REFLECTOR: Vortilons

[Chuck Jensen]

Jack,

I've tried several things, the first of which was to seal up the big hatch
and seal, as best possible, the aileron torgue tube penetration.  The
biggest remaining offender is inleakage in the nose gear/keel area.  There
doesn't seem to be a good way of blocking inleakage in that area.

My cabin heat currently taps off the front oil cooler plenum.  The air flow
is so great that it is only heated a few degrees as it rushes thru the
cooler; okay at 10C but not good at 0C. To slow the air flow, I cut pieces
from a cloth bag filter material the size of the face of oil cooler and put
4 layers on the cooler face.  It slow the air down which allowed it to heat
up nicely and warm the cabin, unfortunately, the engine oil started heating
up also.  If I took a couple layers of cloth off the front of the oil
cooler, the engine was cooler, but so was the cabin.  In short, there was no
happy medium.

In short, tapping into the nice hot oil and running it through a smaller oil
cooler before it goes to the primary front cooler seems to be the answer.
The air flow can be controlled to allow full heating of the air while the
main cooler is allowed to do its thing.  It certainly appears there is ample
heat pumped to the front of the plane in the oil line...we just have to find
a good way of tapping it for our use.  The current oil cooler ain't it!

My fresh air duct had some leakage around the attachment point to the
fisheye vent so I just stuck a rag in it.  My next project will be to make
some nice NACA plugs that conform to the surrounding surface that will fit
in the NACA for those months that fresh air isn't needed/desired.  I also
stuck a rag in the NACA for the overhead plenum so it wouldn't be
pressurized and leak cold air on my neck.  Another ideal place for a NACA
plug.  Who knows, with both NACAs covered with a conforming plug, might even
gain a knot or two.

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-admin@tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-admin@tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Jack Sheehan
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 2:58 PM
To: reflector@tvbf.org
Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: Vortilons


Chuck,
I have used tape for the gap seals on the ailerons. I have not tried 
the elevators or rudders. Have you closed the gaps on all the 
controls?
  I have considered trying to make a sliding door or shutter type 
thing that might fit between the oil cooler and the fuselage so that 
you could close it some in flight with just a push pull cable. I also 
just taped over the fresh air NACA scoop on top since all the 
switches, lights and vents leaked cold (very cold) air. For those 
building you may want to consider some sort of a shut off flapper for 
the fresh air plenum. You could make a little butterfly damper type 
thing that could be shut off in the rear seat area. The problem I 
have now is that if I decide to fly to Florida I am going to have to 
stop in Georgia and take the tape off ( good excuse to pee).

Jack
N55XL
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