Experimental evaluation of thermal accumulator capabilities for use in the oil system of shunter diesel motor

Abstract

Introduction. In order to increase the cold downtime of diesel locomotives in winter, the authors suggest using thermal accumulators in the oil system. The research considers using thermal accumulators to increase the temperature of the pumped oil portion immediately before starting the diesel motor in negative ambient temperatures.Materials and methods. The research covers a thermal accumulator suggested for use as part of the diesel motor oil system. The researchers conducted a physical laboratory experiment on a reduced copy of the accumulator and scaled the results to a diesel shunter based on the similarity theory. The temperature parameters were recorded in real time using a microcontroller-based automated measurement system. Microsoft Excel was used for a statistical analysis of the experimental results.Results. The tests results of the laboratory sample of the thermal accumulator for motor oil are presented. The authors evaluated the dependencies of the oil temperature inside the thermal accumulator and inside the crankcase of the shunter diesel motor on the cold downtime, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed technical solutions.Discussion and conclusion. Accumulation of thermal energy of locomotive diesel motors service fluids is a promising method increasing the diesel locomotive pre-launch performance in negative temperatures. The heat preservation method used in the thermal accumulator is versatile and may be applied to both oil and cooling liquid of transport diesel motors. The authors propose to use thermal accumulators on diesel shunters.

Keywords

• diesel shunter
• diesel motor
• oil system
• thermal accumulator
• phase transition
• cold downtime
• oil temperature