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Liquid Cooled Air Power, Inc. is dedicated
to advancing the development of the General Aviation piston
engine. For the last 50+ years there has been virtually no real
improvement over the basic air-cooled horizontally opposed
engines that power the vast majority of General Aviation
aircraft. How such stagnation came to pass is due to a myriad of
reasons and frankly we would rather not dwell on the past. We
are here to show that advancements are possible and we feel that
the time is right to start advancing beyond the air-cooled
piston engines of yesterday.
We have assembled a team of engineers,
craftsmen and manufacturers that bring together an extraordinary
and diverse amount of experience in aviation, and high
performance racing both on land and marine environments. At
Liquid Cooled Air Power we are blending all of this experience
together in order to design and build the next generation of
aviation piston engines.
We are adapting the experience and
technology that has been proven in high performance racing to
meet aviation's unique requirements of both high performance and
long term reliability. We have also addressed the unique
nature of the aviation market that is defined by small
production runs of high performance parts and the ability to
produce those parts in a cost effective manner and not just meet
but also exceed the expectations of quality, safety and
reliability.
At Liquid Cooled Air Power we believe that
the next step in the technological advancement of General
Aviation piston engines is to convert to water cooling.
General Aviation piston engines are
essentially the last of the air-cooled piston engines –
virtually all other engines have converted to water cooling?
The vast majority of motorcycle engines and even die hard
air-cooled automotive engine manufacturers like Porsche have
gone to water cooling in the quest for more power and
reliability per cubic inch of displacement. In fact water cooled
automotive engines have in many instances more than doubled
the power output per cubic inch of displacement in the last 7
years. One of the principle reasons such advances have been
possible is because the operating temperature of the engine is
kept at a stable and efficient level safely allowing higher compression
ratios and more exotic fuel and engine management systems to
be developed.
The benefits of water cooling are
substantial:
- Lower and stable engine temperatures
- Lower cooling drag
- Elimination of shock cooling
- Improved performance
- Better fuel efficiency
- Higher reliability
- Longer engine and component life
- Safer cabin heat
History has shown that advances in engines
have tended to drive the development of airframes.
Today we are seeing considerable improvement in higher
technology airframes and avionics yet, even these new airframes
are held back by yesterday's engines. Yes, there are other
types of multi-fuel engines being developed and hopefully one
day they will actually power general aviation aircraft. But
these new multi-fuel engines are designed for new airframes –
without any consideration of adaptation to the vast fleet of
existing aircraft. It will take years before these multi-fuel
engines have the necessary support in the field; in terms of
things as basic as fuel
availability and more importantly to experienced and properly
equipped service facilities.
At Liquid Cooled Air Power we believe that
in order to be successful that we must offer new engine
technology to both existing and future aircraft at a reasonable
cost while at the same time taking into account the ability to
service and maintain this new technology in the field. Our
engines run on the same fuel as their air-cooled counterparts
but have the ability to also run reliably on lower octane
unleaded automotive fuels. More importantly we are introducing
our water cooled technology in such a way that service
facilities will have no problem handling maintenance due to
parts commonality.
Aircraft owners and pilots are traditionally very conservative
when it comes to the most important part of their aircraft –
the engine. We understand that and we have taken great care to
develop and introduce our first product in a manner that should
instill confidence in the aviation community. We have spent the
last few years developing our first water cooled aircraft
engine solution and we are confident that it will meet the
approval of the aviation community.
We are committed to producing real and
usable advancements – not just press releases and promises.
Today we are offering advances in engine technology that can be
used in both existing as well as yet to be designed
aircraft.
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