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New Product release

Don at Airflow

Well Known Member
Forced by suppliers we have redesigned our boost pump package. By some creative engineering we have eliminated the return line connection and reduced the cost o the pump package. Due for production release in August 2013, the pump now has a simple in and out hookup.


New price $390.00

 
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Great job Don!

Hmmmm....this just made a swap to AFP FI much easier!

Can you also give me a brief rundown on the FM-150 and its advantages/disadvantages over the FM-200. I know it does not use a purge valve and this interest me greatly but I don't want to have hot start issues or anything like that.

:rolleyes:
 
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FM-150

Brian,

As you may know the FM-150 was designed for Superior Air Parts back in 2008. Then it kind of went dorment because of what happened to Superior. We revifed the design about 3 yease ago. The design criteria were to have the same flange interface, and length as a RSA-5 fuel servo, and no purge valve requirement. The FM-150 has a bit more flow capacity than a RSA-5 but probably would not be noticeable on a Lycoming 360. The fuel regulator has a redesigned mixture control that has pretty much zero leak (less than 5 cc/min) ICO. From an installation stand point the install should be like a RSA-5 or Silver Hawk unit, although putting a FM-200 on an up draft sump is pretty easy if your using Van?s air box. So the advantages are that you don?t have to run the purge return line and you don?t have to have a purge valve control cable in the cockpit to actuate the purge valve. I believe if the installation is done right on a stock cowl (no pressure cowl), you should be able to get buy with the hot starts. I guess there are a lot of Silver Hawk fans out there that will tell you how great their system starts hot (you would be surprised how many purge valves we sell to people with Silver Hawk and Bendix units though).

Now if your going to build that killer 360 engine, IO-390 or Stroker 400, we have a solution that?s probably got a 7-10 HP advantage over the Silver Hawk. We just came out with a new billet fuel regulator that will fit our existing throttle bodies. So a FM-200A will give you a big breathing unit that does not require the purge valve. The first prototype was on an engine in the Barrett booth at Oshkosh
 
Great looking pump assembly Don! This will certainly make plumbing alot easier for our customers.
Keep up the great work!
Tom
 
I don't understand what the difference in design of the different units is that determines whether a purge valve is necessary or not. something has to overcome the tendency for fuel vapor to form. Can Don or someone else elaborate?
Thanks
Erich
 
I don't understand what the difference in design of the different units is that determines whether a purge valve is necessary or not. something has to overcome the tendency for fuel vapor to form. Can Don or someone else elaborate?
Thanks
Erich

My limited understanding of it is that the FM-200 has a design that does not fully shut off the fuel at idle cut off of the mixture control and this is the primary purpose of the purge valve is to shunt this fuel back to the tank so that the engine will quit and not flood. The FM-150 is a different design that eliminates this issue. As a secondary benefit, the purge of the hot fuel helps during hot starts.
 
Why the Purge Valve. A bit of history

Let me give you a bit of history. Back in 1984 (when we started the company) we knew that there was a lot of negative press about hot starts with aircraft fitted with Bendix fuel injection. When we designed the FM-series system the main objective was to simplify the regulator design and to make it handle fuel flows for engines ranging from 50 HP to 1200 HP, with gasoline or alcohol. In the design because of manufacturing reasons the idle and mixture control used rotary valves.

Identifying the reason for hot starts was key in developing the idea for the purge valve. With the Bendix fuel injection system as well as Airflow Performance system, there is no fuel return in the system. After shut down the heat from the engine boils the fuel in the fuel system. On the re-start there is part fuel part vapor so the start may not happen or the engine will start then stop. There is no way to get rid of the vapor, as the system has no fuel return. The only way to clear the system is to run the engine up to clear out the vapor.

By identifying this problem, a solution was to have a device that allowed the fuel to circulate through the system but not flood the engine. Putting the purge valve at the flow divider allowed 95% of the volume of fuel in the fuel system to be circulated thus eliminating the vapor and replacing the hot fuel with cool fuel. With this device the hot start problem was eliminated.

Now remembering that the FM-series fuel injection systems used rotary valves for the mixture control the fuel leakage at ICO was around 2-4 PPH. This did not always reliability shut the engine off and under certain conditions engine run on. Also since most injected Lycomings used a diaphragm fuel pump, after the engine stopped one stroke of fuel was put through the fuel injection system. The result being fuel dripping down the intake pipes and out the air inlet or out the manifold drain. By using the purge valve on these systems the shut down problem was also eliminated since the purge valve diverted the fuel at the flow divider and dumped the inlet fuel pressure.

