The powerplant of the QE carriers....
...is four gas turbine engines, with what is in effect a dynamo to supply electric power to the engines directly instead of the old fashioned system of boilers and turbines, which used to supply the steam needed for catapults. Moreover, the torque of a steam catapult cannot be adjusted, so they cannot launch very light UAVs, hence the need for modern carriers to be fitted with a sci-fi railgun. BAe managed to accidentally "inflate" the cost of adapting the QE carrier for a railgun, just in case the MoD decided that the F-35 is too expensive to procure and went down the route of buying F-18s or Rafales instead. Remember that BAe and Rolls Royce have a lot at stake if the F-35 turns out to be a massive white elephant.
/cynic.
(, Mon 30 Jul 2012, 21:07, Reply)
that reminds me of the time when Jaguar were taken over by Ford
in the design of the next XJ the engine bay monocoque was deliberately made too narrow for Ford to buy in Rover 60 degree V8s (and becoming common) so their engine choice became a home-designed 90-degree vee after the straight-sixers.
(
Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Mon 30 Jul 2012, 21:37,
Reply)
I read this story too...
...there are parallels with Triumph designing their own V8 for the Stag, rather than installing Rover V8s too.
(, Mon 30 Jul 2012, 22:14, Reply)
two straight fours on a common crank
the term 'notoriously weak' is often used, which is a shame. Then again, did not Daimler refer to their V12s as a 'Double 6'?
(
Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Mon 30 Jul 2012, 22:20,
Reply)
Two straight fours on a common crank...
...pretty much sums up the Audi V8's origins - basically two Golf GTi 16v units spliced together. It's not an unusual arrangement.
(, Mon 30 Jul 2012, 22:37, Reply)
I understand there are some problems with compression
because at any one time you have a single combustion chamber trying to pressurise two other cylinders at various states of compression. But heck, I'm Diagnostics, that's for the people in Calibration or base engine design.
(
Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Mon 30 Jul 2012, 23:10,
Reply)