Ram air supercharge

[Lauri Malila]

*Everything* goes through piston. Full piston scavenging is a good way to lubricate and cool things. Perhaps it also makes the case volume smaller. L

[Chuck Matheny]

Thanks for the inside look through that "TOP SECRET" area.....
I can see what you mean by "everything goes through the piston" because there's no dead space and the bottom of the crankcase to do it any other way.
Yes, the mixture flowing through the piston would [I imagine] allow for more aggressive needle settings or else more forgiveness if you tried to extract too much power with your choice of prop...?

[Lauri Malila]

Thanks for the inside look through that "TOP SECRET" area.....
I can see what you mean by "everything goes through the piston" because there's no dead space and the bottom of the crankcase to do it any other way.
Yes, the mixture flowing through the piston would [I imagine] allow for more aggressive needle settings or else more forgiveness if you tried to extract too much power with your choice of prop...?

There is no secrets.
Not really, it is all for stability and smoothness. With small bottom end volume and by avoiding discontinuations in the flow path, that is very important for the stability. Especially with a such big engine (.77) that has to deliver so very little power that we need. L

[Sean McEntee]

What we need is for someone to produce teeny tiny baby turbochargers.  Who is willing to drive that train? 

[Chuck Matheny]

What we need is for someone to produce teeny tiny baby turbochargers.  Who is willing to drive that train? 

HERE YOU GO..NOW GET BUSY...!!!

[Robert Zambelli]

Believe it or not, Melcraft had the idea of ram-air supercharging in the late forties!   

The engine shown was described as the Supercharged Melcraft 29.

It is piston ported and instead of being in the rear, it's in the front as shown, right in the prop blast.

Does it work? Beats me - it's new, never run!   

Spark ignition, of course.

Bob Z.