We had a lot of push back on this design too as it required an additional cable control in the cockpit and the return line to one of the fuel tank feed lines. Basically some people loved it and some wired the device open. To me it was pretty simple, start and stop the engine using the purge valve, leave the mixture control full rich all the time unless leaning in flight at altitude.

We now offer a system that does not require the use of the purge valve. The FM-150, FM-100A, FM-200A, and the FM-300B have a new design fuel regulator that does not require the purge valve.

Don
 
Return line

Don
So I assume you still need the return line with the new fuel regulator? If you don't how does the hot fuel get exchanged or does it?
 
Why couldn't you release this about 6 months ago?!?! I murdered about 15' of tubing trying to build my fuel pump setup!! :mad::D
 
We now offer a system that does not require the use of the purge valve. The FM-150 said:
It doesn't need it. But, if you wanted to reduce hot start problems you would still need to add the purge valve. Is that correct? Or would you just order the the FM200? Is the only difference between the FM200 And the FM200A the new regulator?
 
Still Confusion?

The new regulator (FM-100A, FM-200A, FM-300B) has a redesigned regulator that has a different designed mixture control. So you get an ICO that is less than 5 cc/min. This is similar to a Silver Hawk or Bendix unit. There is no re-circulation of the fuel with this system. Therefore no return lines or additional controls in the cockpit. If you want to have a purge valve to eliminate the hot start problem (if you think you'll have them) then you could add the purge valve to the FM-100A, FM-200B, and FM-300B, but this to me would not be cost effective as you can purchase the normal FM-100, FM-200 and FM-300A for less money. We still are going to sell the original kits with the purge valve.

Why didn't I come up with the new aux pump 6 months ago? Well, think of it this way. I was hoping that by this time you would be an expert in bending and flaring tubing for the next project.:)

Don
 
Forced by suppliers we have redesigned our boost pump package. By some creative engineering we have eliminated the return line connection and reduced the cost o the pump package. <snip>
150ab49c-f9ef-4df9-a64a-9fb08d561c2a_zps71723f5a.jpg

Hi, Don...I'm curious...how do you get the lengths of the two sides exactly the same? It seems like it would be hard to make the tubing and valve length identical to the length of the pump so you don't get the end blocks in a bind.

Sorry...probably a dumb question.
 
Forced by suppliers we have redesigned our boost pump package. By some creative engineering we have eliminated the return line connection and reduced the cost o the pump package. Due for production release in August 2013, the pump now has a simple in and out hookup.


New price $390.00


Hello Don, Im a noob at FI systems, can you tell me what parts I need to change from a carb 0360A1A to your FI system please.
 
Where to order from?

Will Vans be stocking this new pump soon? If not where can it be ordered from?

Thanks.


Forced by suppliers we have redesigned our boost pump package. By some creative engineering we have eliminated the return line connection and reduced the cost o the pump package. Due for production release in August 2013, the pump now has a simple in and out hookup.


New price $390.00

 
One problem I am having is the Van's mount housing for the pump is apparently based on the old version which is shorter in the forward aft plane. I am needing to have special stainless steel lines made to limit the distance forward that the line from the filter to the pump makes, or rebuild the mount housing. Someone needs to come up with a better solution or contact Van's (I already did but more voices could help) with a redesign.
 
As a new user of your purge valve that came on my BPE IO-540, I must say that it is the best invention since flush toilets! I use to dread trying to restart a hot engine. Now, NO problems.

QUOTE=Don at Airflow;797248]The new regulator (FM-100A, FM-200A, FM-300B) has a redesigned regulator that has a different designed mixture control. So you get an ICO that is less than 5 cc/min. This is similar to a Silver Hawk or Bendix unit. There is no re-circulation of the fuel with this system. Therefore no return lines or additional controls in the cockpit. If you want to have a purge valve to eliminate the hot start problem (if you think you'll have them) then you could add the purge valve to the FM-100A, FM-200B, and FM-300B, but this to me would not be cost effective as you can purchase the normal FM-100, FM-200 and FM-300A for less money. We still are going to sell the original kits with the purge valve.

Why didn't I come up with the new aux pump 6 months ago? Well, think of it this way. I was hoping that by this time you would be an expert in bending and flaring tubing for the next project.:)

Don[/QUOTE]
 
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