OPERATING PECULIARITIES OF STANDARD COOLING SYSTEMS OF ENGINES AT HIGH ALTITUDES

The item under test was the engine without its standard facility-based cooling systems, the lack of which makes it impossible to operate as a power unit of a vehicle in a great majority of experimental research of internal combustion engines at high altitudes. The findings may create a wrong impression of the range of power ratings and economic parameters of the engine when operating at high altitudes because changes in atmospheric conditions exert an effect on the running efficiency of its standard systems as well. It is established that the efficiency loss of the cooling system may cause a forced power limitation of the engine as a result of the experimental research of the diesel engine equipped with all standard facility-based systems at very high altitudes. Thus, the shortage of power may significantly exceed the power loss of the engine due to air density reduction at high altitudes.