World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[meanmikeca]

your quote:

<Attempting to supercharge a 2-stroke engine seems ludicrous to me. Trying to make one operate at 65,000 feet at -70 degrees is aiming for the impossible. If I'm not mistaken, the world altitude record for a piston aircraft with a multi-stage supercharger is only 50,000 feet.>

http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/

"The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today.

Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.
For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.

These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them."

indeed, these engines are made to last for decades of trouble free service and are doubtless some of the most reliable power plants ever made.

do you find this "ludicrous"?

i find your armchair engineering irrelevant and flat out wrong and for some reason your opinion seems to be skewed against snsr. you are no expert and your attempt to second guess dr k is full of holes and irrelevant facts, it is wrong.