[Diy_efi] Runaway turbo diesel?

[Mike]

Yes amazing incident,

these days I would guess that if you wanted an enclosed dyno room you would have
very good exhaust ventilation for the room as a whole and also just in case a large
burst relief panel or maybe part of the ceiling...

mike


At 03:01 AM 9/13/07, you wrote:
>When I was serving in Germany in 1979 as an engineering officer in the  
>British Army, we had an interesting blow-up with a tank engine at our  Workshop 
>unit in Soest.
> 
>It was an L60, used to power the Chieftain battle tank.  The L60 has 6  
>cylinders side by side in line, and 2 crankshafts at opposite ends of the  
>cylinders driving 6 opposed pairs of pistons a la Junkers Jumo aero  engine.  The 
>engine is multi-fuel, and usually ran on diesel.  It had  a massive Roots type 
>scavenge blower strapped to the side of the  crankcase.
> 
>This engine was on test but the exhaust wasn't coupled up properly and  
>consequently the exhaust gases were getting into the test cell, which was a  closed 
>room at the end of the engine repair shop.  The blower intake wasn't  coupled 
>up to a source of clean intake air (sloppy mistake No.2!!) and breathed  the 
>ambient air inside the test cell.
> 
>All was well until an oil seal failed, whereupon oil mist started to appear  
>in the exhaust and, yes, you've guessed, sucked back into the intake.
> 
>The revs started to rise, the crew panicked and shut down the fuel supply  
>but it was too late, the engine went into runaway and the revs went through the  
>roof as the engine digested its crankcase oil supply.  The entire test cell  
>filled with a combustible oil mist and it became a giant combustion  chamber.
> 
>After about 30 seconds stoichiometric mixture was reached, and the entire  
>chamber (room) blew.  It took out the internal walls, every window down the  
>repair shop and cracked both end walls of the repair shop building from floor to  
>ceiling!  By this time everyone had legged it so no-one was hurt, but the  
>Board of Inquiry had a field day.
> 
>Never a dull moment in the military...
> 
>Will C
>
>
>
>   
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