On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Brandon Cope <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 8:41 AM CST Onno Meyer wrote: > >> >>> Several thousand M4 Shermans used the A57 Multibank engine (five >>> truck engines driving one crankshaft) and it proved reliable in >>> service. I think two engines should work fine. >> >>The BTR-60 was always troublesome, by anecdotal "evidence". > > I'm not sure why the BTR-60 did it. The M4's did because there wasn't an > engine powerful enough at the time, outside of radial aircaft engines (which > some American tanks did use). The A57 used tried and tested commercial truck > engines to attain the required power. > > In any case, 2+ engines linked to one drivetrain can work.
multiple engines in a mechanical drivetrain is a reliability nightmare. The A57 worked okay, but it wasn't wonderful; the engine it's built from was pretty built proof. The BTR-60 has two not relieable engines, which made the resulting product very not reliable. (It was also undercooled for hot weather use, a problem in most of the action it saw.) In general, multiple mechanically coupled engines are obsolete in the real world. Multiple engines electrically or hydraulically coupled, however, are a substantial advantage. They can be more modular (need more power? Add another engine module.) more reliable (can have redundancy), and the failure of one doesn't create mechanical problems for the others. And electrical drive lets you run only the engines you need for the current load, shutting the others down, saving fuel. (and maybe iimproving stealth.). -- David Scheidt [email protected] _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
