Elsbett engine
You have to keep the time in mind. In 1975, the diesel engine was considered a loyal companion, also relatively economical, but also a bit rough, even in luxurious Mercedes vehicles, and there was no trace of the
performance of today's turbo engines with direct injection.
And then someone became known who installed a three-cylinder in the Mercedes with a displacement of 1.45 liters and 66 kW (90 hp). As I said, direct injection has been around for ages, but only for trucks in the form of
MAN's M process. The car had to be content with antechambers.
Anyone who was interested in diesel engines even back then was wide awake immediately. Especially since the inventor, Ludwig Elsbett, was a deserving veteran who had already developed diesel engines for Junkers
aircraft works in 1937. Mind you, as a rule, such an engine was always fed with petrol at the time.
Elsbett used all the technical aids that made his engines more efficient. There was the two-stroke process for more power strokes with the same size and the principle of two pistons running against each other in the same
cylinder (opposed-piston engine).
Although this required two crankshafts, it saved cylinder heads because the intake and exhaust were controlled by slots in the cylinder wall. The direct-injection diesel engine was very well suited as a two-stroke engine
because it could work with an enormous excess of air when scavenging, which of course required supercharging.
Between then and 1975 a so-called wobble plate engine. My studies were also accompanied by one. Cylinders arranged in a circle rotated together past a stationary cylinder head via a disk and connecting rods with balls
and sockets.
Depending on the inclination of the disc, there was more or less stroke and compression. And so, on the way to BDC, each piston took in air via the inlet just opened in the head, received injection at its TDC and expelled
again at a different point in the cylinder head.
This is where Elsbett's search for the multi-fuel engine came into play. Always, especially in times of war, diesel engines have been converted into multi-fuel engines, which even had a kind of spark plug for petrol operation.
In such times you had to take the fuel that was available.
All this experience was now in that three-cylinder, but this time also as an answer to the oil price crisis. It should therefore burn vegetable oil, if possible without first converting it to bio-diesel. But at the same time as little as
possible. To this end, the cylinder head and piston made of steel contributed, the latter being almost commonplace in diesel engines today.
The 'duothermic combustion' should take place in the middle of the combustion chamber if possible, the fuel should not burn off in layers from the wall, certainly not from those of the cylinders. The basic principle was to emit
at the same time as little heat as possible to the outside with all possible fuels.
The heating capacity of modern diesel engines, which is often relatively modest today, is due to this principle. In the Elsbett engine, this was ensured by a heat exchanger operated with engine oil. The most exclusive
possible combustion in the center was brought about by swirl, via specially shaped intake ports and the direction of the injection spray.
The heating capacity of modern diesel engines, which is often relatively modest today, is due to this principle. In the Elsbett engine, this was ensured by a heat exchanger operated with engine oil. The most exclusive
possible combustion in the center was brought about by swirl, via specially shaped intake ports and the direction of the injection spray.
Then the piston also helped with a spherical indentation in its interior. Admittedly, some of this had been adopted for the petrol engine, especially at that time, for example by allowing the piston to get very close to the cylinder
head. But in its entirety, the Elsbett engine has never really been accepted.
Even today, people are happy to certify its economy, but the typical sluggish behavior of very lean-running engines to load requirements and its problems with cold starts are also seen as disadvantages. According to
information in Wikipedia, an attempt to introduce the engines in Brazil failed.
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