Trufuel WTF (not technology related)
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I hear the rule in the EU is "Rear-ended? Passing lane? 100% your fault." Much higher compliance rates.
I'm from EU and I've never heard that one before.
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It's not illegal provided you pay the road fuel tax yourself
Actually, the HMRC says if you pay the duty that "the oil is no longer classed as Avtur but is now unmarked kerosene" so I'm still technically correct.
Interestingly enough HMRC didn't bat an eyelid when I queried if I was still a valid user with just an engine and no plane. Turns out all their wording just says 'aircraft engine' not 'aircraft' so they don't give two hoots if the engines aren't attached to anything.
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300nm range? If I buy a plane, I would consider 2,000nm
Call me fussy, but I'd want a plane to be capable of flying more than a few nanometres.
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More than a few, I said 2,000 as a minimum.
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Turns out all their wording just says 'aircraft engine' not 'aircraft' so they don't give two hoots if the engines aren't attached to anything.
But do they care if the aircraft engine is propelling a car?
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1.33691742 × 10-17 Astronomical Units if you're interested
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But do they care if the aircraft engine is propelling a car?
Depends. This turbine MGF is fully UK road-legal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tP-rsQwTIE (sorry for my shaky hands). It's an electric car in the eyes of the law, the turbine runs a generator and then that recharges a battery bank that runs the electric motor. As the wheels aren't directly powered from the turbine it's fine. It could even run <abbr title=UK duty-exempt diesel fuel, usually an offense to use unless you are a farmer or other special user>red diesel 100% legally as the turbine isn't considered part of the drivetrain by VOSA.
No-one from VOSA can give me a straight answer what they would do with a shaft-output engine directly turning the wheels, I know somebody that is going to find out very shortly though. The noise limits are the big hurdle though, the MGF just squeaks under the limits.
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Actually, the HMRC says if you pay the duty that "the oil is no longer classed as Avtur but is now unmarked kerosene" so I'm still technically correct.
So, basically, you could be paying them all the money they'd ever want and they'd still bust you simply because you were doing something that fell outside the normal patterns of usage?
Makes me wonder if the UK airports have diesel pumps on the ramp just for the ramp service trucks -- those normally run on Jet-A because that's what available on the ramp, but it sounds like it's illegal to put Jet-A in a roadworthy vehicle in the UK, even if you pay taxes on the fuel as if it were intended for use in road vehicles. Crikey!
Turns out all their wording just says 'aircraft engine' not 'aircraft' so they don't give two hoots if the engines aren't attached to anything.
Gas turbines are used in stationary (industrial) apps as well; I'm not sure what fuel they burn in those, though -- it could be Jet-A or some other grade of kerosene, but it's just as likely to be some flavor of diesel or even a light fuel such as propane or natural gas.
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So, basically, you could be paying them all the money they'd ever want and they'd still bust you simply because you were doing something that fell outside the normal patterns of usage?
I think it just means it isn't called JET-A/A1 in their eyes when you pay the duty. The stuff in your barrel instantly changes into 'unmarked kerosene' as far as they are concerned.
I gave up trying to decode the requirements when I started buying it and just wrote to HMRC directly telling them exactly what I was doing and asking was it allowed. Took months to get a reply though.
Gas turbines are used in stationary (industrial) apps as well; I'm not sure what fuel they burn in those
From the sites I've seen myself, the smaller (Proteus/Nimbus powered) pocket power-stations were run on diesel and bigger engines (LM1500 size) seem to all run on gas. GE says the LM1500 will swallow pretty much anything if it's mildly flammable and fits down a pipe so I'm sure some run on other things.
I know a chap that got a Rolls Royce Nimbus to run on animal tallow. Apparently it worked fine once the fuel lines were trace-heated. The big problem he had was that the exhaust covered everything in a foul glue-like mess.
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Well, in NL, AFAIK, such regulations only apply to vehicles which are registered as roadworthy and are actually on the road. An airport is probably already locked down enough that it doesn't qualify as open road.
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Well, in NL, AFAIK, such regulations only apply to vehicles which are registered as roadworthy and are actually on the road. An airport is probably already locked down enough that it doesn't qualify as open road.
There's some paperwork to fill in here for that. It's usually only used when you're not going to be driving the vehicle at all, though keeping it on private land would work too. Airports are all private land, especially airside.
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If it's a vehicle that has previously been registered for road use, then the same applies here. Otherwise if you don't pay your tax or get your periodic check-up you'll automatically get fined even if you don't use it on the road.
However, stuff like plane service trucks, air-stairs, airport fire trucks, etc. all may never have been registered for road use, and I don't think there's required paperwork just for the vehicle to be allowed to exist.
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However, stuff like plane service trucks, air-stairs, airport fire trucks, etc. all may never have been registered for road use, and I don't think there's required paperwork just for the vehicle to be allowed to exist.
