Front Oil cooler

[obriand]

Hello,

 

I am quite curious to understand exactly how the front remote oil cooler is setup on the velocity. I understood that the cooler is connected to the engine using aluminium pipes that are quite long ( kit is 26ft of pipes ). Isn't there might be a reliablity issue there? Any specific method to make sure pipes will not break? Also, what about pressure drop due to this long pipes?

Is there a single cooler in the front, or one in the front, one in the back?

 

I tried to use the search tool of the forum, but did not found any clear explaination about the front oil cooler setup!

 

Thanks for the answers!

[michaelj]

As an alternate you can avoid running oil lines all the way to the front. I intend to install a small oil cooler in a housing forward of the firewall. I will connect a forced air fan and blow air through a fiberglass duct to the front of the instrument panel area.

[obriand]

Well,

 

I am not buiding a Velocity, but an Orion, which is a pusher plane, with a T tail. It has a central engine with a 2 meters drive shaft. All of those Orions are a bit tail heavy, and hence, placing the cooler in the front might be a good idea from a balance standpoint. Anyone has already experienced the long oil pipes?

 

thanks for the answers!

[Waiter]

In my first version of the oil Cabin Heater (cooler) in the nose, I used a standard Aircraft oil cooler and standard Aeroquip 401-8 hose, about 25 ft total.

 

http://www.iflyez.com/oil_heat.shtml

 

Althoughthe addition of any components into a system increases the risk of a failure. I'd submit that the industry wide failure rate of these two components is so low as to be neglagable.

 

In my new version, I installed a "T" at the engine side odf the firewall. On The oil run fromn the firewall to the Cabin heater is now done in aluminum tube. AI would venture a guess that properly flared tubing has a much lower failure rate than the 401-8 hose.

 

http://www.iflyez.com/LongEZ_Retrofit_MAR_08.shtml

 

Waiter

[Alfons]

Hello,

 

I am quite curious to understand exactly how the front remote oil cooler is setup on the velocity. I understood that the cooler is connected to the engine using aluminium pipes that are quite long ( kit is 26ft of pipes ). Isn't there might be a reliablity issue there? Any specific method to make sure pipes will not break? Also, what about pressure drop due to this long pipes?

Is there a single cooler in the front, or one in the front, one in the back?

 

I tried to use the search tool of the forum, but did not found any clear explaination about the front oil cooler setup!

 

Thanks for the answers!

I have a Velocity and big problems with this oul cooler lets call it cabin heater it is a better word for it. there is no cooling on the ground when tha fan at the back is blowing

[obriand]

Intresting,

 

I am not too sure to understand your message. Do you mean that on the ground, it really gets hot inside?

 

I am concerned about the reliablity of the installation, ie oil pressure drop dur to those long lines.

 

Do you have any figures to give me? What is your oil pressure currently?

 

Do you only have one oil radiator, or multiple ones?

 

Regards!

[CBarber]

I understand there is some risk, but I would think it is VERY minor. You may be looking for a solution for a problem that does not exist.

 

An internet build buddy of mine who lives in Michigan, Andy Millam, added additional heating capacity (additional heat exchanger) in his nose for the cold yankee winters. Down here in Houston it may not be as much of an issue as often. Don't know how well it acts as a cabin heater yet other than the above statement.

 

The standard set up is well proven in the Velocity's and I have not heard of any issue. The real engineers may be able to comment better on the real pressure drop issue, but I think it may be "majoring in a minor concern".

 

I have actually thought that perhaps there is an additional degree of cooling by going down the long lines....even considereed a NACA scoop to the channel the lines go down, but nah, don't need a solution to the percieved problem....yet <g>.

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[obriand]

Well, I am just thinking about potential problems, if any....

 

Glad to hear that there is actually people using this system without any troubles.

Could you give me a bit more info about the exact setup. I am looking in a single unit located in the front of my pusher.

What are the pipes used? 5052-0 1/2 inch od?

