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    Model Turbines

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    Jérôme
    different Model turbines

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    Home Bult MODEL TURBINES MODEL TURBINES BY KURT SCHRECKLING Contents Foreword nr) Chapter 1. Physical‘Technical Principles of Model Jet Tusbines in What are we talking abou. n How does # model jet turbine workd.. n ‘The most important physical parameters . oo - oo 11 Suitable fuels 7 13 Description of components... 7 : 13 The COMPLESSOF SAE nnn nn nn 3 “The turbine stage 15 Bearings, counteracting resonance vibration and lubricating the rotor ” Combustion chamber and ignition scene - 20 “the thrust nozzle . 21 Operational performance - 22 Comelation of rotational velocity, ir mass flow, compressor pressure, thrust and tempera Reactions to changes in fuel flow?. - Fuel consumption Influence of weather and altitude. . Correlation between thrust and flight velocity Noise development. - - Chapter 2. Necessary Accessories Different types of searer An essential: a fire extinguisher ‘The fuel pump. Fuel ink with feed tines. Cantridge-fed auxiliary pas Flectrically-powered glow plug. Calibrating of the restrictor for the supply of lubricant Electronic regulation and control. Chapter 3. Test Stand and Measuring Faw “The engine on the test stand... . Measuring the thrust. Measuring rotational velocity and pressure ‘Temperature measurement ‘Chapter 4. Which Turbine, Which Model? Chapter 5. Iiome-Built Jet Engines, ‘Comparative technical data Kit version of the Behotec }-66 jet turbine. The constriction kit ~ a cetailed look: General points on the construction of the K}-66 and TK-50 Balancing the rotor “The home-built TK-50 jet turbine, msde from a thermos flask How it evolved Construction requirements. Parts list and drawings Constructing individual components — Rotor, bearings and shaft tunnel coe Turbine guide system Housing Compressor guide system Intake nozzle Compressor guide vanes oon Connecting the compressor guide vanes to the guide vane holder .. ra TH Hid errs conn 6 Aligning the intake nozzle with the compressor wheel and ‘Combustion chamber, glow plug sen Supply lines for fuel, auxiliary gas and lubricant Exhaust gus nozzle Calibrating the diameter of the turbine wheel... Connecting the exhaust gas nozzle to the housing Final assembly. - Home-built KJ-66 jet turbine How it evolved Demands on the home builder... Parts list and drawings... Constructing individual components Rotor (1.1 to 1). eons Shaft tunnel (2.1 t0 2.3) vo vo ne Intake nozzle and lid Gl t0 3:3). Compression guide system Combustion chamber (5.1 10 59, 6.1, 62).. Fuel supply system (7.1 t0 7.4). ‘Auxiliary gas system, oil supply sys Turbine guide system (10.1 10 10.4) . Housing (1) lange A, lange TB (12.1, 12.2). Exhaust gus nozzle Jjusting the size of the gap. inal assembly. : 4 Chapter 6. important Safety Instructions... 95 Danger of fire. 5 Danger of sucking in foreign objects % Danger due to exhaust gases... 95 Danger of rotating parts 95 anger of insufficient proficiency in flying models... 9% Chapter 7. What Does The Future Flave in Store? 96 “Appendix sn : 98 Potential suppliers oe 98 References and sources of inforniation 100 100 Books, Magazines ‘Organisations. About The Author ur SchrecKling. was born in. 1939. His frst practi K: expeinor af mouel ara me at Us of five, when he transformed a tangled-up kite into an aeroplane. Over the years that followed, not only did he build a great number of model airerafi. he also developed several of his own remote controllers He was aged cleven when he fist saw Vampire jet planes in the shy. Taw turned out wo be # defining moment in his life. Study of a small encyclopedia gave his the belief that he could come up with a simple way ‘of constructing & turbine. However, it (ook almost four decades hefore he finally started work in eamest at ful filling his youthful dream, Today, people like to refer t0 him as the “inventor”, the “pope of turbines” or also as. the “father of turbines", None of that is really true. Instead, he prefers to sce himself as one ina long line of fathers of model jet turbines He received a basic technical education and went on to study physics at university. He then worked for 32 years as a qualified engineer for a large Rhine-hased chemical company. In his job he sgined experience of different technical areas, none of which ever involved turbines. He was happy to take early retirement in 1998. Having completed his book about tuto props, he feared that he might have to retie as turbine developer as well, However, as it turned Out, this was not the case Kot Schreckling cannot deny his special love of good food, Indeed, fying model aircraft is not his only vice. He was also tempted into off-the-wall experiments with skis in the snow, exploring the effects of gravitational forces. Up naged to come through it all unseated. Home Built Medel Turbines Foreword pe inventor, Dr. Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain (1911-1988), developed! the first jet turbine which flew for the first time in August 1939. 1 was only tree months old at the time and still in nappies. As far as Tam concemed, the hisory of scale models of jet bines began at the end of the 1980s. In 1988 T began pplting some ideas into practice that were 10 produce the fast simply constructed model jet turbines eapable of flight. I deserhed the methods and! the first wials in 1992 in the firs edition of the Modell-Technik-Berater No. 20 ‘Homebuilt jet turbines for model planes’, published by the ‘Verlag fr Technik und Handwerk’ German text “This heralded :+ boom in the development of model turbines, with strong support coming from Thomas Kamps’ book “Model Jet Engines’ published by “Traplet Publications. OF cours, activity was not simply restricted to these wating books. Other people, all of them ama teurs in the field, were equally busy developing model lurhines and contributing greatly to their popularity Rainer Binczyk, for example, travelled widely and igri ced the turbine craze. particubaly in Austria, The First per son to succumb was Hermann Mite from Graz and today he is still infected with the bug. He was the first to launch a twin jet semi-scale model incorporating home- built eurbines. He developed a top-secret formulae for high performance compressor and turbine wheels now working on a vertical take-off model with adjustable nozzles. ‘Over the last five years several smaller companies worldwide have made effective use of the work pio- neered by these amateurs. ‘Today they produce quite In 1988 I began experimenting with a view to establishing a simple and effective method of building a model jet turbine —as the result sbuws, I succeeded. Home Buill Medel Turbines reliable model jet turbines in a variety of sizes. The \cludes everything from ready-to-assemble engines (0 kit-versions aind individual components. Tn addition, there is now san adequate selection of essential 5 fuel pumps, electronic devices, starters and other bits and pieces. The same is true of le model aircraft, whether these he taining stircraft for scale models, At the same time, for non-engineers, and that includes the majority of model aircraft pilots, there is a continual flood! of new and more comprchen- sive information sources. Whilst 1 was working on this book, it Game as a surprise to learn from the publisher accessories such Greetings to the German father of jet turbines. He developed the He 838 engine that on 27th August 1939 helped pilot Brich Warsitz to become the first person to fly an aeroplane by jet propulsion. Both the engine and the prototype He 178 aeroplane were constructed in the Heinkel factory. on Obain teilnebynern dev FROPLY Aisgnwidclle Pabst OM AIN - WHETTLE sstrinennet richer 1004 ‘The Kobler family, a team of father ana two sons, At the Obain Whittle Trophy in the summer of 1998 they captured the spectators imagination with that he was about to publish the first magazine in German on the subject OF muel jet turbines and their use: The JETMAG ‘Today, of course, a model jet turbine is expected 10 be capable of a lot more than it was ten years ago. Ast result, specifications are higher and anyone who wants This ts the FD-2, probably the first model jet turbine fuelted by kerosene that was capable of flight. Its successful first fight took place on 10th September 1989. 