I think you'll find that a lot of them will have been registered at some point, so as to make doing things like delivering them easier, at least if they're powered. (I've no idea what the Dutch regulations on unpowered vehicles are; the UK just requires them to show the license plate of the vehicle towing them when they're on the road, but I know some places have different ideas.)
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I don't know the details, so you may be right. I know there are cases where a vehicle (such as a car) is transported on top of a flatbed truck, and in that case the plate of the car has to be obscured. I also know there are special 'dealership plates' which a garage owner uses when they need to transport cars in their inventory.
I also know a colleague of mine was looking into purchasing a second-hand sports car last year, and one candidate ended up being dropped because it had been used for ~2 years with dealership plates but never had its own plates, and thus was legally new. I'd have to ask him for the details.
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More than a few, I said 2,000 as a minimum.
I do believe a whoosh has been spotted!
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I do believe a whoosh has been spotted!
Or, I was making the remark that 2,000 nanometers is not a few. But yes, I realize that I should have put NM for "nautical miles".
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Or, I was making the remark that 2,000 nanometers is not a few.
I dunno, man, that sounds like a fox excuse. I flagged you anyway.
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I think it just means it isn't called JET-A/A1 in their eyes when you pay the duty. The stuff in your barrel instantly changes into 'unmarked kerosene' as far as they are concerned.
How do they run things in the UK? Is all of your untaxed fuel dyed like it is here in the USA?
I gave up trying to decode the requirements when I started buying it and just wrote to HMRC directly telling them exactly what I was doing and asking was it allowed. Took months to get a reply though.
How would they have known if you were running untaxed fuel in a turbine in your driveway? I mean, of course the cops show up on occasion, but are they really going to dip your tank? Hell, back in my construction days I used to run "red fuel" (untaxed, off-road diesel) in my work truck far too often and I never had my tank checked.
FWIW, I did not do it in an attempt to save money, just time. I needed fuel and there was 7,000 gallons right there or I could drive to the fuel station and waste a half hour or more going to get on-road diesel. I would just fill from the tanker.
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but are they really going to dip your tank?
They probably are if someone rats you out. I assume that's how people generally get caught. That, and stupidity, of course.
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I assume that's how people generally get caught.
Here at least, they generally do not dip the tanks on pickups or cars. I never once had my tank dipped while driving a pickup. Heavy trucks though, I probably had them dipped half the times that I was pulled over and we got pulled over a lot. Of course, we were the high risk group for running off-road diesel as we were always hauling machinery or material so it was obvious that we had ready access to red fuel.
I always thought it odd that they never checked the pickups though, even though they all had off-road tanks in the back of them and I would be willing to wager that every one of them would have had trace amounts of dye.
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Here at least, they generally do not dip the tanks on pickups or cars.
If you're the kind of asshole running a jet engine in your driveway, you can probably expect a different level of scrutiny. Unless you're very rural and no one lives anywhere near your driveway.
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If you're the kind of asshole running a jet engine in your driveway
But, he is not running it on your lawn, that is OK right?
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But, he is not running it on your lawn, that is OK right?
As I hinted in the post, it depends on if I can hear it from my lawn while it is running there. You can just keep your jet engine sounds and your feet off.
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If you're the kind of asshole running a jet engine in your driveway
I always ask all my immediate neighbours if they will mind first, I'm not that much of an asshole maybe
I guess someone further away was offended. I live right by a military airbase so I'm actually surprised someone heard it over the constant noise from them.
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I would probably just give you style points for being an asshole with a fucking turbine engine.
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I would probably just give you style points for being an asshole with a fucking turbine engine.
It's amazing how few people are interested in the engines. I pulled over at a service station with a very large turbojet on a trailer once and a guy came over looking interested. I mentally primed myself for all the facts on the engine...he just wanted to know if the trailer was good or not
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One of my neighbors is a real cunt. I would have invited you over to my place to drink beer and point the jet wash at her house.
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I'd love to have a jet that bolts down in my pickup bed and can power it. Impractical, but it would be fun.
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I'd love to have a jet that bolts down in my pickup bed and can power it. Impractical, but it would be fun.
Shaft drive works great for that, the trouble with thrust is that you need a huge amount to overcome the rolling resistance and it looks a bit crap in spite of the huge top-end. There is a chap in the USA (Chris Krug) that has a Nimbus powered van that goes really well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RqRwuvq2FU
The best thing is a turbine bike, if I had unlimited money I'd get a Y2K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVUPtR-hvg
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I'd love to have a jet that bolts down in my pickup bed
This chap made one exactly like that looks great. I have two of those M701-c500s and they are good, sturdy eastern-bloc engineering. It would only cost you about 2k US for the engine and you only need basic electronics and plumbing knowledge to get it going.
