played with a 108,859 cubic inch engine today!!!

Black95GTS

Active Member
Jan 8, 2004
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38
Marlborough, MA
I started my job as an electric engineer on monday... today I took a tour of our back up generator plant in town... they run 5 diesel engines and can output 14mW. The specs of one engine are:

21.5 inch bore, 15 inch stroke, and 20 cylinders... turbo charged of course.

Puts out a measely 7800 horse power. It really does basically run like a big engine. Timing is 38 degrees BTDC. These things were built in 1972 and still run like they were new, pretty good huh?

Only difference is that there are no cylinder heads. The pistons fire at each other. They fired ONE engine up while I was there.... holy shinto.

Figured you guys might get a kick out of that.

- Adam
 
so how much power do they output? :)

i'm just messing w/ you, do you know what you'll be donig there? cuz you can't really list the name of the company. I'm an EE too, except i'm giong into my 3rd year for a BS... is that what you've got or did you go grab ur masters too? and want to share any salary figures?
 
Those diesel motors are no ****, and it's very common to see "industrial" sized motors that have no cylinder heads. Since diesel motors don't run off vacuum, there is an open-air-like tract....pretty wild stuff..

Have fun at the new job.

Joe
 
Think that's crazy? Check this out. . .

rta96c_crank.jpg


rta96c.jpg


rta96c_cyldeck.jpg


Specs on the 14 cylinder one. On the other side it has an 8 foot diameter turbo on each cylinder.
Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)
Length: 89 feet
Height: 44 feet
Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm

he cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.
 
donjohn said:
so how much power do they output? :)

i'm just messing w/ you, do you know what you'll be donig there? cuz you can't really list the name of the company. I'm an EE too, except i'm giong into my 3rd year for a BS... is that what you've got or did you go grab ur masters too? and want to share any salary figures?

With all 5 engines running, the plant outputs 14 Mwatts. They consume diesel gasoline at 1000 gallons per hour.

In terms of salary, I'm making 56K a year which is 3700 dollars more then our industry average. (Entry level EE makes 52300) What is awesome is that its a town job, so I don't pay social security and get a ridiculous pension plan instead. And town benefits rock.

But the absolute best part is.... its exactly 1 mile from my house. I have a 3 minute commute. I can't even finish one song off a CD before I get there.

Joe, you're absolutely correct on how they run, and it is wild.

mootang said:
the most amazing part is that those huge diesels make that power at like 98 rpm.

Actually, the engines run at 100 rpms, 2 at 400 rpms, and 2 at 720 rpms, but yeah you're right its really low.

My degree is actually a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from WPI. A couple colleges offer it, not only do we do the standard EE courses but we also take several computer engineering / programming courses. It makes the degree marketable. And I have a minor in applied mathematics.

If you guys have any other questions regarding the field and what not, please feel free. As to how I got the job?? Put your resume on Monster right away. I listed my stuff on Monster on a Thursday and I got this job the next Wednesday. 6 days later and I couldn't have asked for a better job / pay.

Out of all my friends, only two guys make more then me. One works at BEA engineering and the other at Raytheon. Most people from WPI with my degree are either equivalent or a grand or two lower.

Power engineering pays big time, I strongly recommend you look into it when you apply for jobs.

- Adam
 
yeah i was referring to the one that makes 6million tq. i was reading about it in a deisel truck magazine and it runs at like 98 rpm. they said that the pistons rise and fall at the same speed as an elevator. the picture of the piston rings was the most impressive.
 
Black95GTS said:
they run 5 diesel engines and can output 14mW.

I can put out 14 milliwatts by shuffling my feet, and touching the wall. I think you meant 14MW (Megawatts) :D . It sounds very cool. I pondered going EE (actually Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oklahoma State) for a great while, but settled for an AS in Electrical Engineering Technology. I planned on going all the way with it, but things in life always change, so now I'm wrapping up a bachelor's in Business Admin. I couldn't swing all the lab time without paying for daycare.
Brandon