Masters Theses

Abstract

"At the present time, only a very small fraction of motor fuels produced for domestic use in the United States contain any alcohol in their blends. Soma foreign markets, notably the Philippine Islands and South American Countries use high proportions of alcohol in their motor fuel blends. Special purpose fuels in the United States which have alcohol blended with other compounds, have been used for engines from which maximum horsepower output is imperative. An example of this type of motor fuel blend might be found in the competitive motor sports involving motorcycles, stock automotive equipment, and special racing equipment.

An extensive survey of literature brought to light the lack of scientific information and basis for proper blending of alcohol blend fuel mixtures. The most apparent information in the literature was the lack of any scientific approach to the compounding of these fuels. The author considers that this lack of scientific background is due to the difficulty of providing a satisfactory testing procedure to follow in making such an evaluation.

This thesis reports the work involved in (a) preparing a suitable test engine for use in fuel research, (b) calibrating the associated equipment, (c) taking data, and (d) evaluating the resultant data in the light of the objective of the tests.

A standard ASTM-CFR single cylinder fuel research engine was used as the basic engine, with necessary modifications to achieve as near actual operating conditions as possible and still allow maximum control over all the variables. These modifications and the reasons for them are described in detail in the discussion section under the preparation of the test engine.

A piezoelectric crystal pickup was used to determine the cylinder pressures of the engine by electrically amplifying its output and using this output to drive an oscilloscope. The amplifier contained a special pressure evaluating device, and it, along with the pickup were calibrated as described in the discussion under the calibration of associated equipment.

Once the engine was prepared and the associated equipment calibrated, the taking of data was begun in a relatively straight forward manner. However, since the data was taken over a period of time but was evaluated all at one time, it was necessary to maintain rigid control over the variables and the calibrations as the data was taken. The necessary steps and precautions are described in the discussion under the section of operation and data taking"--Introduction, pages 1-2.

Advisor(s)

Miles, Aaron J.

Committee Member(s)

Remington, Charles R., 1924-2013
Troutner, David E.
Erkiletian, Dickran Hagop, Jr.
Schowalter, Ralph E., 1923-2001

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Comments

The manuscript contains two pages numbered 53.

Publisher

Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy

Publication Date

1960

Pagination

v, 56 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 54-55).

Rights

© 1960 George R. Baumgartner, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Motor fuels -- TestingMotor fuels -- Additives -- Testing

Thesis Number

T 1268

Print OCLC #

5928830

Electronic OCLC #

958278851

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