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Issue 31. January - February 1999 | |
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UKRAINIAN MODERN TANK DIESEL ENGINES |
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Nikolai Ryazantsev, General Designer of the Kharkov Engine-Building Design Bureau State Enterprise, D. Sc. (Technology)
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A tank diesel engine, being the most important component of a power plant compartment, has a dramatic effect on a tank’s weight-and-dimension indices, mobility and cost. It must have minimum dimensions and feature high efficiency, low heat transfer, multifuel capability, durability, capability of operation under conditions of high dust content, high/low ambient temperatures, as well as maintainability and fire safety. |
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 he history of the Kharkov Engine-Building Design Bureau State Enterprise (Russian acronym GP KhKBD) is intimately associated with a tank manufacturing plant – the Malyshev Plant State Enterprise which has celebrated the centenary of its foundation and 70th anniversary of launching of production of armor materiel.
KhKBD was set up in 1932 to develop diesel engines for armor materiel. The world’s first tank diesel engine designated V-2 was developed by KhKBD and in 1939 it was put into the inventory of the army as power plant of the T-34 battle tank.
At present, KhKBD is a research and production complex furnished with unique equipment and specialized test rigs enabling the Design Bureau to develop modern engines for military use.
The KhKBD’s high intellectual potential is ensured by scientists, highly skilled engineer-designers, technologists and researchers having a wide experience in the development of high-duty diesel engines. Cooperation between the Kharkov-based Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau, Malyshev Plant State Enterprise and GP KhKBD enabled them to develop modern tank diesel engines at the least expenditures, including time ones. A tank diesel engine, being the most important component of a power plant compartment, has a dramatic effect on a tank’s weight-and-dimension indices, mobility and cost. It must have minimum dimensions and feature high efficiency, low heat transfer, multifuel capability, durability, capability of operation under conditions of high dust content, high/low ambient temperatures, as well as maintainability and fire safety.
The T-64, T-80UD and T-84 new-generation well-known battle tanks, boasting a high rating on the world market, are powered by KhKBD-developed new-type diesel engines (see the table given below). They represent two-stroke, three-, five- and six-cylinder, multifuel, turbo-charged, direct-injection, horizontal in-line, opposed-piston, two-way power takeoff diesel engines. With the considerable difference in power, all diesel engines feature the same height (581 mm) and are the world’s «lowest» tank diesel engines that gave an impetus to the development of low-silhouette new-generation battle tanks. |
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