refinement of the rest of the airplane. On some other-
wise clean airplane designs, the power plant drag (cooling POSSIBLE AREAS OF POWER PLANT IMPROVEMENT
and external) may account for 30 percent to 50 percent All refinement of an air-cooled power plant installa-
of the airplane drag and power required. No wonder tion will start with the baffle.
airplane designers frequently miss achieving performance Leaks in the baffle area will mean that the cowl in-
expectations. Refinement of power plant installation on a let and outlet will flow more air with attendant power
clean airplane is worthwhile. Conversely, on a dirty air- consumption, with no improvement in cooling. Non-cooling
plane it may not pay off. If your airplane design is other- air-flow in most power plant installations will nearly
wise already refined, what area of improvement offers equal the legitimate cooling air-flow. Air that does not
such large rewards? flow through fins or a radiator is wasted air-flow for all
WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF A COOLING SYSTEM? practical purposes. Seal up the gaps and make baffles fit
The elements of a conventional direct air cooling tightly against the cylinders, at least at outlets.
system as applied to a small airplane may be generalized NACA L-767, issued originally as advanced restricted
as follows; see Fig. 1. Report 3H16 by Silverstein and Kinghorn, show means of
improving baffle design. These baffles will reduce cool-
EXTERNAL AIR FLOW ing horsepower required for a given level of cooling over
those normally used on light aircraft.
When applied to one bank of a four cylinder engine,
these baffles might look like Fig. 2.

