The Benefits of B.I.C.E.R.A.

6th May 1960, Page 121

6th May 1960

Page 121

Page 121, 6th May 1960 — The Benefits of B.I.C.E.R.A.

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UORMED in 1943 with the assistance of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the British Internal Combustion Engine Research Association, Ill 112 Buckingham Avenue, Slough. Bucks, is financed by members with the aid of a Government grant, and all members receive full reports of the research work performed in the Slough laboratories under the control of the Research Committee.

This committee has appointed panels of specialists to advise members on problems concerned with pressure charging and engine performance ; combustion, fuels and lubricants; fuel injection ; torsional vibration ; noise reduction and stress analysis.

Since B.I.C.E.R.A. was formed, two air or gas compressors of an improved type have been developed, a variablecompression ratio piston has been evolved and two hydraulically operated injection systems have been produced, one for large ' engines and one for smaller types, which offer many advantages over conventional systems.

Other work includes the development of an exhaust noise-reduction system without a silencer, an injection pump delivery valve which eliminates secondary injections and a method of eliminating external corrosion of fuel injection nozzles. In addition, an improved engine indicator has been produced and a high-precision fuel consumption meter has been developed.

A recent development by the B.I.C.E.R.A. electronics section is a transistorized Kadin telemetering system employing small encapsulated units. This enables information to be obtained from the moving parts of an engine and without using slip rings, flexible leads or intermittent contacts with their inherent disadvantages. In one application of the system, the transmitter and aerial are mounted inside an engine piston and radiate signals from temperature-sensitive elements in the piston crown.

An important aspect of the work of the Torsional Vibration Panel is the accurate evaluation of vibration fre quencies. As the result of pooling information by member companies and research in the Association's laboratory a method of evaluating crankshaft stiffness has been evolved giving an accuracy of plus or minus 2 per cent. Formerly, the discrepancy between calculated and observed frequencies varied up to 40 per cent. This research work is directly credited with a substantial reduction in the incidence of crankshaft failures resulting from vibration.