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Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (March 18, 1858 – September 30, 1913) was a German
inventor, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine.
 Early
life
Rudolf Diesel was born in Paris in 1858. His parents were Bavarian immigrants.
Rudolf Diesel was educated at Munich Polytechnic. After graduation he was employed
as a refrigerator engineer. However, his true love lay in engine design. Rudolf
Diesel designed many heat engines, including a solar-powered air engine.
After graduation, he had success for two years as a machinist and designer in
Winterthur, Switzerland. After this, he returned to Paris, where he was employed as
a refrigeration engineer at Linde Refrigeration Enterprises. His early research
into fuel efficiency led him to build a "steam engine" using ammonia vapour. Under
test, this exploded with almost fatal consequences. It resulted in many months in
the hospital, and a great deal of ill health and eye sight problems in later
life.
In Paris he became a connoisseur of the fine arts and an internationalist. He
married in 1883, and had three children. He set up his first shop-laboratory in
1885 in Paris, and began full-time work on his engine. This continued when he moved
to Berlin, working again for Linde Enterprises.
In 1898, Rudolf Diesel was granted US patent #608,845 for an "internal combustion
engine," the Diesel engine, and the first US production of Diesel engines began. By
that time, European contracts had already made him a millionaire. His engines were
used to power pipelines, electric and water plants, automobiles and trucks, and
marine craft, and soon after were used in mines, oil fields, factories, and
transoceanic shipping.
The diesel engines of today are refined and improved versions of Rudolf Diesel's
original concept. They are often used in submarines, ships, locomotives, and large
trucks and in electric generating plants. Although uncommon (but growing in
popularity) in the USA, diesel powered passenger cars are extremely popular
throughout much of the rest of the world, surpassing 50% market penetration in
Europe.
Though best known for his invention of the pressure-ignited heat engine that bears
his name, Rudolf Diesel was also a well-respected thermal engineer and a social
theorist. Rudolf Diesel's inventions have three points in common: They relate to
heat transference by natural physical processes or laws; they involve markedly
creative mechanical design; and they were initially motivated by the inventor's
concept of sociological needs. Rudolf Diesel originally conceived the diesel engine
to enable independent craftsmen and artisans to compete with large industry.
Development
of the invention
Diesel spent his months in the hospital reading the technical papers published by
Otto. Diesel could see that Otto had trapped his engine into a dead end of fuel
efficiency. By premixing the fuel in the air, Otto had limited the compression. The
crank then carried round this limit to the expansion ratio of the hot gas.
Diesel knew from Sadi Carnot's three rules on heat engine efficiency that the
expansion of the gas was the key to fuel efficiency. Limit the expansion ratio; and
Otto had limited the fuel efficiency of his engine. That was the key to Diesel's
engine patents; he won his patent on the grounds of liberating the engine from
limits to its fuel efficiency.
His answer was simple - only add the fuel when you want to ignite it. With that
simple leap of thinking there is suddenly no mechanical limit to the theoretical
efficiency.
In 1892, he published a paper on his work, “The Theory and Construction of a
Rational Heat Engine Substitute for the Steam Engine and Today's Combustion
Engines.” February 27, 1892, Diesel applied to the German Patent office for his
engine design. On February 23, 1893, he is granted the first patent for his
"Working Method and Design for Combustion Engines," German patent #67207, corrected
later that year with patent #82168.
Diesel began building a prototype engine, which was ready for testing by July 1893.
The engine was fueled by powdered coal injected with compressed air. This machine,
a single 10-foot(3 m) iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, achieved a
compression of 80 atmospheres (8100 kPa). After a nearly fatal explosion, the
exploding ammonia engine was strictly limited by his boss Linde. Due to these
imposed limits, the machine would not power itself, but it did prove that one did
not need a spark to have internal combustion.
Diesel was allowed to go further, about seven months later, a major milestone was
achieved when he was able to run a single piston engine for one minute on February
17, 1894. This engine only generated 13 horsepower but demonstrated that Diesel's
compression ignition principle was a sound one.
He built an improved prototype in early 1897 while working at the Maschinenfabrik
Augsburg (from 1906 onward, the MAN) plant at Augsburg. Diesel's engine had some
similarities with an engine invented by Herbert Akroyd Stuart in 1890. Diesel was
embroiled for some years in various patent disputes and arguments over priority but
in the end he prevailed and his invention came to be called the Diesel engine. He
continued its development over the next three years, began production (the first
commercial engine was at a brewery in the United States), and secured licenses from
firms in several countries. He became a millionaire.
Later life
and death
Diesel was something of an unstable character, having several nervous breakdowns,
and was somewhat paranoid at times. He defended his priority of invention
tenaciously. Diesel toured the United States as a lecturer in 1904, and he
self-published a two volume work on his social philosophy.
On September 29, 1913, while in Antwerp, Diesel boarded the SS Dresden ferry to
cross the English Channel. The next morning, the steward discovered that Diesel's
cabin was empty. Diesel's body was found in the Scheldt river on October 18.
One theory in Diesel's death is that he died by suicide, possibly due to being
deeply in debt. His family stated that he committed suicide because his invention
was stolen and a cross in his journal on the date he died indicates suicide. Also,
a briefcase containing a very small sum of money and a large amount of debt-ridden
bank statements was left to his wife, Martha.
Another theory revolves around the German military, which was beginning to use his
engines on their submarines. Diesel opposed this usage, and the German military may
have feared that his invention could wind up powering the British Royal Navy
submarine fleet.
A third theory in the death of Diesel is based around the hope that his engine
would provide power using alternative/cheaper/greener fuels. This revolutionary
thinking may have scared some oil investors. Rudolf Diesel said, "The use of
vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may
become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the
present time." After his death, the Diesel engine was marketed that it only ran on
petroleum based products and his great ideas of a clean burning engine died with
him (although see below).
Legacy
After
Diesel's death, the Diesel engine underwent much development, and became a
very important replacement for the steam engine in many applications. Because
the Diesel engine required a heavier, more robust construction than a gasoline
engine, it was unsuitable for applications such as aviation (with the
exception of zeppelins). However, the Diesel engine became widespread in many
other applications, such as stationary engines, submarines, ships, and much
later, locomotives, and in modern times automobiles. Recently, Diesel engines
have been designed, certified and flown that have overcome the weight penalty
in light aircraft. These engines are designed to run on either Diesel fuel or
more commonly jet fuel.
The Diesel engine has the benefit of running on cheaper fuels; Diesel was
especially interested in using coal dust or vegetable oil as fuel. Although these
fuels were not immediately popular, recent rises in fuel prices coupled with
concerns about oil reserves have lead to more widespread use of vegetable oil and
biodiesel. The primary source of fuel remains what became known as Diesel fuel, an
oil byproduct derived from refinement of petroleum.
Today there is an entire museum dedicated to Rudolf Diesel, and this is situated in
Paris, France, and houses a wide range of information related to Rudolf Diesel and
the Diesel engine.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Rudolf
Diesel - Generator - Biography
