CIAM adapted car engine into aircraft engine

The Central Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM, a part of the National Research Center ‘Zhukovsky Institute’) has completed research work on the "Adaptation" project by successfully testing the engine as a part of an aircraft propeller-driven power plant.

- The Institute has shown the possibility of adapting a modern automobile engine to an aviation version, - says Lev Finkelberg, project supervisor, head of department of CIAM. - An evaluation was made of using the engine on a twin-engine 9-seater and a single-engine 6-seater aircraft for regional transport.

The recent tests are the result of one and a half years of work on the project. They were carried out on a propeller test bench of LLC "OKBM" in Voronezh by the specialists of CIAM, NAMI, and OKBM.

During the tests, engine characteristics were obtained in the range from ground idle to take-off mode, its ignition and throttle response were checked. The results confirmed the characteristics declared in the technical requirements specification for power-to-volume ratio, fuel consumption and engine weight.

According to the project supervisor, the most labour-consuming task was to adapt the fuel system, ignition, and control system to ensure engine operation under aviation rules.

The CIAM engineers have solved a number of issues associated with the specific design of units to be adapted and their location on the engine. The main difficulty was to obtain the required characteristics, because an automobile engine practically never works in “aviation” modes.

It is planned to continue research on the APD-500 aircraft engine demonstrator created on the base of the ‘Kortezh’ car engine. The engine will be tested in a thermal chamber under expected service conditions, and later – on an experimental aircraft.