40 iheir three Heinkel Salamander’ to build his own high thrust and reliable jet propulsion must come to terms with constructing to higher dards, Unfortunately, the very simple approach, as described in my first book. is ne longer enough. ‘The chapter that explains basic principles is wnten, with the majority of home bu nd. whose pro- fessional career has not involved any aspects of physics or engineering. sciences. Consequently, 1 do nov spend time using formulte to dis lation of phys values. Indeed, this would exceed the seope of this book in any ease. I is all t00 easy for spe- cialists to forget that you need yeurs to learn the Tanguage of formulte and. that it is not possi ble to adequately impart this knowledge between the covers of just one hook. Aayone who wishes to learn about theoretical principles in more detail can find ref erences (© the appropri ate literature in the appendix. 1 will display the results and caleul tions that are relevant for the practical aspects, ‘of model jet turbines in the form of diagrams, sind their practical appli- Home Built Model Turhines Chapter 1 Physical-Technical Principles of Model Jet Turbines What are we talking about? It is. a curious point of fact that you will not find the term ‘turbine’ in mast physics books. In the new Fischer encyclopedia under the entry turbine’ is writen: ‘power machine in which the energy of a flowing mediun (water, steam, gas) is transformed into useful energy: precuisors were windmills and waterwheel technical books on the subject explain the va ines in some detail under the main heading of ‘flow n Dubbel's packet book of engineering you find the definition: “the gas turbine is a machine uses heat to deliver mechanical energy (shaft power) or thrust (e.g. aircraft engines)”. Accordingly, the term “gas turbine’ is the generic term for all types of turbo jet “engines. jet turbines as well as turbo prop drives ‘They are all deemed to be “gas turbines model engines such as JPX, ED, micro-turbines, “Turbomin and Pegasus as well a¥ the K-66, J-00 and Th. 50 turbo engines featured in this book, up to and includ ing any such machine type that either currently exists or yet t© be invented, They are all "gas turbines’ they all generate thrust! In fact, an alternative and more Proper name for such devices is turbo air jet engines. prefer the term often used by experts: jet turbines Some people also call them jet engines. However, the iet 4 actually just the back part of such an engine. ‘As you can see, we already have more than enough definitions at our disposal. There is no need to come up with any new definitions. Unfortunately, tech expers do not always speak a language tktt is loge correct and clear, Of course, t0. readers who do not have speci ‘essential (0 always stat word turbines’. Is chat wheel, a turbine stage or something else perhaps? ly id the understanding of prior knowledge, it is by the turbine How does a modet jet turbine work? ‘The diagram (Fig, D) shows the typical constmction in a very simplified form. The same fundamental laws of physics apply to model jet turbines as they do to the Tange: jet engines 0 inn general to all air-breathing gas tar ines. The air is sucked in by the compressor wheel and, compressed. ‘The introduction of combustion heat in the Home Built Model Turbines combustion chamber inereases the work content of the air Le. the compressed and heated air can now perform. more work than was necessary to compress it, As the air flows past the turbine wheel it gives up the energy required to drive the compressor wheel. ‘The excess. iecelerates the air to very high velocity in an ‘ction opposite (0 the direction of flight. An t gas nozzle improves the elficieney of the process, The most important physical parameters A jet turbine generates thrust by accelerating air mass- es. Whe r are siccelerated, they create Force celfects, Porces are measured in newtons not in kilo- grams! The force of 1 newton (signified by the letter Nd acts at the precise point in time when the mass of 1 kg accelerates or decelerates hy 1 m/s. ‘The change in speed per unit of time is defined :ts acceleration and measured in m/s’. Mass, ic. the material weight of body, is measured in kilograms. Acceleration due to masses of to compare differ deflection of spring and translate it into am ment on a scale, Take such a spring balance co the noon to measure the sime mass and the result would be completely different from that on earth, even though the mass itself would not have changed! in any waty You just have to pick up a hammer t0 be aware of the very disparate forces it can Wf you hold it still in your hand, you just feel the weightforce. When you take the hammer back, so ts to bring it down, ie when you siecelerate it, clearly you must expend more force. When the hammer strikes, it develops 3 force that we ae not at all able 1 replicate with our muscles alone, Just wy f push in a nail into a piece of wood nd and you cin begin to imagine the kind ted by a hammer when it is decelerated In all instances the actual muss of the hammer remains, unaltered. Now let us apply our dieorem that force equals mass times example, an engine sucks in stir a kp/second and accelerites it celeration to our jet turbine. For a speed of 0.25 the same time to # speed u Air Intake nozzle Compressor wheel Compressor guide Combustion Sticks chamber Distributor ring Nozzle Exhaust gas flow ‘Turbine wheel Turbine guide vanes Housing Fig. 1: Diagram of a model jet turbine. of 100 m/s, ‘Therctore, the static thrust is 100.N. For those with long memery. you can also say 10 Kp but definitely not 10 kg! Admittedly, itis better to work in N or in general in ST units. Let us cause a thrust of 100 N (0 act on a model with an initial mass of 12 kg t0 give a maximum possible initial acceleration of 100 = 12 mvs = 833 mvs. This value is the tue value, provided that the forces associated with rolling friction and air resistance atthe stan are ignored Whenever masses come together, it always results in «change in the direction of velocity. As a consequence the forces that act awe what we call centrifugal forces ‘The wheels of our webine and compressor 3 so quickly that they turn the air masses ata very high velocity, resulting in high centrifygal forces. Just imag: ine: a typical turbmne wheel for «model jet tenbine has diameter of 66 mm. The centre