Wednesday 15 February 2012

Yesterday we did a test with a similar set-up as Saturday, but with two variations. I double coated the catlyist, by adding more permanganate solution to it and this time we used more concentrated peroxide of about %75 concentration. Despite a leaky o-ring which is apparent in the video, the test was quite successful and quite a bit louder than the %50 peroxide had been. It was so loud that I had to cover my ears for the longer runs. Unfortunately we lost quite a bit of peroxide to the leak so we dident get very much run time. We were considering fixing the leak and testing the used catlyist with more peroxide but it was late so we decided to pack up. We had had several problems getting the test going, with electrical issues and a blocked injector which meant we had to take apart the engine. We haven't inspected what caused the blockage yet, but I believe it will be a bit of rust from the steel line. We decided to ditch the injector to avoid any more blockages. I think that this contributed to the pressure oscillation which can be heard in the engine and seen in the stream of peroxide squirting out of the injector assembly. I was happy with how the catlyist performed, but it when inspecting the engine after the test we noticed that the pack had become quite compacted and was now about 3/4 of its original height, and there was quite allot of powder at the bottom. We reallyneed to start trying different ways of packing the catlyist to avoid this problem, and the large pressure drop which results. Some of the guys on Saturday suggested layers of mesh, and this is worth a try, but also having some way of raising the catlyist up in the chamber would be good to allow the engine to build up pressure and give space for any un-catlyised peroxide to mix and decompose. I would also like to eventually be able to package the catlyist so they are mroe easily able to be changed. We might do one more test with spacers with the current setup, but what we reanny need is more feed pressure, so we are now focusing on the new test stand and other hardware.

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