Dobrynin VD-4K

Dobrynin VD-4K
Type Four-row, turbo-compound, radial engine
National origin Soviet Union
Manufacturer Dobrynin OKB-36 in Rybinsk
First run June 1950
Major applications Tupolev Tu-85
Number built 23
Developed from M-250

The Dobrynin VD-4K was a Soviet four-row, 24-cylinder, turbo-compound, radial engine developed after the end of World War II. It was superseded by turboprop engines before it could be widely used.

Contents

Development

The VD-4K, originally designated as the M-253K, was a development of the post-war VD-3TK (M-251K) engine. It had six monobloc banks, each with four liquid-cooled cylinders. Three blow-down exhaust, also known as power-recovery, turbines were fitted between the cylinder banks, and a geared centrifugal supercharger and a turbocharger were fitted to the engine itself, which made the VD-4K a turbo-compound engine.

Development began in January 1949 and construction of the prototype began in September of that year. The first engine was completed in January 1950 and it underwent its 100-hour tests in June. It successfully passed its State acceptance tests in January–February 1951. It was evaluated aboard a Tupolev Tu-4 bomber in 1950. It was most notably fitted to the two prototypes of the Tupolev Tu-85 bomber, but the aircraft, and its engines, was not placed into production because of the promise offered by turboprop engines of immensely more power, like the Kuznetsov NK-12 used on the Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bomber.[1]

Applications

Specifications (VD-4K)

Data from Kotelnikov[2]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

See also

Comparable engines
Related lists

References

Notes

  1. ^ Gunston, p. 244
  2. ^ Kotelnikov 2005, p. 195.

Bibliography

  • Gunston, Bill (1995). Tupolev Aircraft since 1922. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-882-8. 
  • Kotelnikov, Vladimir (2005). Russian Piston Aero Engines. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press. ISBN 1-86126-702-9. 

External links