Just a comment on the 'gills'. We spent a lot of time curing our temp
problems on a 912S powered XS, instrumenting and logging in flight
various temperatures under the cowl. Our experiences indicate to us
that the gills significantly hurt cooling in flight and doesn't help
much cooling the engine after shutdown.
In flight, the gills allow cooling air from the front eyeball inlets
to bypass most of the engine, exiting without helping cool anything
particularly hot. Blocking them off completely caused no significant
temperature rise in the top, rear, of the cowl, which remained within a
few degrees of ambient during all phases of flight.
As for cooling the engine after shutdown, only the coolant inspection
panel on top of the cowl seems to help much, the gills are too low to
get much convection action going.
We did end up closing off all but one of the gills, leaving that one
open just in case we missed something, although flight testing with ALL
of them closed off indicated no real reason for having it open.
Just my two cents worth,
Terry Seaver
A135/N135TD
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of josok
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:37 AM
Subject: Re: Europa-List: Oil cooler thermostat
Could it be, that the combination of open gills, bottom cowl opening and
entry holes in front creates a pocket of standing air, or pulls air from
around the exhaust over the generator or would it not be better to have
a designated, more or less defined single entry and exit point? So doing
away with the gills all together.
I've asked Andy the same question on his last day at the factory, and if
i remembered correctly the answer was something like "needed only after
shutdown" To prevent heat collecting under the cows after shutdown on a
hot day i could just open the inspection covers?
Kind Regards,
Jos Okhuijsen
Visit - www.EuropaOwners.org
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