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The best thing is a turbine bike, if I had unlimited money I'd get a Y2K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVUPtR-hvg
Another related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM7PK5d2Yug
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I have always been fascinated by turbine engines. My extended family was always in to racing, my father always had a garage with various engines in various stages of being taken apart or put back together, I was very young when my father explained to me how a piston type engine works. He had a small block Chevy engine on the engine stand and one head was off and he rotated the crank with a big breaker bar and explained how the cam turned at half the speed of the crank, how the valves opened and closed, how the distributor rotated and doled out the spark. It all clicked. It made sense.
Then one day in a book of mine there was an exploded diagram of a jet engine. It was like magic. How the hell does this thing works without pistons? How does a fan turn itself? I was fascinated. Absolutely fascinated. No reciprocation meant no vibration. The oil was completely isolated from the combustion chamber so it never got dirty and never really needed to be changed. It was amazing in its engineering.
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My father is really big into pistons but doesn't see anything interesting in turbines other than flying by them, I spent some my childhood 'helping' him on a restoration of a ME-109 with it's lovely 35 litre DB605 engine. But turbines really do it for me, I was amazed when I learnt enough of the thermodynamics to completely work through an engine on paper, an axial-compressor engine producing 800lb of thrust takes over 1300 HP of its own power just to run the compressor...
I still get a huge thrill from standing right next to a running turbine engine, the stored energy is enormous.
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Figuring out how the "piston" in a Wankel worked was a revelation for me.
Then I found this guy's "Unusual Engines" site, and some of those still have me perplexed.
The axial ones are amazing.
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Figuring out how the "piston" in a Wankel worked was a revelation for me.
Likewise. My first exposure to one was in high school. A friend bought an RX-7 and I was again fascinated. By watching how the rotors oscillate, you would think it would just vibrate itself apart with that much metal moving that quickly on an eccentric.
I just love interesting mechanical things. It is not even relegated just to engines. For example:
What an amazing bit of kit.
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the stored energy is enormous.
The engineering on aircraft is amazing. How they can design an engine to fail in such a way, and an enclosure strong enough to contain what is left, enough that they do not take off a wing when they fail. Truly amazing.
I think I have mentioned before, but a client who became a friend of mine has a TBM900 turboprop airplane. The redundancies for the redundancies are amazing. Everything in the cockpit has a backup. And the really important stuff has entirely independent backups on top of that. The airplane mechanicals are always designed in such a way to fail safe. The engines get run through every 1,200 hours (IIRC). The landing gear get services more than anyone would think is rational.
All because if anything goes wrong, you are at 31,000 feet with no engine and that is not the safest place to be...
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Likewise. My first exposure to one was in high school. A friend bought an RX-7 and I was again fascinated. By watching how the rotors oscillate, you would think it would just vibrate itself apart with that much metal moving that quickly on an eccentric.
My dad's RX-7 was essentially my car during my senior year of high school. That car rode so smooth. Unfortunately, about a month after I left for college it developed a crack in the engine block and my dad had it scrapped.
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The axial ones are amazing.
I read a story last year about one of the Japanese car makers. They were playing with gas-electric hybrid powertrains, and realized that if you're only using the gas engine to charge batteries, you don't need a crankshaft and all that, so they rebuilt the engine as a series of straight cylinders where the pistons didn't actually turn anything else. Instead, (IIRC), they wired a coil around the middle of each cylinder, like those shake flashlights, and let the piston's movement induce a current.
Could conceivably drop a nice chunk of weight and cost off of a car, getting rid of the transaxle and a bunch of the engine itself.
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If you could find that article again, I would be interested in reading it.
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How do you return the piston to its original position? Or were they firing it on both sides?
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My dad's RX-7 was essentially my car during my senior year of high school.
What year was it?
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How do you return the piston to its original position? Or were they firing it on both sides?
Well, here's the article: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a6326/out-of-turn-toyota-engine/
It looks like, from a brief text in the video, it uses a "gas spring" system.
It's also a two-stroke. Article says a 2-cylinder engine produces 15hp. You'd probably need to scale it up for practical use.
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I'm not sure if the goal was compactness, but making a standard opposed piston arrangement seems like it'd be a lot more mechanically simple, if a bit larger. I don't like the idea of a "gas spring", sounds prone to failure.
EDIT: they even mention in the article they'd use a 2-piston version for balance. So... why gas spring?!
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It's also a two-stroke. Article says a 2-cylinder engine produces 15hp. You'd probably need to scale it up for practical use.
47% thermal efficiency. Diesel engines run at ~60% thermal efficiency. That doesn't seem that revolutionary.
I know I am missing something. Now to just wait around for the people who actually know
they are talking about to come straighten me out.
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EDIT: they even mention in the article they'd use a 2-piston version for balance. So... why gas spring?!
I buttumed 2 cylinders side by side, not a double-piston arrangement.
Wankel engine - Wikipedia