INTERNAL CYLINDER
ARFLOW BAFFLE

K p UPSTREAM DOWNSTREAM
UJ o DUCT u_:o DUCT
-Jet:
3
CD
UJ
ce

FIGURE I
H ianr

The internal flow system is analogous to a hydraulic COOLING

system with three valves and two connecting pipes.
The resistance to fluid flowing through the hydraulic AIR
system is equal to the sum of the resistances of the inlet FIGURE 2
valve, plus that of the pipe to the baffle valve, plus the
resistance of the baffle valve, plus the resistance of the
20 NOVEMBER 1963
 Up-flow cooling has other problems, but just consid-
ering the air inlet alone, the early "Navion" cowling was
one of the best yet devised for a horizontally opposed
light airplane engine.
A large diameter spinner covering much of the non-
effective propeller shank will minimize the out-flow pro-
peller problem. A propeller spinner must be carefully
designed or it will introduce service problems out of pro-
portion to cooling and drag benefits.
The cooling air-flow outlet on most small airplanes
shows little design consideration. It is almost as though
just before first flight someone decided that cooling air
This trim appearing fiberglas cowl on this "Cougar" had to get out, and obliged by snipping out a hole in the
typifies the present day approach to the problem.
bottom of the cowl. The outlet is in the bottom usually
to serve the dual purpose of allowing for drainage of en-
These baffles accelerate the air as it flows through them. gine oil seepage. Since heat rises, it would be easier to
Cool air is entrained with the hot, and the turbulence pro- get it out the top. Of course, no one relishes the thought
duced minimizes stratification which reduces conduction of oil on the windshield, and if the outlet were just ahead
of hot air next to cylinders. Diffuser outlets minimize of the windshield the pressure build-up in front of the
pressure losses at the baffle outlets. windshield would reduce the desirability of the top outlet
No part of an airplane is subject to more conflicting anyway. However, for engine nacelles on wings, there
design considerations than the nose cowling of a con- seems to be little excuse for not having the cooling air
temporary small airplane. As a generalization, it is prob- outlet at the top of the cowl.
ably safe to say that the inlets are of the wrong size Outlets at the sides and bottom of the cowling can
and in the wrong location. This is because no single fixed be improved by bringing cooling air-flow out parallel
inlet can be ideal for such a range of angles and veloci- to the slipstream instead of perpendicular to it. Openings
ties. To make things even more difficult, the propeller in should be of an area to bring cooling air velocity out at
front of the nose cowl stirs up chaos in "big gobs." airplane velocity at some airplane speed where drag
Nose cowls tend to be blunt because engine makers should be at a minimum.
put the front cylinder right up as close to the propeller If all little airplanes had a speed for best climb of
plane as it can be placed. The blunt nose cowl stops most ICO mph, much of the difficulty of designing a good out-
of the air in its tracks. It is then given rotational velocity let would disappear because the ram alone at 100 mph
by the "clubby" shank of the propeller. Centrifugal force will cool contemporary opposed unsupercharged light air-
due to rotation gives it outward velocity so that some of plane engines, and the outlet would only need to get air
the ram pressure recovery of the cowl inlet is lost. out smoothly.
Also, most inlets are near the top of the cowling for Because most light airplanes have their speed for
baffling convenience. At high angles of attack (climb con- best climb (critical cooling condition) at something less
ditions where cooling is critical) flow over the top lip of than 100 mph, ram pressure will be less than the usually
the cowling is accelerated, reducing pressure and, in some required 5 in. of water pressure difference between up-
cases, causing the air to flow out at the top instead of in. stream and downstream side of baffles, and less than at-
Evidence is pretty clear that the cooling air inlet or in- mospheric pressure is required at the cooling air outlet
lets should be below the center line of the propeller for to make up for ram deficiency. Low pressure is usually
maximum inlet pressure in the critical climb condition. produced by accelerating the air flowing over the outlet
Probably a better than conventional arrangement would to something more than free stream. To many aerody-
result from having two inlets 120 degrees apart below the namicists, the flare on the cowling outlet gill is anathema.
center line of the propeller, and with this use a three- It does for sure increase the drag of all parts of the air-
blade propeller. This way both inlets would be subject plane downstream by causing many of them to operate in
to a pressure rise due to blade passage at the same time. turbulent, if not separated, flow. It is not so sure that it
The result would be increased baffle flow where, with a will produce the required low pressure, because separ-
two-blade propeller the pressure rise in one inlet would ated flow is largely unpredictable, and frequently a high
cause out-flow of the other. pressure wake will show up just where the pressure
A single low inlet is probably a good compromise ar- needs to be low. A smooth curve on the gill to accelerate
rangement for a two-blade propeller if the inlet width flow is forgiveable, if this is the only way that the re-
can be relatively narrow and with sufficient volume be- quired baffle pressure can be attained. The usual stalled
hind it in a plenum chamber so that the inward flow, due flap on the outlet is nauseous. Real performance gains
to a passing propeller blade, does not turn around and may be had just by eliminating it.
come out again before the next blade causes another (CONTINUED NEXT MONTH)

pressure rise.
With a long propeller shaft, a single low inlet, which
takes no gain from pressure rise due to blade passage,
and which is outside the influence of pressure reduction
due to propeller shank windage (rotating air mass), is
probably a good choice. However, this is only true if the
extra distance of air travel and extra turns that the air
must make before getting to the cylinders are not ex-
cessive.
The low opening with up-cooling air-flow, as used
on early "Navions" and "Swifts," would have been more
successful if it had not been for the exhaust stacks which
thoroughly heated cooling air before it got to the cylin-
GEE R w - If yW-
ders. C*tt fly J dhVe it /
SPORT AVIATION 21
PART 2

Cowling and Cooling

of
Light Aircraft Engines
By John W. Thorp, EAA 1212
909 E. Magnolia, Burbank, Calif.

Lecture Delivered April 13, 1963 Before

Chapter 11, Experimental Aircraft Association The Travel Air 2000, with its liquid-cooled Curtiss OXX6
engine, made a good attempt at cowling for its day.
Note the radiator extending beneath the engine.

