Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93

A microturbine for electric power generation

Jan Peirs, Dominiek Reynaerts∗ , Filip Verplaetsen
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 300B,
Leuven 3001, Belgium
Received 15 September 2002; received in revised form 25 July 2003; accepted 11 January 2004

Available online 25 February 2004

Abstract

A single-stage axial microturbine has been developed with a rotor diameter of 10 mm. This turbine is a first step in the development
of a microgenerator that produces electrical energy from fuel. The turbine is made of stainless steel using die-sinking electro-discharge
machining. It has been tested to speeds up to 160,000 rpm and generates a maximum mechanical power of 28 W with an efficiency of
18%. When coupled to a small generator, it generates 16 W of electrical power, which corresponds to an efficiency for the total system
of 10.5%.
© 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Microturbine; Microgenerator; Power MEMS; EDM

1. Introduction 2. Microturbines-scale effects

Most portable devices use batteries for their power sup-
ply. Current Li-ion batteries have energy densities up to
0.5 MJ/kg but still offer limited autonomy to for instance
laptops and cellular phones. Charging times also pose prob-
lems. Fuel, on the other hand, offers a much higher energy
density of about 45 MJ/kg, and the reservoir can easily be
refilled. Therefore, several groups are working on the devel-
opment of micro power generators based on fuel cells [1–3],
thermo-electric devices [4,5], Stirling engines [6,7], recip-
rocating internal combustion engines [8,9], Wankel motors
[10], and gas turbines [11–14].
Specific about the microturbine presented in this paper is
that it is an axial turbine produced with electro-discharge
machining (EDM). The microturbine developed at MIT [11]
is a radial turbine with a rotor diameter of 4 mm, produced
lithographically in Si or SiC. The microturbine developed
at Stanford [12] is an axial–radial turbine with a rotor di-
ameter of 12 mm. The silicon nitride rotor is produced by a
gel-casting technique using a wax mould. Teams at Tohoku
University [13] and the University of Tokyo [14] use as well
radial as axial-radial designs.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +32-16-322640; fax: +32-16-322987.
E-mail address: Dominiek.Reynaerts@mech.kuleuven.ac.be
(D. Reynaerts).
The reduction of scale has several effects on the per-
formance and construction of the turbine, and on the fuel
choice.
2.1. Increasing power density with miniaturisation
Dimensional analysis shows that the power P generated
by a turbomachine is proportional to the density ρ of the
gas, the fifth power of the diameter D, and the third power
of the rotational speed n:
P ∝ ρD5 n3 (1)
The power per unit volume (V ∝ D3 ) is thus:
P
∝ ρD2 n3 (2)
V
For a known pressure ratio and constant inlet conditions, the
speed of the fluidum at the exit of the nozzles is a constant,
independent of the size of the nozzles. Therefore, the cir-
cumferential speed of the turbine is constant, independent
of the turbine size. This means that at optimal working con-
ditions, size and rotational speed are inversely proportional:
D × n = constant (3)
The power density is thus inversely proportional to size:

0924-4247/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.sna.2004.01.003
 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93
P 1
∝ (4)
V D
The power density of turbomachines increases thus with
miniaturisation. By replacing one turbomachine by k smaller
machines with each one kth of the power, the total volume
and mass can be reduced by a factor k. This mass reduction
is advantageous for aeronautical and space applications. Re-
placing one large turbomachine by several smaller ones also
improves the reliability, especially when a few redundant
devices are added [12].
However, the above scale laws should be interpreted with
care as they are strictly speaking only valid for constant
Reynolds numbers. As will be shown in Section 2.3, the
Reynolds number decreases with miniaturisation, which has
a negative influence on the power density.
The power density of miniature turbomachines is also lim-
ited for technological reasons. Small turbomachines cannot
be made with the same relative accuracy and detail as large
ones, so the performance will be worse than predicted by
the scale laws.
2.2. High rotational speeds
The rotational speed is inversely proportional to the di-
ameter. For a turbine diameter of 10 mm the rotational speed
corresponding to sonic flow at the outlet of the nozzles is
already 325,000 rpm. For a turbine of 5 mm diameter the ro-
tational speed rises to 650,000 rpm. This is clearly beyond
the limit of ball bearings such that air or fluid bearings are
required [15,16].
The speed is also limited by the bursting speed of the
rotor. This bursting speed (in terms of circumferential speed)
is a constant for a certain rotor geometry and material, and
thus independent of size. The burst limit corresponds thus
to a rotational speed inversely proportional to size. Thus,
the bursting speed and the speed resulting from the pressure
ratio follow the same scale law.
2.3. Low Reynolds number
The Reynolds number Re characterises the flow and is
defined as:
uL
Re = , (5)
ν
with u a characteristic speed, L a characteristic dimension of
the flow channels, and ν the kinematic viscosity. The speed
can be considered independent of size as it depends only
on the pressure ratio. The Reynolds number is thus propor-
tional to size and, therefore, decreases with miniaturisation.
For small turbines the flow will be less turbulent and more
laminar. This means that the viscous friction losses will be
higher and that mixing of the fuel–air mixture will be slower,
both having a negative impact on efficiency and power
density.
87
2.4. Fast start-up and stop
The small inertia of the rotor allows start-up and stop
of the turbine within a fraction of a second. This allows
power regulation using pulsed operation [17]. In that case,
the turbine can operate at its optimal speed and generate a
fixed voltage when coupled to a generator.
2.5. Increased heat transfer
The increasing surface-to-volume ratio results in higher
heat transfer. The higher thermal losses have a negative effect
on the efficiency of the turbine, and may even cause flame
extinction. At very small sizes, the heat generated by the
combustion minus the heat loss is not longer sufficient to
ignite the mixture. Another effect is that thermal insulation
between the hot parts and the cold parts becomes more and
more a problem.
2.6. Shorter residence time
The residence time of the fuel–air mixture is proportional
to the size of the turbine. This means that the time for mix-
ing and combustion decreases for smaller turbines. When
a conventional turbine would be made 500 times smaller,
the residence time would be reduced to the characteristic
kinetic reaction time of the fuel–air mixture (0.01–0.1 ms)
[18]. Therefore, the relative size of the combustion cham-
bers should be increased and fuels with shorter combustion
time and shorter combustion delay should be used.
In current combustion chambers, mixing takes a large part
of the residence time. Therefore, it would be an improve-
ment to pre-mix air and fuel before they enter the com-
bustion chamber. A disadvantage of pre-mixing is that the
fuel-rich and stable primary zone in the combustion cham-
ber disappears. Stable combustion of the lean mixture can
be obtained by the use of hydrogen as fuel and by the use of
catalysts.
Hydrogen is an ideal fuel in many aspects. Compared
to hydrocarbon fuels, hydrogen has a higher mass-specific
combustion energy, a higher evaporation speed, a higher dif-
fusion speed, a shorter reaction time, a considerably higher
flame propagation speed, wider ignition limits, a lower ig-
nition energy, and lower radiation losses. The wide ignition
limits remove the need for a relatively rich primary combus-
tion zone.
3. Turbine design
In a first phase of the project, the problem has been scaled
down to a turbine powered by compressed air. Compres-
sor, combustion chamber, and generator have been left out
and will be addressed in a later phase. The microturbine is
a single-stage axial impulse turbine (Laval turbine). Expan-
sion of the gas takes place in the stationary nozzles and not
88 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93

1 2 3 4 5 4 6 7 8

Fig. 1. Microturbine design.

between the rotor blades. This type of turbine has been cho-
sen because of its simple construction.
Fig. 1 shows an exploded view and an assembly of the Fig. 2. Machining of the rotor blades by EDM.
microturbine design. The compressed air enters via a stan-
dard pneumatic connector (1) and expands over the station-
ary nozzles (3) where it is deflected in a direction tangential
to the turbine rotor (5). After the air has passed the rotor
blades, it leaves the device through the openings in the outlet
disc (6). Screwing the pneumatic connector in the housing
(8) presses the stationary nozzle disc against a shoulder in
the housing. The rotor blades, wheel and axis are one mono-
lithic part. The rotor is supported by two ball bearings (4),
one mounted in the stationary nozzle disc and one mounted
in the outlet disc. The outlet disc is locked in the housing
by a circlip (7).
The diameter of the turbine rotor is 10 mm. The housing
has a diameter of 15 mm and is 25 mm long. All parts, ex-
cept the pneumatic connector and the circlip, are made of
stainless steel.
The nozzles are designed for subsonic flow and, therefore,
have a converging cross section. Sonic speed is reached for a
relative supply pressure of 1 bar. The exit losses (remaining Fig. 3. Subassembly of nozzle disc, turbine rotor, and bearings. The rotor
kinetic energy in the exhaust) are minimal when the turbine has a diameter of 10 mm.
is designed for a u/c1 ratio of 0.5, with u the circumferential
speed and c1 the absolute speed at the nozzle exit. At 1 bar, is produced by wire-EDM. Fig. 3 shows a subassembly of
c1 reaches sonic speed resulting in an optimal turbine speed nozzle disc, rotor, and bearings.
of 420,000 rpm. As this is too high for the bearings, the
turbine has been designed for a u/c1 ratio of 0.25, and is
operated below its optimal speed of 210,000 rpm. 5. Generator

