From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Page 2 of a letter with a handwritten response discussing engine detonation, turbulence, and volumetric efficiency.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 1\3\ B001_X 93-page97 | |
| Date | 21th December 1927 guessed | |
| -2- Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Derby. a considerably higher ceiling might be obtained for aircraft engines. I do not know whether this idea appeals to you or not, nor do I know whether someone has already patented the scheme, but I shall be very glad of your candid criticisms. [Handwritten annotation] Pt. circs. [Handwritten response] Pt. Thank you for your note. Detonation in our experience seems to have widely different characteristics on different engines. Thus on the Phantom we actually water cooled our exhaust valves without affecting detonation. We used an aluminium head with phosphor bronze valve seats with similar results. Then we tried turbulence which has largely solved the problem. We are now limited in compression ratio not by detonation but by engine roughness. On the other hand our most difficult problem in producing power is to obtain good volumetric efficiency. Therefore, at the moment, the idea of introducing an additional valve with the complication of its operation does not appeal to us very strongly. | ||