dry sump oil separators
The engine is a V-twin with a dry sump oil system. The engine crankcase is basically sealed
and runs at between 5 and 10 inches of vacuum generated by the scavange pumps.
The breathing to atmosphere is done at the remoted oil tank. The tank is vented
to atmosphere through the filler cap. We are restricted by the fact that the oil
tank on these motorcycles are only approximately 3 qts capacity and we are only
running 2 qts of oil in order not to overflow the tank during operation.
This basic setup works well in all but sudden high rpm throttle bursts. At
those instances, the sudden flow of oil from the scavange back to the tank
causes oil to come out of the vent in the tank.
What solutions are out there for proper venting of oil tanks? Is an air/oil separator the solution? We are considering regulating the flow from the scavange to the tank. ]
Back in my days at Harley, the biggest oil leak problems were simply due
to overfilling the oil reservoir tank. This led to oil migrating out
the breather tube to the air filter when expansion (heat and aeration)
raised the level in the tank. "It's gonna leak anyway so I might as well
add more oil" was usually the root culprit. The FXR got a relocated
vent tube and a change to the other end so vapor was sucked directly
into the carb, along with an oil capacity label on the tank. Dyna series
solved most of the issues by putting the oil beneath the powertrain
where it belongs.
Consider a balance line between the tank and the engine. This can be jetted to maintain partial crankcase vacuum.
Otherwise
- as Pat said - the return line shoud inject the oil into the tank
against a curved wall. This helps remove some of the air from the oil
(deaeration) which keeps the volume lower.
TESTING: Make a
polycarbonate window in the tank so you can watch what happens. If you
can't duplicate it on the dyno, rig up a helmet camera for the test
track. We had windows in the primary cover to watch the wet clutch oil
patterns and the aeration change was spectacular.
Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
Check your check valve. 1 psi may not seem like a lot but you need to
find actual cracking pressure under operating conditions (heat,
vibration). You may also find that after time the chk valve could freeze
open or closed due to contamination, sludge, etc. It sounds like you
are using this line to vent pressure spikes from c'case and still
maintain c'case vacuum.
Somewhere in any oil system is a vent to
atmosphere - typically going into the intake (carb/inj) manifold to
burn blowby hydrocarbons. This usually creates a slightly lower pressure
for the vent. Without this, all the pressure must go into the tank,
then to atmosphere. There may be a much greater flow of air than you may
have allowed for - thus the velocity is pulling oil with it and exiting
the oil cap. Try running a 1/2" hose from the very top of the oil tank
up as high as you can get it. This way oil will have a chance to drop
out of suspension and flow back into the tank. Use a small in-line gas
filter at the terminal end to keep dirt out. I'm guessing this is a
race application since you are free venting.
Remember
that scavenge pumps are positive displacement so if you have a 3 gpm
pressure feed and (2) 3 gpm scavenge sections, you have to contend with 6
gpm total flow, 3 of which will be oil mist. Unless this is redirected
to the c'case, that's what you have to vent off. Using an air balance
line with a jet inside will let you pull some of this air volume back
into the system while still maintaining negative c'case pressure.
Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
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