point of the turbine vanes is at a diameter of 53 mm, Such 3 vine weighs only 1 gram, You may be already aware that such tur- bine vanes can be driven at velocities of up t0 approxi- ately 120,000 revolutions/min, This implies that the vanes hunle at a velocity of 345 m/s. the equivalent of 1.212 kmh on a eircular path with 3 diameter of only 55 mm. So just imagine the force that sews on the connec tion betseen the wrbine wane and the wheel disk ~ itis 4.930 N, That is approximately the same as lifting 4 ten- lite buckets of water at the sime time. 1 I velocity of a 1 wheel docs have its limits and thar these must-be respected at all costs for reasons of safety. In phiysies, work is determined as force times dis- rcasured i the dinection of Gavel. Energy is the ability to undertake work. To take 2 flying model up 10 4 certain beight requires specific amount of work. In this instance the force is the weightforce of the model and the distance up into the air. Flying over a specific fein a straight fine at a constane eight, model is subject to the constant force of air resistance and the path covered is the distance. ‘This makes it possible 10 calculate the work required. In both cases. we have only aiken into consideration the actual work that is per= formed on the model. This effective work is generated from the heat energy of the fuel burnt, Unfortunately ‘only part of the heat energy can be transformed into effective work, Power is the work divided by the time period in which this work was completed. What is the power of jet turbine” ‘There are many different ways of answering, this question: We are interested in the power that the engine to the model. This constitutes thrust times flight velocity AAs long as the model is fixed to the ground, it will not fy no manter how high the dirus. The power of the exhaust ‘gis flow, also called jet- stream power, is velocity squared, times half the mass flow ste. 11s likewise possible to calculate the necessary ther- mal power 1 be provided by the fuel, although this is somewhat more complicated. ly, litle adhitional effort is required to calculate the power with which the turbine wheel drives the com pressor, ‘A physicist would not understand the term ‘thrust- power: it would sound to him like a contradiction in terms. Suitable fuels Most model jet turbines are pretty indiseriminating in terms of the quality of the fuel. You can even go as far as saying: you can use anything that is fluid, combustible land not more Volatile than diesel fuel, Compared (0 all the other available fuels, diesel or similar materials, such, as kerosene or paraffin, have more or less the highest Home Built Model Turbines calorific value and are therefore the best 10 use. ‘Type Jer AL kerexene is specially formukited 28 an aireraft fuel and is therefore preferred. IF you cannot get hold of that. then paraffin comes closest to kerosene but is quite expensive. AU thiy present tine the mos! cost-effective fuel is biodiesel. Some engines have stat problems with diesel or biodiesel and splutter under a partial load, You ‘can solve these problems by adding 15 to 20% of regular petrol or 20 t0 30% of paraffin. Tt is similasly possible to tise regular petrol on its own, althoug! slighly lower cilorific-value-to-volume ratio. What is more, in unfortunate circumstances it can also cause explosive mixtures of air and petrol outside the jet turbine. For these reasons it is not recommended to use regular petrol on its own, ‘There are no additives of any kind that can be used to increase the thrust performance of the fuel. The only way 10 get more thrust is to burn more fuel, The maxi mum thrust that can be achieved by a particular jet tur- bine is determined by the physical and technical characteristics of its construction and the quality of the materials used. ‘A model jet turbine will also work with liquid propane gas. However, this requires the fling of & con plicated, pressure resistant tank system, not forgetting, the need to carry large propane gas hotles around with, you, whilst taking the corresponding safety precautions. Tor these reasons I feel that it is not advisable to. use propane gs a Fuel Description of components Let us take another look at the previous diagrammatic drawing (Fig. 1). It represents a basic design common to all model jet turbines that are currently available and applies in equal measure 10 both professionally and home-built engines. For this reason, it is our intention to take th arranged in rotatio turbine wheel with jet turbines have a radial compressor stage. a ring com- bustion chamber and an axial turbine stage. ‘The combi fon of compressor, shalt and turbine wheel is called rotor. al symmetry and replaced the racial ‘axial wrbine wheel. Our model ‘The compressor stage ‘The compressor stage consists of a compressor wheel and the compressor guide system throtigh which the subsequently flows. ‘The wheels found! in motor vehicle turho chargers make excellent compressor wheels. They ct only in a radial direction and lable in differ- ent dimensions, Other than a fine balineing, no other machining is required. This obviates the need, therefore, to construct special components lor model jet turbines, The drawing, (Fig. 2) shows the typi shape of| the compressor wheel, The vanes are bent slightly: back- wards towards the outflow. ‘This is done to achieve a better internal efficiency ‘The intake diameter of the vanes is considerably, smaller than the external diameter of the wheel, You can also think of the wheel as a combination of a small axial compressor wheel and a large radial compressor wheel, ‘The wheel sucks in the air in an axial direetion and accelerates it between the vanes in a radial ctirection, This results in the air already being partially compressed between the vanes of the compressor wheel and. ay it flows out, it has been accelerated to an extremely. high velocity Let us look again at the drawing and the ratios on the ourflow edge of a paddle, wis the velocity of the air at the tip of the vanes. ‘The tip of the vanes turns with the circumferential velocity u, ¢ is the resulting velocity Because the vanes are hent backwards, this is only around 70% of the circumferential velocity. The permit- Fig, 2 Air flow at the compressor wheel diagram asa model design for the following ‘The most way 10 describe our model jet turbines is as a cross between the first Ohain engines, «ind that of Sir Frank Whittle (1907- 1996). Whittle was an officer in the British Air Force, who likewise developed a jet engine in the 1930s and there fore became one of the founding fathers of this type of propulsion. Von Ohain used ar compressor Mage. a ring combustion chamber and a turbine stage with a radial turbine wheel Whittle, on the other band, instead of the ring combustion chamber used several single com- bustion chambers Velocities ut the outflow of a radial compres: wheel with vanes curved backwards. 