Are onboard air compressors feasible for powering the cannons of a ship? I've seen them used on subs, and head possible uses on a ship, the question os will a small compressor supply enough air while not using up to much battery
It's been tried. Was either too big, or did not give enough pressure and also casued a lot of readio noise issues.
I think for some of the early big gun boats compressors were used. Apparently there is some debate chicken and egg style about the rate of fire being based on the compressors refilling the accumulators. Gotta have a large boat and lots of batteries though The best bet in my mind is the cambell hausfield one with a gauge and auto shutoff. Mike
Yes, air compressors have been used in combat ships. I used one myself, and they were very common after freon gas was banned and before paintball CO2 systems were adopted. And yes, they really were the origin of the Big Gun rate-of-fire restrictions. The advantage to using an air compressor is that you don't have to worry about CO2 or other tanked gas supplies. As long as you have batteries, you can fight. Your average Big Gun battleship carries between 16 and 20 ounces of CO2. For that same space and weight, you can fit either two small air compressors, or one small air compressor and the battery to run it. The crucial part to using air compressors is the auto-cutoff valve. This valve activates the compressor when air pressure is below a pre-set level, and shuts it off when air pressure reaches the pre-set level. This allows you to adjust your cannons to pass the foam test and other safety regulations. There are several places online to purchase these valves, and they are not too expensive. However, there are a few downsides to compressors as well. First, air compressors draw a lot of power. Your average compressor draws 10 to 12 amps while running, and requires 12v to run. Second, air compressors are noisy. You can hear them from across the pond, and the noise levels can ruin any films that you make. Third, air compressors cannot digest water. If you sink with a running air compressor, you're in trouble. Fourth, they sometimes generate radio noise. I have personal experience with this one, as the RF noise from my air compressor directly led to the sinking of two friendly battlecruisers and one friendly battleship.
Thanks for the help with the compressors, it seemed such a great idea at first, but then it really wasn’t. All this info saves me valuable time and money, which would otherwise be wasted in experimenting and testing.
When I first got into this hobby our ships used Air Compressors. They would lose pressure with each shot and those shots would be weak. Then there was the delay in getting the cannon to full pressure. I used my Bismarck using the CO2 system against the Scharnhorst which was using the Air Compressor system. Scharnhorst was sunk with lots of holes and Bismarck had only a couple. The Captain of the Scharnhorst wrote up a post battle report and he indicated that the Air Compressor was out performed by the Co2 system.
Articles on the compressors are up at RCWarships. Go to the Naval War College MKII link, and search for Compressor. There are three articles on it. cheers Jeff