 

BestRegards,

[CBarber]

Here is the link to Andy's webpage. He gives nice details and, very unlike me, keeps it updated. It should address several of your curiosities. He has a nice index to help you get started.

 

http://www.kal-soft.com/velocity/

 

All the best,

 

Chris

[Alfons]

Intresting,

 

I am not too sure to understand your message. Do you mean that on the ground, it really gets hot inside?

 

I am concerned about the reliablity of the installation, ie oil pressure drop dur to those long lines.

 

Do you have any figures to give me? What is your oil pressure currently?

 

Do you only have one oil radiator, or multiple ones?

 

Regards!

What I wanted to say is the oil cooler in front will only work when you are moving forward or a strong wind is blowing on your nose. It is very unefficient at ground handling of the A/C. There is a flap were you can redirect the heated air into the cabin to keep you warm.

 

Sure there is a oilpressure drop by the time you reach the oil cooler I never mesured that one. The indicated oil paressure at the engine is 60psi normal.

 

Yes I have multible oil coolers parallel to the one in front to get the heat away from the turbocharged engine.

[Waiter]

The version that I installed, I use a blower motor to recirculate inside cabin air through the oil cooler. I do not use outside air. This allows warm air to be blown on the feet as I'm taxing out.

 

Also; I have a small door that I can open. This is an exit door from the heater and can exhaust hot. Instead of blowing the heated air onto my feet, I can blow it overboard, adding the ability to "cool" the oil, even on the hottest of days.

 

Waiter

[Lynn Erickson]

What I wanted to say is the oil cooler in front will only work when you are moving forward or a strong wind is blowing on your nose. It is very unefficient at ground handling of the A/C. There is a flap were you can redirect the heated air into the cabin to keep you warm.

 

Sure there is a oilpressure drop by the time you reach the oil cooler I never mesured that one. The indicated oil paressure at the engine is 60psi normal.

 

Yes I have multible oil coolers parallel to the one in front to get the heat away from the turbocharged engine.

if the oil coolers are in parallel how do you assure that there is flow in all the coolers?

I have 3 coolers in series 2 for oil cooling and one for cabin heat. it goes to the cabin heater first and if the blower is on it heats the cabin if the blower is off it is just a wide spot in the oil line.

[Neverquit]

From another thread:

My original tank is for sale, I'm making a new rear seat tank (The old one won't fit now that I installed an oil heater in the thihgh support).

 

Waiter, so why did you move the oil heater from the nose to the rear thigh support? It would seem better for the toes where you had it?

[Edge 513]

Im pretty sure waiter put his hydraulics for the InfinGear in the nose.

[Waiter]

I moved the heater to the rear thigh support because I needed the room in the nose for hydraulic pumps, etc.

 

I have a 2" SCAT tube that moves hot air from the rear thigh support to my toes. Works great.

 

Thoughts on Series vs Parallel oil coolers:

 

I originally had my coolers in series (Heater first) to get the maximum heat/oil flow to the heater. This worked OK, but I was concerned about total flow through the cooler circuit, as it was a long hose run to/from the cooler in the nose. (I don't have any data to support this, just a thought)

 

I reconfigured the coolers so they were in parallel, When I did this, I was also concerned if I could still get plenty of oil to the heater. It wasn't a problem!

 

I far as cabin heat, I never noticed any difference between serias and parallel configuration.

 

The parallel configuration effectively provides more high Delta T, hot surface area. Therefore, this should provide greater cooling capacity. The parallel also provides greater flow through this portion of the circuit, so oil flow/pressure shouldn't be any problem.

 

Again, I don't think this is an issue. If I have the correct pressure After the oil cooler circuit, where the oil is now introduced into the engine components, galleys, etc, then I have the correct oil flow into these components.

 

I did a writeup back in the Sq2 days on how the Lycoming oil system works. I'll see if I can resurict this.

 

NOTE - My current configuration is parallel. This decision was based on convience of installing rather that either of the two arguments above. I get enought heat to run you out of the plane.

 

 

 

Waiter