Engine Power Recovery
The Buick Feed-Back System of Testing Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines
| This article first appeared in the Volume 5, Number 57 (July, 1943) issue of Aircraft Production magazine, and is presented here through the kind permission of Flight International. Thanks also to Bruce Vander Mark for furnishing volumes of Aircraft Production for scanning. |
Approximately 63% of the horsepower hours developed by engines on test in the Buick plant for the manufacture of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines in the United States is converted into electric energy and fed into the power lines supplying the factory. Of the total electric power used by the factory during the four months from the 1st of March to the end of June, 1942, 54.6% was supplied by recovery of power from engines undergoing test and run-in.
The feedback system is the only one of the three fundamental test systems that makes any return for the money spent for petrol consumed during the test period. It is stated that the initial cost of installation of the equipment for it is somewhat less than the expense of building and equipping correctly designed houses for the use of airscrews for absorbing the power generated by engines on test stands.
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