THE EJECTOR COOLING SYSTEM Where tractor airplanes equipped with unsuper-
For airplanes that have speeds for best climb which charged air-cooled engines have speeds for best climb of
are too slow to cool with flow induced by ram pressure over 100 mph, ejector cooling systems are not needed and
alone, an alternative to the flared outlet gill as a means therefore not recommended.
of reducing outlet pressure is the ejector pump. In this Tractor airplanes with low climbing airspeed, pusher
system waste exhaust energy is harnessed to augment the airplanes and helicopters can use a properly designed
ram cooling air-flow by reducing pressure on the down- ejector cooling system to good advantage.
stream side of the baffles, thereby increasing flow through In designing an ejector cooling system for an air-
the baffles. plane with an unsupercharged aircooled engine, the fol-
The ejector cooling system is appealing, because it lowing points should be kept in mind:
promises something for nothing. Actually, very few suc- 1. Use the fewest practical number of mixing tubes to
cessful ejector cooling systems have ever been designed get the largest number of exhaust events into each tube
and, except in unique circumstances, the obvious ad- per unit of time.
vantages are overshadowed by the serious technical prob- 2. Consistent with No. 1, use an exhaust system impos-
lems that are involved. ing the least back pressure at the exhaust ports.
The following is a list of some of the ejector cooling 3. Make all components subject to pulsating flow free
system's advantages and disadvantages: from flat surfaces. Pipes should be round.
1. Ejector cooling systems can reduce cooling drag to 4. Provide for engine service accessibility.
zero, and even provide a small amount of thrust in 5. Plan to provide sound deadening treatment for all
climb condition of high power and low speed. surfaces downstream of the exhaust nozzles.
2. Ejector cooling systems are inherently constant tem- Since design data on ejector cooling systems is scarce
perature systems, because both cooling requirements and frequently conflicting, it seems to be advisable to
and pumping action are functions of engine power outline a procedure for the proportioning of such a sys-
output. Without attention or use of controls, engines
keep warm during low power, high speed let-down.
3. Ejector cooling systems are lighter and cheaper than EXHAUST NOZZLE
fan cooling systems for pusher installations or heli- EXHAUST GAS
copters.
4. Ejector cooling systems cannot be designed by appli-
cation of classical ejector pump theory, because of the
intermittent flow nature of the exhaust gas.
5. In terms of exhaust gas energy recovery, ejector cool-
ing systems are very inefficient. This is because of in-
termittent flow and because, with a few cylinders and
lack of usable space, ejector cooling systems do not
normally conform to optimum proportions.
6. Engine power with short stacks suitably nozzled for
ejector cooling is frequently less than can be ob-
tained with optimum (tuned) exhaust collectors.
7. Ejector cooling systems tend to be structurally self V.BAFFLE
destroying because of pulsating flow. -CYLINDER
8. Ejector cooling systems are relatively noisy, although
some muffling is possible.
9. Ejector cooling systems frequently complicate service FIGURE 3
accessibility problems.
10 DECEMBER 1963
 A new idea was tried by Dan Dudash when he mounted
this cowling on his "Tailwind." It features engine cooling
through augmenter tubes, with the cold air entering
through the carburetor air intake. Cold air is drawn down
past the cylinders into the augmenter tubes, where the
exhaust flow helps to maintain air circulation.

This 1961 version of the Cessna "Skylane" employs cowl

flaps for use in higher engine temperature conditions.
The flaps are shown in open position for taxiing.

