Measuring Cetane Number
Accurate measurements of the cetane number is rather difficult, as it requires burning the fuel in a rare diesel engine called a Cooperative Fuel Research(CFRTM) engine, under standard test conditions. The operator of the (CFRTM)engine uses a hand-wheel to increase the compression ratio (and therefore the peak pressure within the cylinder) of the engine until the time between fuel injection and ignition is 2.407ms. The resulting cetane number is then calculated by determining which mixture of cetane (hexadecane) and isocetane (2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane) will result in the same ignition delay.
Read more about this topic: Cetane Number
Famous quotes containing the words measuring and/or number:
“As an example of just how useless these philosophers are for any practice in life there is Socrates himself, the one and only wise man, according to the Delphic Oracle. Whenever he tried to do anything in public he had to break off amid general laughter. While he was philosophizing about clouds and ideas, measuring a flea’s foot and marveling at a midge’s humming, he learned nothing about the affairs of ordinary life.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“Mining today is an affair of mathematics, of finance, of the latest in engineering skill. Cautious men behind polished desks in San Francisco figure out in advance the amount of metal to a cubic yard, the number of yards washed a day, the cost of each operation. They have no need of grubstakes.”
—Merle Colby, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)