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COMPANY
HISTORY
The
company was founded in 1996 to develop a “clean sheet”
compression-ignition engine for general aviation. A
prototype engine first ran on a static Velocity airframe
in January 1997. Engines (first a prototype and now
pre-production engines) have been running on the DeltaHawk
dynamometer since the end of June 2000. In addition to
continuous monitoring of torque, rpm, oil pressure,
coolant temperatures in and out of the engine, manifold
pressure, exhaust gas pressure, exhaust gas temperature,
crankcase pressure and fuel consumption, our data
acquisition system can produce PV diagrams (combustion
chamber pressure) and needle lift diagrams. Dyno tests of
an R&D engine passed 5,000,000-10,000,000 cycles on
rotating components in November 2001.
Other tests and analyses underway include fuel flow, power
and torque curves, vibration and accelerometer tests, oil
usage, endurance and systems optimization. Tests with a
test trailer include simulated flight profiles of takeoff
and cruise power settings. An engine was installed on a
Velocity airframe and began ground testing in March 2003.
First flight took place on May 3, 2003.
R&D engines for installation development projects were
delivered in 2003 through 2005. |