tern. Fig. 3, a schematic diagram, shows the elements of an

ejector cooling system.
The mixing tubes of an ejector cooling system have
the greatest influence on the effectiveness of the system.
so should be given first consideration in the design pro-
cedure. These pipes must flow all the cooling air, plus the
exhaust gas. The combined flow should meet the adjacent
air-flow at free stream velocity for minimum drag at some
critical speed. This is usually the climb condition.
One way to eliminate any problems with a cowl is to
Most contemporary air-cooled light airplane engines eliminate the cowl altogether. Many of the older aircraft
will burn about .55 Ibs./fuel/bhp/hr. The fuel-air ratio utilizing radial engines, had the massive engine fully
will be about 13 or 14 to 1 at full power, so we can esti- exposed as does this Flaglor "High Tow."
mate the exhaust flow. Assume that each horsepower
requires 4x.55 = 7.7 Ibs. of fuel and air per hour = have an exhaust emission in each pipe at all times to
7.7 = .128 Ibs. per minute and if each cubic foot of avoid flash back (reverse flow) or a short circuiting of in-
60" tended flow pattern.
exhaust gas weighs .070 Ibs., the exhaust flow equals
.128^= 1.83 cu. ft./min. per hp. If our 100 hp engine turns 2750 rpm in the 80 mph
.070" climb, and we have a mixing tube for each of its four
If the cooling air-flow equals 20 cu. ft./min., and the cylinders, there would be 1375 exhaust events per min-
exhaust flow is 1.83, the emission from the mixing tubes ute in each pipe. The velocity of flow in each pipe is
is 21.83 or 22 cu. ft./min./hp. 80 x 88 = 7030 ft./min., so each pipe would need to be
A 100 hp airplane climbing at 80 mph will emit 2200 7030 = 5.1 ft. long to contain two exhaust emissions. If
cubic feet of combined air and exhaust flow/min. and a 1375
total mixing tube area of 2200 = .312 sq. ft. will be re- all four cylinders fire into one pipe, the length would bo
80x88 J7030 = 1.28 ft. A cross-over exhaust system firing into
quired. This is .312 x 144 = 45 sq. in., and if all flow is 2x2750
from one pipe Dia. = V 45 =V57.3 = 7.6 in. or if two pipes would require 7030 = 2.55 ft. long pipes. If a
.7854 2750
from 2 pipes, each will need to be .707 x 7.6 = 5.4 in. simple exhaust system connecting adjacent cylind2rs and
in diameter. Four pipes would each ba .707 x 5.4 = firing into two pipes is used, the pipes will need to be
3.8 in. in diameter. longer. This is because adjacent cylinders of a four cyl-
A similar analysis can be made for any size engine inder engine fire 180 deg. of crank travel apart, and then
and any number of mixing tubes. the bank does not fire again for 360 deg. During the
The length of the mixing tube is the most important "down" time, it is easier for air to flow back up the pipe
single proportion of an ejector cooling system. For steady than to come down through the baffles, so while one bank
flow ejector pumps, the optimum ratio of length to diam- is firing it is pulling air back through the other pips in-
eter is 6 to 7, but 5 to 8 will usually work satisfactorily. stead of pulling it through the baffles. To avoid such
When we deal with intermittent flow, it is necessary to (Continued on next page)