7 of & A $ L 6 a Cy Flow velocities at the intake to the compressor guide system Home Built Medel Turhines 13 Hote compressor wheels bave clearly developed: top left a relic from the plywood age of model jet turbines: top right a wheel made from carbon fibres with an aluminium bub; below the KKK wheels for the TK-50 and K}-66. Above you can see the compressor guide system prototypes for the KJ-66 and the TK-50. Below is ‘bow they were finished according to the construction plans. ted circumferential velocity is approximately 400 ms. ‘That means, the air eaves the Wheel with a velocity of tely ¢ = 280 m/s, conceive of the direction of this flow ‘combination of flows from two directions. Firstly itis the circumferential direction of the rotation feo, 8 precise eidial direc axis of rok tion, The flow in the setion is. also called swid flow, For our wheels the swirl Mow is slight ly less thin the circumferential velocity. In the case of the compressor wheel the air flows without swirling into, the channels created by the compressor vanes and 14 A cast compressor guide system for the KJ-66 or similar turbines, built by Hermann Micelic. leaves them, as indicated above, with & high degree of sev Once in the compressor guide system, the high veloc ity of 280 m/s is transformed as effectively as possible into pressure. The photos show that several different designs of compressor guide system are possible. A common feature they all share is first that the guide vanes are located in the rotational plane of the wheel. ‘The flow on the outside is redirected in the direction of the combustion chamber. ‘To the best of ry knowledge there has been 0 substantiated analysis as to which design is the most efficient. On thy designs shown here work effectively, it can be conclud= ed that the differences in terms of efficiency are nesligi- le for our purposes. As a result, you are free to choose a design that is best suited to the production facilities It follows, therefore, that the Compressor gukle sysictt for the KJ-G6 and other similar turbines can be machined on @ CNC lathe in one single piece. You can identify wedge-shaped primary vanes d curved secondary vanes. “The Kamps design provides builders. It has curved steel guide vane holder using adhesive. The primary and sec: ondary vanes are constructed in one piece. Unfortunately, this methoe! has its limitations, When air is compressed, there is an inevitable rise in temperature, This rapidly reduces the capacity of the adhesive to withstand higher loads. As an alternative to fixing the guide vanes with adhesive, for example, you cin use screws to secure them to the guide vane holder. “Tests that ] undertook with the guide system for the design of my new K-50 engine showed that the axial Tength of the secondary vanes is not at all critical. You will find! siption of this system in the con- struction m: Each closed channel that continuously expands has the effect of decelerating the flow. ‘This leads to the intended increase in pressure. Such a system is called 2 diffuser. A diffuser tikes the energy of motion, of, f6 be more precise. the kinetic energy out of the air and trans- forms it into, pressure enenpy. Accordingly, the eross-sec tional shape of the channel is of lesser si practice the guide systems used can be understood as a Home Built Model Turbines ring of diffusers that eapture the flow of the compressor wheel [tis imperative that the diffusers are arranged in such a way that their axes are aligned as closely as. pos sible with the flow of air from the compressor wheel Otherwise, the result will be at loss of thrust, fc. rede tion in efficiency. This implies Jess pressure, with some of the kinetic energy in the air being transformed instead into adcltional heat energy. In a diffuser, once the flow of air detaches itself from the wall it begins to swith This tenclency is greater, the larger the expansion angle of the diffuser. If you con- struct the clfluser to be particularly long and thin, then friction loss on the necessarily large wall surfaces add tionally reduces efficiency. Consequently there's no sense at all in constructing particularly long extended dittusers ‘The efficiency of our compressor stage or, more to the point, the total efficiency of the compressor wheel and guide system, is between 65 and 75%. This value is also dependent on the working condition of the engine. The compressor wheel will only work propery if the air really does flow th the vanes. ‘This is ensured by the intake nozzle and its specially fitted lid. ‘the shape of the intake nozzle is not particularly important and is more a matter of personal taste. However, the intemal contour of the lid must be adjusted to the exter- nal contour of the vane edges. Based on our wheel sizes, the gap at the outlet of the vanes should be between 0.1 and 0.2 nm, and even 0.2 (0 3.0 mm at the nuke. Whikt smaller gaps do not result in noticeable improvements in efficiency, they de increase Ue risk of the vanes rubbing on the lid ‘One question remains to be answered: why not use axial compressor wheels ts in the large modern turho-jet engines There is a simple answer: it would De far too complicated to build such an engine tw the scale of a model. The pressure ratio generated by axial compres- sors with the same circumferential velocity is: much less dian that of the compressor wheels, mertioned above As a result, instead of a radial compressor stage you would compressor stages compressors with four guide systems, Moreover. it can be assumed that this would be considerably less eff Gent due to the lower Reynokls numbers, Ultimately there awe no physical reasons why it would not be possi- ble to construct a model jet turbine with an axial com pressor. The turbine stage ‘The turbine slage must generste the power to dave the compressor wheel. ‘The drawing (Fig. 4) demon- strates the flow through an_asial turbine wheel. It is called axial because the air Now in the direction of the “The next drawing (Fig. 4) shows how the aie flows through a radial thine wheel. In this ease the change in switl and the resulting circumferential force trom the throughflow is generated from outside to inside, th, direction. This type of wheel is typical ly usec! for exhaust gas turbo chargers. In fact, there sire 4 few model jet turbines that do use a complete rotor With a radial turbine wheel taken from exhaust gas tur Docharger. From an efficiency aspect a richal turbine wheel is no worse than an axial turhine wheel However, converting an exhaust gas turbocharger with 3 Home Kntilt Stedlel Turbines radial turbine wheel for the purposes of model jet tur hines does have its complications. in particular in terms Of the hearings. As a consequence. in the following sec tion we will only consider turbine stages that have an turbine wheel and stecelerste the gas as At flows through the system As indicated in the drawing, to ensure that the whole mass of guts flows axially through the turbine vanes. these must be largely closed on the outside. When the bine wheel is Fited inte the: housing, it is necessary therefore, to make the gap between the tips of the vanes ind the housing as small as possible. To increase: the effect of the wheel the gas is caused! «9 svuitl strongly prior to entering the vanes of the turbine wheel. This, is produced by the fixed vanes of the turbine guide system. ‘The key factor is their shape. ‘The correct vane ingle on the turbine wheel and guide system makes st posible to design a system that completely: dispels the sowidl created in the guide system so ats to straighten the flow at the outlet of the turbine wheel. This adjustment to the flow of gas that emanates from the compressor wheel and is heated by the combustion chamber involves determining the correct diameter of the turbine wheel, the length of the vanes as well as the swirl