Outline of the history of the development of piston aircraft engines charging systems

Abstract

The subject of the article is a review of the most important facts from the development of supercharging systems for piston aircraft engines from the beginnings of aviation to the present day, with particular emphasis on the period of dominance of piston engines in aviation, i.e. the first half of the 20th century. The work focuses on design solutions developed over the years that had a direct impact on engine operating indicators, altitude characteristic and therefore on aircraft performance. Moreover, in the first chapters it shows the reasons for using supercharging in aviation resulting from the unfavorable altitude characteristics of naturally aspirated engines, low-altitude engines or engines equipped with simple non-altitude superchargers systems. The aim of the article is to comprehensively outline the topic of supercharging piston aircraft engines, including, apart from the history of development, also its prospects. The text was prepared on the basis of literature and primarily on the basis of collected source material such as catalogues, archival publications and catalogue data sets. They allow not only to learn about the solutions used, but also to assess and analyze their impact on the engine's functionality. By learning about the altitude characteristics or operating indicators of an engine, it is possible to assess the usefulness of the design solutions used in its supercharging system. Such work requires not only the work of a historian who relies on source materials to learn about the past, but also the technical knowledge of an engineer who can interpret specific development trends in the construction of machines such as engines and their impact on their operating indicators. This approach allows not only to describe the past, but also to learn about development trends over the years. The analysis of historical constructions and operational indicators is often omitted in science because it requires working at the interface of two disciplines, both technical and historical. However, it is important for the development of the history of technology, because it concerns its central subject, i.e. the technical objects themselves.