Re: Fuel economy of Xplorers

["William Pearce" <ben_issacs@optusnet.com.au>]

    Re fuel usage of  'Explorer' motors, using M. Daly's figures for horse
powers and fuel usages, the max. h.p. figures give a Specific Fuel
Consumption figure of about 0.28 l/BHP/hr., which is a bit higher than I
quoted, which surprises me a little, I would have thought that a modern
motor would have been a bit lower. The 0.2 figure usually applies to
stationary engine practice, perhaps for motive power use the figure should
be taken higher. (Or are Maurie's horse powers actually kW, if so my SFC
figure would be pretty near spot on for an 'Explorer'?)
                                                    Regards,
                                                                Bill.

"Maurie Daly" <mauried@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
3a185ce8.3216062@can-news.tpg.com.au">news:3a185ce8.3216062@can-news.tpg.com.au...
> On Sun, 19 Nov 2000 00:39:25 +1100, "Alex Pout"
> <alpout@optusnet.com.au> wrote:
>
> >I've just had a look at Countrylink's website, they reckon a 1700 litre
tank
> >will give an Explorer a 16 000 km range.  Working this out, that comes to
> >10.625 litres/100km, or 9.4km/litre.  Now, my car (a 97 Barina) just
managed
> >to get about 550km off a 40 litre tank, ie 7.27 litres/100km or
> >13.75km/litre.  Is Countrylink's claim realistic, or has someone missed a
> >decimal point?
> >
> >
> >At first I thought, someone's missed a decimal point, but after thinking
> >about it for a while (does it help/hinder if I confess to becoming a
> >mechanical engineer, and done a bit of study on engines?) I thought maybe
it
> >is realistic.  Of course, given time and enough motivation, then I'd do a
> >basic thermodynamic study (ie train moving at Xkm/h has so much kinetic
> >energy, engine/drivetrain efficiency probably somewhere around 25-28%, Y
> >MJ/tonne of diesel etc), but can someone give me a faster answer?
>
>
> I dug up the fuel consumption figures for Explorers.
> Notch Consumption.L/h Engine OP.(HP) Traction OP(HP)
>  0    11  30   0
>
>  1   34 102   69
>
>  2   60 196  160
>
>  3   101 335  294
>
>  4  135 474  427
>
>
> Running at 140 km./h on flat track needs around 3 -4HP/tonne,more for
> going up hills or going into headwinds.
> An explorer railcar weighs approx 60 tonnes or more depending on how
> the car set is made up.
> With a 1700 litre tank and flat running a single Xplorer car should be
> able to get about around 2000 kms, ie all the way from Adelaide to
> Kalgoorlie on a single tank
> Maybe its time for a fan trip to do the above.
>
> The calorific value of 1 litre of diesel fuel is 38 Mj,so based on
> what one thinks is the average engine / drive efficiency ,you can
> roughly work out fuel consumption based on HP.
>
>
> MD
>