L.P.G. Cuts Wear of Engines
Page 60
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OUTSTANDING reductions in engine wear, as a result of operating on liquefied petroleum gas, were claimed by a number of makers of mechanical-handling equipment at a demonstration in Birmingham last week organized by Shell-Mex and B.P. Gases, Ltd., 76-78 Strand, London, W.C.2.
According to a technical representative of I.T.D., Ltd., Webb Lane, Birmingham, 28, one of the company's fork-lift trucks was operated for 1,500 hours by the Austin
Motor Co., Ltd., with This Hyster appliance of negligible wear of Carreras, Ltd., runs on
the converted petrol L.P.G. contained in a engine. bottle mounted behind the driving position. The A detailed inspecengine has an 11 to 1 tion at this stage recompression ratio. vealed that maximum vealed that maximum cylinder bore wear was less than 0.0005 in., that the valves were in good order, and that reduction in the viscosity of the lubricant was negligible. The sump oil had not been changed during the period.
Claims by other manufacturers showed that the period between major overhauls may be increased by up to three times or more by using bottled gas, compared pith operating on petrol, and that the running cost of a gas-fuelled vehicle is comparable to that of an oil-engined machine if the liquefied gas is supplied in bulk.
The majority of vehicles demonstrated was equipped with engines of the standard petrol-driven type converted to operation on liquefied butane or propane gas, but in the case of a Hyster 4,000-1b. fork-lift .truck, shown by Fred Myers, Ltd., 24 Bruton Street, London, W.1, the engine was specially designed for operating on gas and had a compression ratio of Ii to I. In normal applications the compression ratio of a butane-powered engine can be raised to 8.5 to 1, and an increase to about 9.5 to I is possible if the engine is to be run on propane.
Conversion of a standard I.T.D. petrolengined fork-lift truck to operate on bottled gas was demonstrated by the Lipton LP Carburetter Co., Ltd., Wooburn Green, Bucks, and the work was completed by a skilled mechanic and two unskilled assistants in under 15 minutes. Final adjustment of the gas carburetter to obtain Maximum economy was made with the aid of an exhaust-gas analyser.
Apart from an increase in working life and reduced fuel costs, compared with operation on petrol, the use of bottled gas is particularly advantageous in some industries because there are no noxious fumes and the fire hazard is reduced:
If the compression ratio of the engine is increased to exploit the favourable octane rating of the gas, a higher maximum output is obtainable, and at a comparable compression ratio its lower cetane. value gives smoother operation and higher torque at low speeds.
One tractor manufacturer claimed that gas fuel improved torque at low speeds to such an extent that the performance of the unit in top gear could be compared with that of an oil engine with the same maximum-power rating.
In addition to gas-operated vehicles. there was a demonstration of mobile space-heating equipment supplied with bottled gas. This can be employed for localized space heating, and its use represents a valuable economy measure if it obviates heating of an entire building.
Other manufacturers who demonstrated gas-driven equipment included Coventry Climax Engines, Ltd., Coventry; the Industrial Machine and Equipment Co. (Brimpex), Ltd., Camberley. Surrey; Mailing, Ltd., Fallings Park, Wolverhampton; and Ransoms. Sims and Jefferies Ltd., Ipswich.
A control valve on the Lipton dualfuel carburetter allows a vehicle to be run on taxed petrol for road use but untaxed gas for work off the highway.