from Fig, 3: Flow through an axial turbine wheel. Fig. 4: Flow through « rautial turbine wheel, the turbine guide system, For the KJ-66. for example, the following estimated results were obtained by means of cealeulation: Turbine wheel diameter 66m Vane length 1mm Vane angle: guide system 35° Mean vane angle: turbine wheel 10" n relation to the rot the outlet of the vanes. In the case of the the angle at the foot of the vane is slightly steeper than that at its up. As a result, you calcu late using the mean vane angle or outlet diameter. The problem with these calculations is that it is not possible to know precisely the actual effective values. However, ws shown that if the engine deviates only mit mally from the values above, it does not immediately become inoperative. There are no fixed limits. Experience shows that deviations of 4 1mm in the diameter or + 2° in the angle are not sulficiently signifi- ‘cant Malfunctions such as this led to the development of turbine wheels capable of taking higher loads. Depending on the condition of the turbine, the differ ential heat expansion characteristics of the housing and the turbine wheel will necessitate 3 gap of between 0.15, ‘and 0.20 mm. This will result in a snvall Loss of the effec tive flow that generates power at the turbine wheel. In addition, there are also friction losses in the flow on the surfaces of the guide vanes and the turbine vanes. In spite of this, the efficieney of a turbine stage is some what better than that of a compressor stage. The turbine stage design shown above results in perfect nozzle flow both in the guide system as well as between the turbine No losses occur due to the flow becoming detached. TThe building instructions show turbine guide systems that are built by Fiting together single rings and guide vanes and welding them in place. This design does enable subsequent partial conection of the outlet angle Of the turbine guide vanes, It is relatively easy to calculate the number and pro- file as well as the width of the vanes. However, theye slculations provide only very approximate values. ‘This is rue both for the turbine wheels and the guide system, Consequently, ft should be noted that the designs fea tured here are based on estimations, even though these ‘e been proven to work in practice: 16 A step on the way to bigh performance turbine wheels. For trial purposes profiled vanes are fitted into the disk and welded in place. Such a construction is not suitable for a very bigh rotational velocity. However, it provides a way of gaining valuable knowledge for the design of a cast wheel. ————— From Martin Lambert's workshop comes a model Of a turbine wheel made from special CNC-milled plastic. The surface is smoothed in a second process. This technique avoids the time it takes to design and construct moulds in the development of new turbine wheels. The plastic model is used to cast a turbine wheel from very bigh temperature materials using the melted wax metbod. ‘Toxlay, factory built turbine wheels are available. The wheels come in different dimensions and with certifi xe of quality. They can be purchased from a number of dilferent suppliers, ei ast blank oF ready t0- fit component. The wheels are vacuurn-cast from very high temperature nickel-based alloys using the melted ‘wax method, Turbine wheels that leanly cast will achieve a permitted circumferential velocity of 400 m/s, which is as high as that of the com- pressor wheels. Admittedly, there are restrictions: the temperature of the turbine disk should not execed 400°C tind thit-of the vanes not exeeed 600°C, If you buy a Ihlank, you need first to ore it and then to calibrate and balance the extemal diameter. As a rule i is not neces sary to rework the vanes. In any case you should get the supplier to confirm the permitted maximum rotational Home Built Model Turbines Seu (On the left a turbine for the TK-50 by Martin Lambert, on the right a radial turbine from a small turbocharger. velocity and oper bine wheel Recently, it has also been possible to find turbine puide: systems that have been produced as castings: for the most popular sizes with « turbine wheel diameter of 66 mm. 1g temperature for the particular tur Bearings, counteracting resonance vibration and lubricating the rotor ‘The shaft transmits the moment of force and hence the power from the turbine wheel to the compressor wheel. Looking at the design drawing, the diameter of the shaft appears surprisingly huge. However, its very high rigidity 3s necessiry, Otherwise, even if the rotor were perfectly balanced, it would still be susceptible t0 resonance vibration at high rotational velocities. AS a consequence, the maximum. permitted operating tot Home Built Medel Turbines ‘Turbines from the collections of Lambert and Scbreckling. tonal velocity is set at a level below the onset of reso ice vibration. In our buikling instructions the rotor In other ional velocity is which resonance specification represents st subcritical velocity im permitted rot words, the maxim lower than the rot vibration occurs, neously to the 1 is only possi velocity. AS a result it should not be specified on any account for sons of safety. Hohl and Dubbel provide a more detailed explanation (see references in the appendix). Any of the following changes to a given design will result in reduction in the critical rotational velocity and, likewise, the permitted maximum rotational velocity cads spont ne. Untortar # Reducing the diameter of the shaft = Making the shaft from a material with a low elasticity mollis * Lengthening the shalt. f= Increasing the wheel mass. # Increasing the distance between the ventre of gravity of the wheel mess from the centre of the bearings. cessitate preci- ings were 80 id 10 make few could afford them. We h do with standard versions. All the sume, with an engine such 3s the KJ-66 it was still possible to-run at rotational velocities of as high as 90,000 revolutions/ Nevertheless, fiting the same jet turbine with modem utbine wheels made from very high temperature alloys, its eapabil 120,000 revolutions’ ini uF engines can even reach | Clearly, stancard ball bearings are no longer suitable for such applications 17 ‘To ensure that the balls do run truly in the bearing camer, it imperative that they are axially pre-loaded Failure to do this leads to rapid destruction of the bear- ing carriers, whether they are well Tubricated or not When you look for practical ways of calculating the pre- load force for our application, you will find that none ceist. Specialist catalogues and books on the subject fail to provide any answer. The simple fact is that we have insuflicient experimental data to develop adequately robust Gilculation eerels, However, in Germany we are blessed, for example, with GRW (Gebrider Reinfurt, Wirzburg). ‘This compa- ny has addressed this problem and now manufactures bearings in a range of sizes that are appropriate for our purposes. Versions without a cage, so-called Full co plement ball bearings, are particularly interesting (a cage that does not exist, Cannot go wrong). In this regard we reproduce the following exchange of leters between myself and Mr. Sender, the engineer: ing consultant at GRW: Dear Mr. Sender As you are aware, 1am writing a new book on the subject of model jet turbines. Naturally, this includes a ‘chapter on the subject of bearings. I would be very grate Jill ifyou could belp me by answering the following ques tions to the best of your knowledge and providing ‘additional information where applicable. What npes of bearing does your company produce for the above application? ‘Do you bave catalogue sheets available that include all the most important data such as dimensions, with details of tolerances for the bearings and their fil, permit- ted rotational nelocities, minimumimaximum pretoad- ing, lubrication and lubricant, method of assembly? Prices and terms and condiatons of delivery In the case of cageless hearings itis not possible to pre- vent the balls touching during operation. I have been told that this causes micro-damage to the bearings that leads to rapid wear of the bearing carrier. What ts your position on this point? The masimuam shaft power of our engines, that is the power transmitted from the turbine wheel to the com- pressor wheel, (S th the order of magnitude of several tens of kilowats. For example, the smallest engine has & shaft power of approx. 