turbomotor,
Remember when we were using that prototype 20ksi common rail system from DTC (now known as Exergy) on the TRC engine back in about 1993? Man, was that system crude! I remember the control box DTC provided for it consisted of three knobs: one for rail pressure, one for BOI, and one for PW.
Worst of all, after every rebuild we'd spend hours chasing leaks in the high-pressure plumbing. The drill usually went like this:
step 1- motor engine up to speed using dyno.
step 2- turn knob to slowly increase rail pressure.
step 3- hit emergency stop on dyno controls when test cell is instantly filled with super-atomized fuel cloud (thus becoming a potential fuel-air bomb) due to 20,000psi fuel rail leak.
step 4- climb out from under desk, take fingers out of ears, change underwear, fix leak, and repeat steps 1-3.
And getting that TRC engine to light-off with its 12:1 compression ratio was always pretty exciting. We would motor the engine up to speed, set the BOI and PW, and then slowly bring up the rail pressure. When that 92 cubic inch single cylinder TRC engine, with its 8 atm of boost, would finally light-off, it would create an un-godly roar, shake the control room, and cause everyone in there to jump a foot into the air. We had to wear ear plugs even in the control room, and the noise and vibration were so bad that you felt physically fatigued after only about 1 hour of running.
Other than that, it was great fun! Check out Marius' "objective" technical write-up on the program. I was the guy running the engine and strangely I don't recall most of this:
Regards,
Terry