The turbine has been coupled to a small brushless dc

4. Turbine production
The different parts of the turbine are produced by turning
and EDM. The nozzle disc and rotor are the most complex
parts. In a first step, their cylindrical surfaces are machined
on a lathe. In a second step, the nozzles and blades are
created by die-sinking EDM as illustrated for the rotor in
Fig. 2. The rotor is clamped in a rotary head which is indexed
with steps of 30◦ . A prismatic copper electrode with a cross
section having the shape of the air channels between the
blades is sunk into the turbine wheel by EDM. The electrode
motor that is used as a three-phase generator (see Fig. 4).
The motor (Faulhaber, type 1628 T024B K312) has about
the same size as the turbine: 16 mm in diameter and 28 mm
long. Turbine and generator are coupled to each other by
an elastic tube that serves as a flexible coupling.
6. Mechanical output
Torque and power of the turbine have been tested up to a
speed of 100,000 rpm. For this purpose, a 30 mm diameter
 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93 89

3.5
1 bar
3

2.5
0.8 bar
Torque (Nmm)

2 0.7 bar

1.5 0.6 bar

0.5 bar
1
Friction torque
0.5 0.2 bar

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
3
Fig. 4. Turbine coupled to the generator.
Speed (rpm) x 10

Fig. 6. Torque generated by the turbine as a function of speed and supply

brass wheel has been fixed to the turbine axis, as shown pressure.
in Fig. 5. An optical sensor measures the rotation of the
wheel in a contactless way: two vanes on the wheel inter- 30
rupt the optical path of a photosensor. The turbine is tested 1 bar
by switching on the pressure and accelerating the turbine to 25
100,000 rpm. The torque is then derived from the accelera-
Mechanical power (W)

tion and the moment of inertia of the wheel and turbine rotor.
20
As the turbine passes through the whole speed range, accel-
0.8 bar
eration, torque and power are known as a function of speed.
When the turbine is rotating at full speed, the pressure is 15
0.7 bar
switched off and a new measurement is done while the tur-
0.6 bar
bine slows down. This gives the friction torque as a function 10
of speed. Friction mainly occurs between the wheel with 0.5 bar

vanes and the surrounding air. The friction torque and power 5
are added to the results of the acceleration test to obtain the Friction loss
total torque and power of the turbine. 0.2 bar
0
Figs. 6 and 7 show torque and mechanical power as a 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
function of speed for different supply pressures up to 1 bar. 3
Speed (rpm) x 10
The maximum torque and power are, respectively, 3.7 Nmm
and 28 W. The dashed lines represent the friction losses de- Fig. 7. Mechanical power of the turbine as a function of speed and supply
pressure.
termined with the deceleration test.
At 1 bar, the turbine consumes 8 Nm3 /h of compressed
20
air, which corresponds to a power consumption of 152 W
1 bar
when assuming an ideal isentropic expansion. This means 18
that the mechanical efficiency of the turbine lies around 18%. 16
Fig. 8 shows the turbine efficiency as a function of speed 0.8 bar
Turbine efficiency (%)

14
for different supply pressures.
The ’dips’ in the characteristics at high speed are caused 12 0.7 bar
0.6 bar
by the measurement method as they always occur at the 10 0.5 bar

8
Inertia wheel
6

Turbine Vane 2

Photosensor 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
3
Speed (rpm) x 10
Fig. 5. Set-up to measure the mechanical output of the turbine. The output
torque is derived from the acceleration of the inertia wheel. Fig. 8. Efficiency of the turbine (compressed air to mechanical power).
90 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93

18 12

16
10
14
1 bar 1 bar
Electrical power (W)

Total efficiency (%)

12 8
0.7 bar 0.8 bar
0.9 bar 0.9 bar
0.6 bar
10
6 0.5 bar
8 0.8 bar
0.4 bar
0.7 bar
6 4
0.6 bar 0.3 bar
4
0.5 bar 2
0.2 bar
2 0.4 bar
0.3 bar
0 0.2 bar 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
3 3
Speed (rpm) x 10 Speed (rpm) x 10

Fig. 9. Electrical power generated by the total system (turbine plus Fig. 10. Total efficiency (compressed air to electricity).
generator).

