http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi. ... 001160.pdf
I am reposting the above link originally posted in the 2 stroke thread by J.A.W. The paper investigates turbo-compound alternatives for helicopter power.
Those who believe that
high boost pressures rob unnecessary power from the turbine and reduce thermal efficiency should have a read. For example page 9 states
"The best SFC and engine weight balance was found to exist at high compressor pressure ratios (over 10) This is even higher than the Napier Nomad turbo-compound which had a pressure ratio of 6.5 in 1952 and the highest thermal efficiency of any aircraft engine ever produced.
Also of interest is the AFR used.
For the Nomad, ER = 0.65 (Lambda = 1.54)
For the engine proposed in the paper, ER = 0.68 (Lambda = 1.47)
Of course the ICE in both cases is a diesel which means the AFR can be chosen to maximise efficiency since detonation and flame propagation are unaffected by mixture. What it does tell us however is that somewhere around 1.5 is the place to aim for best efficiency provided detonation and flame propagation can be effectively controlled (by optimising DI etc).
On intercooling.
From page 9
An aftercooler was introduced . . . . (various advantages listed) . . . .however a small SFC increase (about 5%) will be incurred. The thermodynamic cycle shown on page 11 shows charge air cooling from 358*C to 224*C. The lesson here is that intercooling does have a penalty in themal efficiency (even the modest cooling used here) so I would expect charge air temperatures in the current F1 engines to be significantly higher than ambient, perhaps even higher than the 70*C used by Honda in the RA168E.
The thermodynamic cycle on page 11 gives a very useful insight into pressure ratios across each element and energy flows. The model does have two turbine stages, one to drive the compressor and one for power recovery but a single stage turbine will do the same job at a given operating point.