The effect of mineral dust in the air sucked in by an engine on accelerated component wear and reduction in performance was presented. The necessity to use two-stage air filters (multicyclone-paper insert) for military vehicles was shown. The results showed that placing an air filter in the path of the air entering the engine causes an additional pressure drop (air filter resistance increase), which leads to engine power decrease and increased fuel consumption. An analysis of model filter beds’ pressure drop changes (depending on bed parameters, aerosol flow parameters, and dust content) was carried out. It was revealed that it is very difficult to model changes in pressure drop in filter beds for actual conditions that appear during vehicle operation. The air filter pressure drop measurement results of more than 20 tracked vehicles operating in variable air dust concentration conditions were presented. The forms of selected regression models of the “life curve” type, best suited to the actual changes in air filters pressure drop as a function of the vehicle mileage, were determined. Significant differences were found between the same model values for different units of the tested vehicles. The quality of forecasting pressure drop value by selected functions was assessed by extrapolating them to the value of the next measurement and comparing the forecast and actual value. It was found that for the performed experiment, sufficiently good results of experimental data approximation and forecasting were obtained for a simple linear model.
Experimental and Theoretical Research on Pressure Drop Changes in a Two-Stage Air Filter Used in Tracked Vehicle Engine