maximal speed, even for different loads and pressures. In value (6 + 7) is obtained with a deceleration test of the
reality, power and efficiency increase further with speed to turbine without generator and without external load. The
reach their maxima theoretically at 210,000 rpm (for 1 bar). loss associated with the leak flow around the turbine wheel
These speeds can be reached using a smaller load. (2) and the exit losses (8) are calculated from the known
air speeds. The expansion losses (1), incidence losses (4)
and blade profile losses (5) are calculated using friction and
7. Electrical output loss coefficients known from large turbines and may be less

To measure the electrical power output of the system,

the generator is connected to a variable three-phase load Input power
152 W - 100 %
consisting of three potentiometers (range: 2 k, 10 turns).
In contrast with the mechanical tests, the electrical tests are Expansion losses
15 W - 9.8 %
performed at constant speed. The speed of the turbine, which
Leak flow around rotor
is measured from the frequency of the generator voltage, is 4 W - 2.6 %
controlled by varying the load. Fig. 9 shows the electrical Obstruction losses
power measured for different supply pressures and speeds. 1 W - 0.7 %
Incidence losses
At a pressure of 1 bar, the maximal electrical power is 16 W Mechanical 2 W - 1.3 %
and is reached at a speed of 100,000 rpm. Measurements power
28 W - 18.4 %
show that the air flow and input power depend only on the Blade profile losses
supply pressure and not on speed or load. Therefore, the 48 W - 31.6 %
input power is the same as in the mechanical test at 1 bar,
Ventilation losses +
i.e. 152 W. Fig. 10 shows the total efficiency (compressed bearing friction
air to electricity) as a function of speed and for different 2 W - 1.3 %
supply pressures. The maximal total efficiency is 10.5% and
Exit losses
is reached at a speed of 100,000 rpm. 52 W - 34.2 %

Losses in coupling
8. Sankey diagram 2 W - 1.3 %
Generator losses
10 W - 6.6 %
The energy flow and the different losses are illustrated
in the Sankey diagram shown in Fig. 11. The diagram Electrical power
16 W - 10.5 %
is generated for a supply pressure of 1 bar and a speed
Legend
of 100,000 rpm. This corresponds to the working point
Difference from
at which the maximal electrical power and maximal total Measured Calculated
other values
efficiency are reached. Input power, mechanical power,
electrical power and the combination of ventilation losses Fig. 11. Sankey diagram for a supply pressure of 1 bar and a speed of
(6) and bearing friction (7) are measured values. This last 100,000 rpm.
 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93 91

accurate. The generator losses (10) are derived from the 100
manufacturer’s data sheets. The obstruction losses (3) and Helicopter
the losses in the coupling (9) are derived as the difference Tank
between the calculated and measured values. Ship
Power/mass (kW/kg)

