New Inlet Air Cooler For Irrigation Engines

New Inlet Air Cooler For Irrigation Engines ENGINES Engines 7-3-35 "It'll pay for itself in reduced engine maintenance alone," says Floyd J. Leonard, Jr., Sublette, Kan., one of the first farmers anywhere to test a new engine "Inlet Air Cooler" that's designed to lower engine operating temperature, boost horsepower and cut fuel usage on irrigation engines. The air cooler consists of a barrel-shaped metal cylinder that's about the size of a household hot water heater. Cold water from the irrigation well trickles into the cooler at a rate of 3 to 5 gal. per minute, dropping through a series of rings that break up the flow of water. Meanwhile, outside air is drawn into the cooler and up through the water by the pull of the irrigation engine intake manifold. The hot, dry outside air is thus converted to cool, high humidity air. "Before I installed the air cooler on my Minneapolis Moline engine, the engine rpm's varied from 1,550 rpm's during the day when the air was hot and dry, to 1,700 at night when the air cooled down. That meant a difference of about 150 gals. per hour of water. Now there's not even 20 rpm's difference between night and day operation and the engine runs a couple hundred degrees cooler. The exhaust manifold used to glow cherry red at night but now you can't see it. The engine also uses about 14% less natural gas with the air cooling system installed. Because the engine runs so much easier and cooler, I estimate it will run up to 1/3 longer before we have to tear it down," says Leonard, who has had a prototype Inlet Air Cooler in operation for two years and has since bought three more for other engines. His son has also purchased several units. Jim Persinger, of Fuel, Inc., inventor of the new air cooler, says the idea is one that farmers readily understand. "Anyone who has ever driven a tractor at night knows that engines always run better when the air is cool and moist," he says. "The Inlet Air Cooler provides the engine with a uniform source of air. No matter what the outside air temperature, air leaves the Inlet Air Cooler at about 95% humidity and 60 to 70 degrees." Persinger says he first got the idea from a customer who had suggested rigging up a car radiator to cool down the operation of his irrigation engines on hot summer days. "As soon as you install the Inlet Air Cooler, you have to lean the engine down and throttle it back," says Per-singer. "The result in very dry, hot air is 20 to 30% more horsepower and 10 to 30% less fuel consumption. Engine exhaust temperature drops 100 to 300 degrees." Persinger says the Inlet Air Cooler allows farmers who would have switched to larger engines because of dropping water tables to stick with their old engines. The air cooler requires no power to operate. Water is simply pulled off the well and then drained back into it. Air is pulled in through an air filter on the side of the unit. Two Inlet Air Coolers 16 and 24-in. in dia. are available depending on the size of the engine. They sell for $800 to $1,200 and can be installed in less than an hour with standard tools. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jim Persinger, Fuel Inc., Box 477, Hugoton, Kan. 67951 (ph. 316 544-2882 or 2165).

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