SPORT AVIATION 11
 the matter of 1 of a second, makes it nearly impossible
200
to effectively harness any part of the tremendous energy
release.
We have already estimated exhaust emission at 1.83
The Ford A con- cu. ft./min./hp. Running at 25 hp/cyl. each nozzle is flow-
versions, such as ing exhaust gas at the rate of 1.83 x 25 = 46 cu. ft./min.
on the Russert- A 1.25 in. diameter nozzle has been used on such an en-
Pietenpol, present-
ed quite a bit of
gine without evidence of excessive back pressure or power
drag with both the loss. The area of the 1.25 in. diameter nozzle is .7854 x
engine block and 1.25 sq. in. = 1.22 sq. in. = 1.22 = .0085 sq. ft.
the radiator expos- 144
ed to the a i r -
stream.
The average exhaust velocity is 46 = 5400 ft./min.
.0085
(Leo J. Kohn Photo) or 5400 = 90 ft./sec. However, the time the exhaust valve
60
is open is approximately ¥4 the total time, so the
average nozzle velocity is 4 x 90 = 360 ft./sec. The peak
velocities are much higher.
It is obvious that the interchange of exhaust energy
to the cooling air is not going to be efficient.
COWLING AND COOLING . . . It is thought that the best approach is to start with
(Continued from preceding page) an exhaust port size nozzle and, during tests, experiment
short circuiting, the mixing tubes for this system will need with nozzle size reduction, checking cooling performance
to be 540 as long as the single cylinder pipe or against engine performance.
720 Nozzle shapes other than round have been used.
.75 x 5.1 = 3.82 ft. These are most frequently in the form of a cross. These
Actually, the foregoing examples are somewhat over- do provide slightly better velocity interchanges, but for
simplified. The 100 hp four cylinder engine would prob- intermittent flow ejectors, probably are not significantly
ably be driving a fixed pitch propeller designed to absorb better than round.
100 hp at 2750 rpm at maximum speed instead of climb. Conical diffusers on the ends of mixing tubes having
In the climb, the rpm might be more like 2500 and the a slope of sides of 7 to 8 deg., and a length approaching
power closer to 90 hp. The lower power would reduce the that of the mixing tube, will greatly increase the pump-
diameters for 80 mph flow by a factor = V.90 = .95, ing effectiveness of an ejector cooling system. For sta-
but the lengths would need to increase by a factor of tionary installations and helicopters they are highly rec-
2750 = I.I. ommended. Because of drag, they cannot be used on
2500 airplanes.
Further, it is likely that the pipes would be made Using diffusers on the ends of mixing tubes, station-
even smaller in diameter to reduce the cooling air-flow ary air-cooled engines and air-cooled engines in helicop-
and drag at high speed at only a slight loss in cooling in ters have been cooled without fans or any means other
the critical climb condition. than the ejector pump. This system has application pos-
A mixing tube velocity of 100 mph for a climbing sibilities on a variety of ground vehicles as well.
speed of 80 mph is probably a good compromise. This COWL FLAPS
would provide a slight amount of cooling air-flow thrust A means of assisting ram pressure in cooling air-
in the climb, and would introduce negligible cooling drag plane engines in a climb, which is more common than the
at high speed. ejector pump, is the cowl flap. Cowl flaps have many de-
Cooling air expands as it is heated, making the sirable features, but they also introduce complications
theoretical duct sizes slightly larger than shown by these which have kept them off most small airplanes. It is
simplified calculations. The heating of the air theoret- thought that, in the light of the general trend of improve-
ically provides a source of additional thrust, but these ment in cleanliness of modern light airplanes, cowl flaps
refinements are largely of academic interest only, be- deserve a re-appraisal as a means of further improving
cause hardware to take advantage of them would need to performance.
be intricate and precise beyond practical limits. If in climb condition at 80 mph, 10 percent of the en-
Exhaust nozzles for ejector cooling systems are a gine's power is required by the cooling system, at 120
subject for a paper in themselves. mph, the cooling power becomes 15 percent, assuming no
Because many piston engines can tolerate consider- increase in cooling air-flow. Actually, the cooling air-flow
able exhaust back pressure with no significant loss in will increase due to the 225 percent increase in ram pres-
power, there is a feeling that the exhaust should be sure from the 50 percent increase in air speed, unless
nozzled to increase its velocity, thereby reducing the steps are taken to prevent it, further increasing cooling
diameter of the mixing tubes and increasing thrust po- power. This is in face of the fact that less power is re-
tential at a given cooling level. quired to fly level at 120 mph than for maximum climb at
It is true that in the steady state ejector pump, the 80 mph. If the airplane were very clean, it might have a
ratio of nozzle velocity to mixing tube velocity is a major top speed of 160 mph, in which case the power plant
design parameter. Nozzling the exhaust is a way to ad- drag would account for 20 percent of the total engine
just velocity ratios to optimum. However, for the inter- power.
mittent flow ejectors with large velocity fluctuations, it The power required to overcome a fixed drag coef-
seems to be relatively useless to attempt to determine ficient varies as the cube of the speed — this is because
nozzle size for optimum velocity ratios. drag varies as the square of the speed and power required
The very nature of the exhaust flow with super- = DV. Cooling drag does not vary as the square of the
sonic velocities as the exhaust valve opens, to zero 375.
velocity or even a reverse flow as the valve closes, all in (Continued on bottom of next page)