The major losses are the blade profile losses and the exit L-1 M -1/3 Power system
losses. The large blade profile losses can be explained by
the increased friction in miniature systems (small channels 10
and low Reynolds numbers). The high exit losses can be
explained by the low u/c1 ratio (0.25 instead of 0.5 in the
optimal case). Additionally, the turbine operates below its
optimal speed because the ball bearings limit the speed. Both
factors result in higher air speeds at the turbine exit, and
thus higher exit losses.
1
10 100 1000 10000 100000
Mass (kg)
9. Power density
Fig. 12. Power density of commercial gas turbines. Data from General
Table 1 gives the masses of the different parts. The tur- Electric, Rolls-Royce, and Pratt & Witney. The line represents the evo-
lution of the power density as predicted by the scale laws.
bine housing and pneumatic connector are not optimised to-
wards mass and are responsible for about 86% of the weight.
Therefore, the mass of the turbine can be substantially re- The line shown in Fig. 12 shows the evolution of the
duced by optimising these parts. power density as predicted by the scale laws derived
The mechanical power density of the turbine, defined as above. It is clear that the data does not correspond to this
the mechanical power output of the turbine (28 W) divided scale law. Extrapolation predicts even a power density of
by the mass of the turbine (36 g), is about 780 W/kg. As a 100–300 kW/kg for the current microturbine, more than two
comparison, Fig. 12 shows the power density of commercial orders of magnitude above the measured values. As men-
gas turbines for helicopters, tanks, ships and power gener- tioned in Section 2.1, this can be explained by technological
ators from General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and Pratt & Wit- limitations and increased friction losses.
ney. Most of these turbines have a power density between 4 The electrical power density of the microturbine, defined
and 10 kW/kg. The tank turbine has a lower power density as the electrical power produced by the generator (16 W)
of 1 kW/kg. The power density of the current microturbine divided by the combined masses of turbine and generator
is thus 5–10 times lower than the power density of large tur- (66 g), is about 240 W/kg.
bines. This figure can be improved by optimising the mass
of the connector and housing, but on the other hand, a com-
pressor and combustion chamber have to be added to obtain 10. Conclusion
a turbine comparable to the ones mentioned in Fig. 12. A
comparison can also be made with a silicon air turbine with A 10 mm diameter axial microturbine with generator has
a rotor diameter of 4.2 mm developed at MIT [15]. It gen- been developed and successfully tested to speeds up to
erates 5 W of power and achieves a power density of more 160,000 rpm. It generates a maximum mechanical power of
than 4 MW/m3 (about 2 kW/kg), about 2.5 times more than 28 W with an efficiency of 18%. Power and efficiency are
the turbine presented in this paper. mainly limited by the maximal speed of the ball bearings.
The main losses are the blade profile losses (32%) and the
Table 1 exit losses (34%). Higher speeds can considerably reduce
Masses of the different parts the exit losses and therefore increase efficiency and power.
Part Mass (g) Currently, the power density is 780 W/kg, about 5–10 times
Turbine 36 lower than for large turbines. However, higher speeds and
Pneumatic connector (1) 15.8 optimisation of the housing can considerably increase this
Ring (2) 0.77 figure. When coupled to a small generator, the system gen-
Nozzle disc (3) 1.78 erates 16 W of electrical power, corresponding to a total
Small bearing (4) 0.03
Large bearing (4) 0.07
efficiency of 10.5%.
Rotor (5) 1.63
Outlet disc (6) 0.35
Circlip (7) 0.27 11. Future work
Housing (8) 15
Generator 30
The first goal is to increase the efficiency of the tur-
Total (turbine + generator) 66 bine, mainly by decreasing the exit losses. Therefore,
92 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93
the allowable speed of the turbine will be increased to
200,000–300,000 rpm by using special high-speed ball
bearings. Later on, air or fluid bearings can be intro-
duced to attain even higher speeds. Another possible ap-
proach is to decrease the speed by using a multiple-stage
design.
A compressor and a combustion chamber will be added
to finally come to a microgenerator running on fuel. The
compressor is currently under development.
Acknowledgements
This research is sponsored by the Belgian programme
on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction (IAP5/AMS) initiated
by the Belgian State, Prime Minister’s Office, Science Pol-
icy Programming. The authors assume the scientific respon-
sibility of this paper. The authors wish to thank Michael
Poesen and Pieterjan Renier for their contribution to this
work.
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Biographies
Jan Peirs Graduated as mechanical engineer (K.U. Leuven, 1993). He
started his activities as a research assistant at the Division of Production
Engineering, Machine Design and Automation (PMA) of K.U. Leuven
in 1993. He received a PhD degree in mechanical engineering in 2001
from K.U. Leuven. Currently, he is working as a Postdoctoral researcher
at PMA. His research interests include the design of micro-actuators,
medical microsystems, micro-powergenerators, and micromechanical
systems in general.
Dominiek Reynaerts Graduated as mechanical engineer (K.U. Leuven,
1986). He started his activities as a research assistant at the Division
of Production Engineering, Machine Design, and Automation of K.U.
Leuven in 1986. Within the framework of the Erasmus student exchange
program, he stayed as a PhD student at the Scuola Superiore S. Anna
in Pisa in 1990. In 1993, he became a research manager of the division
PMA. He received a PhD degree in mechanical engineering in 1995 from
K.U. Leuven. Currently, he is associate professor at K.U. Leuven. His
current research interests include design and control of multi-fingered
robot grippers, shape memory alloy actuators, precision mechanics, and
micromechanical systems.
 J. Peirs et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 113 (2004) 86–93 93

Filip Verplaetsen received his Engineering degree from the Univer-
siteit Gent, Ghent, Belgium, in 1992 and the “Diplôme en Adminis-
tration des Entreprises” from the Université Catholique de Louvain,
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in 1993. He joined the Katholieke Univer-
siteit Leuven , Louvain, Belgium in 1994 as a research assistant and
received the PhD degree in mechanical engineering in 1999. From 1999
till 2002, he worked as a Postdoctoral researcher of the Fund for Scien-
tific Research, Flanders (F.W.O—Vlaanderen) at the same university and
became assistant professor in 2002. His research focuses on industrial
safety, explosion safety, heat transfer enhancement techniques, design of
thermal systems and turbomachinery.