10 KW at 150,000 revolutions/min. This results in a torque of around 0.64 Neu. To transmit this torque via the internal race of the bearing, it must be (force fit to the shaft (ee drawing 1 [fie. 5). 1 estimate that a force of around 1,000 N is required between the face side of the internal race and the corresponiling con act ares of the sha Is there a risk that these forces will cause the internal rings to unduly deform? Do you need to use the reuher more complicated construction as shown in drawing 2 Fie. 5]? Wuhout dismantling the assembly, what is the easiest way of identifying whether or not a bearing is already damaged? ‘Do you have any other information tbat you believe could be important for users? ‘Thank you very much in aduance for your answers. Yours sincerely, Kurt Schreckling, 18 Shaft tumet Turbine wheel Nut Spacer bush Drawing 1: the necessary press-fit connection betwoon turbine wheel and shaft is via both the spacer bush and the internal race of the bearing, At a load of around 1,000 N does this cause undue deformation? Shaft tunnel Shaft Spacer bush Drawing 2: press fit connection between turbine wheel and shaft ts via the spacer bushes. The only load on the internal race comes from the independently adjustable axial preloading. Fig. 5 Drawings relating to the enquiry sent to CRW. And this was the reply T received: Dear Mr. Scbreckling We are pleased! to answer your questions as follows: Re: Q I. and part of Q 2: see the attached [1 received data sheets detailing a total of stx different bearing pes) With regard to the issue of pre-loadling, we can pro Llde the following information: as far as miniature bear- ings are concerned, the rule of thumb is that the bore diameter in mm equates to the preloading tn N. This Jorce is sufficient to reduce the extent to which the balls in the bearing slip and spin, so as to ensture that they last ‘for an acceptable length of time. For example, a pre- Toctding of 8 ts sufficient Jor the G08 bearing. ‘Admittedly, a much higher preloading 1s necesstnry to Rive the bearing a higher level of resilience. The stemdard predoad values are between approx. 20 to 50 N. We believe that this force is sufficient, Instead of employing, higher forces, it would be better to devote greater effort to balancing the turbines. Whilst bigher pre-loading can be used to conceal the tendency of the turbine to vibrate, the vibrations are ultimately still there and they stil ald Toad to the hearing. What is more, the bigh preloading artificially creates a still greater loc. Home Built Model Teerbines For all hearings designed especially for model jet tur bines, the bore and the externad diameter are construct ed 0 tolerance of 0-4 um. The shaft should be constructed to a tolerance of approximately 5-9 yun and +1/-+3 for the housing. Precision-built components should not be press-fitted ‘That 1s the principle. The intention is to avoid non-cen. ticties cad tensions in the bearings. Very light, but free- fitting components necessitate very bigh levels of precision. Furthermore. a teh fituing offers the best pro- {ection against corrosion. Should this rust occur. it can be counteracted by fitting or coating the bearings appro- riavely or by mounting them on O-rings. The bearings rotate at such bigh velocities ir the tur bines, that itis scarcely possible or practical to establish in theory their maximum rotational velocties. Some values achieved in practice: Type mint (approx) Do0s1602 602 155,000 DEO /602 839 155,000 DGOS/G2 976 200,000 D121603 089 90.000 With few exeeptions, the most commonly nsed lub cants are standard turbine oils. Even though they come from different manufacturers, most oils are basically similar in type and viscosity: Since we do not heave & preference for one manufacturer in particular, we would prefer not to recommend ai specific brand. AS far as We are aware, neither of the tteo standard methods of lubrication (separate lubrication or as an addition 10 fuel) appears to have any negative effect on the bearing. accordingly, we are prepared to advise that both methods can be used. Of al the bearings we produce, our AC (full comple ment) bearings are the mast popular. When fiting these bearings, you shold only load them axially. Otherwise, vow may end up wub toe bearings already felling apart ‘even as yon fit them. The ultimate rue is that force-flows till soon lead to indentations in the bearing grooves and should be avoided. Re: Q3: See attached. Re: 0-4 With regard to full complement bearings tis definitely the case that the balls will touch each otber repeatedly. Furthermore, wear is caused to the ceramics ‘at the points where the halls rub agamst each other, te. these bearings are in principle also subject to a process of wean Nevertheless, these versions have more advantages than disadvantages ‘the ceramic balls weigh very little compared 10 steel bearings. Consequently they exert comparatively little centrifugal force or load on the outer races Furdermore, they are chemically inert in relation to the steel races. Conventional ball bearings are almost inevitably subject to micro-welding caused hy direct material contact. This effect does not occur between ceramic balls and steel races, which eliminates one of the main cansex of wear the absence of a cage is also beneficial. A cage needs 10 be made from materials that are resistant to botb bigh- cer rotational velocities endl temperauures. However. this is practically impossible. Constructing the cage from either brass or bronze will result in imbalances, depend. Home Hult Model Turbines ing on the particular design. There needs to be a gap between the cages and the bearing races as well as the balls. However, this leads to weight displacement and therefore to the above-mentioned operational imbal- In summary therefore, theory follows practice. Based (on both our current understanding and manufacturing possibilities, full complement ball bearings provide the ‘optimum solution in terms of both performance ana Ufespan. ReQ 5: When an axial loud of 1.000 N is exerted on the inner race, the surface pressure at its weakes point is 25 Namm2 and therefore considerably below the permit: ted limits ie it is not expected that there would be a neg. tive effect on the bearine. Re-Q 6: A good bearing runs smoothly and uniformly. Asa consequence, noises or vibrations coming from the hearing