(69) Operating Costs of the Semi-Diesel Type.
As the semi-Diesel type engine will operate successfully on the lowest grades of crude oils, with an efficiency that compares favorably with the true Diesel type, the operating expenses are very much lower than with the gas or gasoline engine. With the same fuels, the semi-Diesel will show greater net saving than the Diesel with a low load factor, as the fuel saving is not eaten up by the high first cost, and overhead charges of the true Diesel. Western crude oils with a specific gravity of .960 (16° Beaumé) are being used daily with this type of engine while nearly every builder of the semi-Diesel type will guarantee results with oils up to 18° Beaumé (.948 Specific Gravity). Fuel of this grade will cost anywhere from 1½ cents to 3½ cents per gallon in tank car lots, depending on the distance of the engine from the wells or refinery.
With fuel oil weighing 7½ pounds per gallon, an engine consuming .65 pounds per horse-power hour (a usual guarantee) at full load, the cost of a horse-power hour delivered at the shaft will be .26 cent with fuel at 3 cents per gallon. This the lowest fuel expense of any prime mover even with steam or gas units of great power. In a twenty-four hour test of a De La Vergne oil engine running on 19° Beaumé oil, the consumption was considerably below the figure assumed above, being .508 pounds per horse-power hour. Even the engine was exceeded in a test made on a 175 horse-power engine by Dr. Waldo, which gave a consumption of .347 pounds of oil per horse-power hour with oil of .86 Specific Gravity.
The following is a tabulation of reports received by the De La Vergne Machine Company from the Snead Iron Works, giving the cost of power at their plant under actual working conditions extending over a period of twenty-four months. The plant consisted of a 17 × 27½ inch De La Vergne semi-Diesel type engine of 180 horse-power rated capacity, the load factor being 54.2 per cent. The total power produced during the record was 552,217 horse-power hours, with a working period of 588 days. Fuel = 28.8° Beaumé = 7.35 pounds per gallon.
| TABULATION | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Items | Total Cost | Cost per K.W. Hour | Cost per H.P. Hour |
| Fuel Oil, 38,211 gallons | $859.75 | $.00232 | $.00155 |
| Lubricating Oil | 228.72 | .00061 | .00041 |
| Miscellaneous Stores and Repairs | 123.20 | .00032 | .00022 |
| Labor and Attendance | 1361.42 | .00368 | .00246 |
| Total | $.00693 | $.00464 | |
Fuel oil used = .761 pounds per K. W. hour = .508 pounds per horse-power hour. Computing from the load factor of 54.2 per cent, the cost of power produced under the above conditions would be $9.30 per horse-power year, or $13.98 per kilowatt year. This result is obtained by assuming that the horse-power hours would be increased from 552,217 to 1,077,354, or in proportion to the actual load factor, the period, of course being the same in both cases.
(70) Elyria Semi-Diesel Type.
A type of semi-Diesel type oil engine has been recently developed by the Elyria Gas Power Co., Elyria, O., that presents many features of interest. It operates on the two stroke cycle principle, and with the exception of the spray nozzle has no valves in the working cylinder. The principle of the semi-Diesel type cycle as distinguished from the true Diesel engine, was described in Chapter III, as having the following characteristics. (1) Fuel injection. (2) Medium compression pressure. (3) Hot plate ignition. (4) An efficiency approximating that of the true Diesel type.
Fig. 77. Working Cylinder of Elyria Oil Engine.