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WWII Aero Radial Engine Question


LDSModeller

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Hi All,

 

Question for the Britmodeller Brain Trust if I may:D

 

Currently organizing the R2600 Engine for my Trumpeter 1/32 TBF-1C build, and between the  cylinders is a Round metal "plate"

(for want of a better word), per attached photo link.

 

Wright R 2600 engine

 

Could some kind soul please remind me what the actual name of this plate is, and if someone had a diagram/illustration of the actual piece

outside of the engine/cylinders, where the cutouts are, could you please either post here or PM me?

 

Thanks in Advance

 

Regards

 

Alan

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2 minutes ago, Wez said:

I've always known plates like that being called a baffle.

Hi Wez,

 

Thank you!! That's the name!

 

Now to find a diagram/schematic/photo of said Baffle for a Wright R2600 Engine.

 

Thanks & regards

 

Alan

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Ah, then truly this was a baffling question!  I do think that the "crescent" shaped ones are trying to get the air to do something useful over the front cylinder heads.  As far as I could tell, there was a full circle around the rear row of cylinders, looking at your photo.  One further spanner in the works: it might be worth looking for an uncowled Avenger photo to verify that this arrangement was, in fact, there in that installation.  Probably so, but...

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Most radials were baffled in one way or another. It's essential that the cooling air is forced to flow between the cooling fins for the engine to be able to use all its surface area to reject the heat. Due to boundary layers wherever there's a surface though, the air would much rather flow through the big gap between the rockers and cylinders than trouble itself to go between the cooling fins thanks to the boundary layers and their associated friction.

 

The baffles deny the air that option. :) Without baffles the air stagnates between the cooling fins and insulates rather than cools the cylinders.

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9 minutes ago, gingerbob said:

it might be worth looking for an uncowled Avenger photo to verify that this arrangement was, in fact, there in that installation.  Probably so, but...

You make an interesting point and one I'd thought of whilst I was out walking the dog...   ...did the baffle arrangements differ from installation to installation i.e. were those in a B-25 Mitchell exactly the same as those in an Avenger as the cowlings were not the same shape and therefore had differences in airflow around them, I somehow doubt it.

 

EDIT: Jamie's post makes that same point, I was just posting my response as his came in.

 

Edited by Wez
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I suppose it comes down to whether the baffles were part of (supplied with) the engine, vs. left for the airframe manufacturer to worry about.  I'm leaning toward the former in this case, but that's just a hunch.  (Particularly "different" cowling situations might have forced some changes, of course.)

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Just now, gingerbob said:

I suppose it comes down to whether the baffles were part of (supplied with) the engine, vs. left for the airframe manufacturer to worry about.  I'm leaning toward the former in this case, but that's just a hunch.  (Particularly "different" cowling situations might have forced some changes, of course.)

I'm thinking a bit of both really, there may have been some baffles that were standard on each engine and there were the specific ones required to meet a particular airframe's requirements.

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Does this help? Rather lengthy read, but detailed. See p42 for description of the cooling baffles. I would think they  would be part of the engine assembly and not unique to the aircraft in which it was installed, as it didn't make any real difference in which  cowling the engine was installed; the opening was probably pretty much the same for all aircraft that used the R-2600, like the B-25, A-20, TBF, Vengeance, Baltimore, B-23, etc. Hope you found this of use.

Mike

 

http://www.avialogs.com/en/engines/usa/wright/r-2600-cyclone-14/instructions-for-the-installation-operation-and-maintenance-of-the-wright-cyclone-14-aircraft-engine-model-c-14-a-second-edition.html

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6 minutes ago, BS_w said:

Wright and P & W called them "deflector", "air deflector"

 

Yes but that's just American terminology, others called them baffles, the fact is they do the same job.

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Hi All,

 

Thank you for your input, help and replies. - I was aware that the R 2600 at least on the Grumman TBF-1C Avenger used by

the RNZAF (stock standard USN) had the Baffles/Deflectors, as I have seen them on on engines in photos or on the aircraft at a distance.

- The name escaped me ^_^, as did how they fitted onto the engine.

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

 

13 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Does this help? Rather lengthy read, but detailed. See p42 for description of the cooling baffles. I would think they  would be part of the engine assembly and not unique to the aircraft in which it was installed, as it didn't make any real difference in which  cowling the engine was installed; the opening was probably pretty much the same for all aircraft that used the R-2600, like the B-25, A-20, TBF, Vengeance, Baltimore, B-23, etc. Hope you found this of use.

Mike

 

http://www.avialogs.com/en/engines/usa/wright/r-2600-cyclone-14/instructions-for-the-installation-operation-and-maintenance-of-the-wright-cyclone-14-aircraft-engine-model-c-14-a-second-edition.html

Mike - Thank you for that link, it certainly has helped (a Great Deal) - looking at page 42 was a gem :yes:

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

 

 

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