are certainly nos insignificant Equally. observa tion of the imbalance will certainty highlight an issue. Sensitive balance measurements will instantly reveal whether the ball beeing is subject (u sume degree of wear Ke-Q 7: This letter and the pages attached provide information on bail bearings. However, we are keen to point out how we rely on the ideas and experience of inser’ to help us continue the development and optimise tion of ball bearings. For example, we are currently in the initial staves of trials with new materials and alter. ative sets of bal bearings. successful, these will lead to aiwhole new generation of ball bearings We hope that the information we have provided bas been helpful and wish you every success in completing and publishing your book, Bo not hesitate (0 contact s ifyou have any otber questions. Yours sincerely, Gobr. Reinfurt Gmbll € Co. KG bp. Olwin Sender Now let us tum to the question of lubriestion and look at how the lubricant gets to the bearings by retum- ing 10 the diageam of our engine (Fig. 1). In the jet tur bine the pressure ratios are such that the pressure on the back face of the compressor wheel is greater than the presure between the turbine guide vanes and the tar Fine wheel. Ast result, part of the air flows through the front hearing, the shaft tunnel and the back bearing, as far as the turbine wheel. ‘the iclea, therefore, is (0 take the lubricant line to just in front of the front bear. ing. automatically feeding lubricant into the air flow. Of course, this is. providing. that the pressure of the libri cant feed is higher than the pressure at the point tt whieh itis drawn, The dia atic drawing (Fig. 6) shows how. in ‘order to provide lubrication, fuel containing approx. 5% cil is branched off via a restricior. Turbine oil is suitable for this purpose. The pressure of the fuel pump is always higher than that of the compressor in the engine, otherwise the Fuel would not flow. ‘This method ensures that the bearings are kept lubricated. Setting the required level of lubrication requires a one-off adjustment of th restrictor, For an engine such as KJ-66 the flow of lubri cant ait a full throttle should not be greater than 10 ml/min, Flooding the bearings produces an effect similar to that of a hydrulie brake. ‘The only disidvantage of this method is that relatively high percentage of oil is 19 Rotational velocity sensor rouco sewer Blower battery Pump bauery Magnetic valve Fuel filter Glow plug battery Receiver Receiver battery Fuel tank Auxiliary gas bottle Fig. 6: Supply line diagram. Unused and is burnt in the combustion chamber with the part of the fuel ‘To overcome this disidvantage, there is the option of feeding pure. type 2 turbine oi into the lubricant fine separ c. the pressure differen. awveen the housing and the end of the lubricant ne is used to provide the delivery pressure Furthermore, the engine must be feed with an aclition: al connection on the housing to discharge the pressure for the oil tank. The restrictor is adjusted so that approx. imately'5 mal min of oil is consumed at fall threste. ‘This method of delivery can lead to a Geney, should the engine run at ile for so situation is mace worse by a low idle setting ‘Altematively, some turbine pilots choose to use syn- thetic off for Kwo-stoke mow!s instead Of turbine oil Currently there is no clear evidence as to whether oF not this is harmful for the besrings. 20 Combustion chamber and ignition The combustion chamber is nothing other than an ‘oven, whose purpose is 10 heat the compressed air to the temperature allowed by the staged turbine. That sounds very simple However. during the construction, of the first moxlel jet turbines, it was the development of a functional combustion chamber that took the Tongest time. To: unclerstind why this should be s0, you just have 10 look at the important role it is required to play. ‘The temperature at the intake (0 the turbine st so-called fresh-mixture temperature, should ret int as possible and not exceed 700°C during accel ition or deceleration + Ax much of the fuel as possible should be combusted, # The dimensions of the combustion chamber should not increase the size of the engine unnecessarily Home Hnilt Mextel Trabines f= Teshould run using fuels the as diesel or similar. * Combustion must be guaranteed at all load conditions, i.e. the flame should not he extinguished. # Ignition should not require any speci ie readily available such, auxiliary Let us start at the front. According to the design, we can calculate the mass flow through the engine Likewise we ean arrive at an approximate value for the so-called fresh-mixture temperature, which is the tem- periture before the entrance to the turbine stage. For an Ivenige engine such as the K-66, when you calculate the heating power. you come to'a figure of approxi- mately 140,000 watts! That is about seven times the capacity of an oik-based home central heating boiler. Since the combustion chamber of the jet turbine has a volume of only approx. 500 ml, the flame has to be extremely intensive and therefore very hot Subsequently, the exhaust gases from this flame must he cooled down to the temperuure OF the fresh-misture using excess air. The temperature in the flame zones must be around 100°C. Clearly, it is necessitry to cool the combustion chamber. This is achieved by using that part of the alr flow that streams along, the outsike of the combustion chamber to the secondary air bore: holes When you calculate the average How velocity in the flame zone, you would normally take out the flame. This is effectively preventer! hy the position and size of che secondary stir bore holes. Part of the secondary air flow enters in a radial direction, This is the part that iy not inolved in the combustion process. [ti automatically swirled towards the front and in so doing also forces hot combustion gasses back into the flame 2one. The com- bustion chambers of large turbo engines like employ this same effect. Whilst it is true that each tur- ine necessitates its own particular hole geometry and configuration, something that is only possible through prolonged tial and error, it should not be forgotten tha having established the correct hole geometry, you will never need to reconfigure the combustion’ chamber again. OF course, when you reproduce an engine 10 a plan. this problem has already been solved for you. When | built my first functional combustion chamber for my FD autbines, | incorporated a convoluted vaporis cer tube to prepare the fuel-air mixture, This system wis not particularly robust and did not last very long due to progressive catbonisition of the fuel Thomas Kamps learnt from these shortcomings. He became the first person 10 use so-called “sticks! These took the form of small curved tubes and worked much more effectively. Less pump pressure was required than, was the case with the vaporiser tube, For my first attempt [fitted only three such tubes into the good old FD-3/64. The result was pretty convincing, Whilst iC was apparent that three were nor enough, the engine ran without hot spots, even though it did produce visible white exhaust gas plume, When [used six “sticks, the FD3 combustion chamber worked really well. However. subsequent development work was based on the Kamps, ubine, i¢ with compressor wheels from ube charg ‘The curved sticks needled to be manufactured from a