12 DECEMBER 1963
 PLATING PRECAUTIONS
By Charles Lasher, EAA 1419
1430 W. 29th St., Hialeah, Fla.
A MATEUR AIRCRAFT builders should be very cautious
I\- about chromium and cadmium plating. Seeing highly
attractive plated parts on other airplanes, the temptation
is to have similar parts of one's own airplane plated.
But, there's more to it than meets the eye! Non-
structural parts, such as engine rocker arm covers, wheel
hub caps, door handles and so on, can be plated by any
commercial plating shop with no precautions other than
what may be needed to obtain an attractive job.
Structural parts which are to be plated should be
taken only to a shop which specializes in, and is equipped
to do, industrial plating, as opposed to simple decorative
plating. The kind of work coming under the industrial (Leo J. Kohn Photo)
plating classification includes plating done to protect parts An example of a highly decorative effect, which plating
from corrosion, to increase the wear resistance of parts, brings to an aircraft, can be seen in this Druine "Turbu-
to build parts up to certain dimensions, to repair old lent", where all of the landing gear struts are chrome
parts by building up worn spots, and so on. plated, as well as the engine parts.
The higher the grade of steel used for a part, the
more important it is to have such an expert shop do the
plating. Improper chemical content of plating solutions
—and there are many kinds in use — and improper pro-
cedures in doing the plating will often suffuse hydrogen
ions into the steel and make it become brittle. Most of
the hydrogen can be removed by heat treating, hence the
importance of taking the work to a shop which under-
stands such advanced plating processes and is equipped
with ovens of suitable size to heat plated parts to 300
deg. F or more.
In general, don't plate structural parts just to make
them look nice. If you must plate, pick an ethical shop
and make sure they know that they are plating aircraft
parts. Be cautious with steel parts such as chrome moly
and anything harder. Never replate hard steel items such
as streamlined wires, bolts, bearings, AN hardware, rocker (Leo J. Kohn Photo)
arms, etc. If for any reason plating of such items seems Special care should be given to plating of structural
essential, consult real experts first. A parts, such as the "I" struts on this Mong "Sport."

COWLING AND COOLING . . . ram pressure for cooling is not available or is inade-
(Continued from preceding page) quate to cool properly.
speed, because the flow is normally restricted by the in- IV. Cowl flaps can provide worthwhile increases in per-
let, the baffles, and the outlet and cooling power varies formance and can increase engine service life through
only slightly more than directly proportional to speed. better cooling.
If we can reduce the flow as power is reduced and V. Most existing power plant installations can be made
speed is increased, we can further reduce cooling power. more satisfactory by attention to the following detail
If we could vary any or all the cooling air-flow re- items:
sistances, we could control the cooling air-flow. Varying a) Tightening up baffle system. Any air that travels
the inlet or baffles would be difficult. But controlling from the ram pressure side without passing
the outlet with cowl flaps is relatively easy. through cylinder fins or oil cooler passages hurts
While cowl flaps do produce a reduction in outlet cooling two ways.
pressure, when open, thereby augmenting ram pressure 1. By reducing pressure drop across baffles, there-
in producing cooling air-flow at low air speeds, the prin- by reducing potential flow.
cipal justification for cowl flaps is the adjustment of 2. By diverting flow from productive cooling flow
cooling air flow to need at higher speeds. A low-drag paths.
cooling air outlet which is variable can do much to mini- b) Improving structure of baffles and cowling. Th2se
mize the high percentage of cooling air drag of a clean power plant parts take heavy abuse, yet character-
airplane. istically are flimsy. They crack and wear out, caus-
SUMMARY ing serious air leaks. Make the cowling and baffles
I. Real improvement in airplane performance and more structurally as good as the rest of the airplane.
satisfactory engine performance may be had by re- c) Being realistic about engine motion and by provid-
fining virtually any contemporary small plane power ing flexible joints where th3y are required to allow
plant installations now to be seen. normal engine motion in the mount.
II. Technical data for refinement is well documented in d) Providing easy access to servicing points of the
N.A.C.A. Report and Engineering Journals. power plant, so that engine installations will be
III. Ejector cooling systems should only be used where properly inspected and serviced. A
SPORT AVIATION 13