material with @ high ten ie resiotance, otherwise they tended to combust rapidly. Alfred Kittelberger from Hamburg then had the brilliant idea of introducing the Home Built Model Turbines sticks from the hick of the combustion ch Straight tubes, as shown in our engine diagram (Fig. 1. This provided a simple solution 10 the main problem: how to reliably develop the fuckair mixture and at the same time ensure near 10U% fuel Combustion. Based on ‘experience at that time, six sticks seemed to be the opt mum number. Ignition is provided by a glow plug. ‘The coil of the plug. protrudes into the combustion chamber. ‘To fac tate the ignition process. propane or, alternatively butane gas is introduced into the combustion chamber a an auxiliary gas through two or three sticks. ‘The sub- sequent section entitled “The start procedure’ desenes this in more detail likewise, you cin use high-current glow plugs for the ignition. However. this is much more complicated. What is more, the high current can interfere with the remote control function The thrust nozzle A channel thea naarows providing that the flow velocity does not exceed the speed of sound. ‘The speed of sound is clependent on, temperiture. Atan exhaust gas temperature of 600°C i is 590 ms. Our nozzles have an outflow velocity of herween 350 and 400 ms, which is somewhat less than, the speed of sound. ‘A nozzle has the effect of accelerating a medium, For \ given mass flow this produces a corresponding increase in thrust. The energy’ required to do this must come from the engine. Fitting a nozzle behind the tur bine wheel automatically increases the temperiture of Nice curves do not always prove to be the best technical solution. the gas, Although the pressure remains constant, more ‘eneagy is mide available. However, it i not possible to keep on inereasing the nozele effect, since account must he taken of the temperature limits, particulttly with respect (0 the turbine wheel, Experience shows that the cross section of the nozzle should be approximately 10% less than the ring. cross section of the. vanes of the tur= Dine wheel “The core of the nozzle acts to prevent the exhaust sses swirling behind the disk of the turbine wheel ‘This in itself results in a partial increase in thrust. ‘The core and sheath of the nozzle together form a ring. no7. dle. The above-mentioned KP reducton an the nozele ‘cross section results in a gain in thrust of between 30. and 40%. The reason for this may not be clear at first Sight. However, the physical explanation for this effec is relatively simple: having passed through the nozzle the air flow first follows the direction of the nozzle sheath, as shown in our diagram of our engine. ‘This implies that the effective nozzle cross section is somewhat smaller than would be presumed on the basis of the geometrical cross section, This is also dependent on the shape of the nozzle itself. "The more conically the nozzle is tapered, the grewter is the nozzle effect. When it comes to clesign- ing the shape of the nozzle, there is no hard and fast rule. You just Inve to remember not to exaggerste the nozzle effect to such an extent that it excceds the per ted temperature limits of the turbine wheel The nozzle components can be mack: front states steel sheeting, The connections must be welded with shielding. gas or spot-welded. In this case, hard-soldering, is nor sufficiently reliable. Hetho Héft’s SU-35 turns up the volume. Operational performance The so-called intemational standard atumesphere. in short 184 provides the basis for all calculations sand mea surements, The ISA determines physical values as Air pressure “Temperature: Density 1.225 key’ Correlation of rotational vetocity, air mass flow, compressor pressure, thrust end temperature If you want to compare rotsting, components of the same shape and construction, yet of different sizes, then it is best to calculate on the basis of circumferential velocity. This is the velocity at the utmost circumference Of the compressor or turbine wheel. Due to the effect of centrifugal forces. at the same circumferential velocity teach rotating component is subject 0 the same Toad, As Inentioned previously. for our wheels the maximum per mitted circumferential velocity should be set at approx. 00 1m’, To make things clearer. L wall begin by dealing only with relative rotational velocities, Le. the mat permissible rotational velocity ts equal to 100%. T roter to this hy ats shortened form: nl0'6. Subsequently. the same arguments can be applied to model yet turbines, of different sizes, Minimuin torational velocity is the lowest po: velocity at which the turbine will senis the bottom end. of the scale and is set at nltv, Any lower and the turbine wh 22 Home Built Model Trrbines insufficient power to overcome friction losses in the hearings: when running at acceptable temperatures in the turbine stage. In practice the rotational velocity at idle is set as high as 30% to n35%6, n35% is more applicable to smaller jet turbines such as the ‘TK-50. It is easy to cae late the corresponding rotational velocities measured is revolutions per minute. Our turbine and compressor wheels have a maximum permissible circumferential velocity of 400 m/s. You use this figure and the chosen, wheel diameter. The table below illustrates (rounded) figures as calculated for the home-built turbines that are described liter. ‘One thing Is obvious. As the rorational velocity increases, so does the airmass flow and the pressure after the compressor stage. The air-mass flow increases roughly proportionately to the rotational velocity. When, for example, the compressor wheel impels 0.07 kp/s at 730%, at 100% it would impel 0.23 kg/s However, pressure increases much more rapidly. For this calcula- tion you need to use, not the compressor pressure, but rather what is known as the pressure ratio. Diageam 1 demonstrates the relationship between rotational velocity and both the air mass flow and the pressure ratio, The pressure ratio is the air pressure afier the compressor divided by the ambient air pressure. If you measure, for example, 1.2 ar positive pressure after the compressor. the total pressure is 2.2 bar, since the atmospheric pres- sure at sea level is approximately 1 bar. Therefore, the pressure ratio is 22 bar. This factor is non-dimensional For practical applications it can be noted that: the com- pressor pressure in bar equals the pressure ratio minus, 1, as long as you are at sea level. Diagram 2 shows the results that were actually recorded for the jet turbines, K}-66, 1-66 and K-50. ‘The Swiss mathematician, Leonard Euler (1707-1783), discovered that the power generated by a compressor wheel equals the mass flow multiplied by the circumfer ential velocity u of the wheel and the change in switl Based on Euler's equations the power required to drive the KJ-66 compressor wheel must be around 25,000 watt In fact, the turbine wheel is indeed capable of achieving this level of power. However, when throttled back 10 130%, the power reduces 10 only around 500 wat. ‘When air is compressed rapidly, it heats up. Using the pressure values indicated in diagram 2, if we know the fliciency of the compressor stage, we are able to calcu- late the temperature as shown in diagram 3. It is appar- cent that at n1008% the temperature of the compressed air is already 120°C. This value is true for ISA conditions and assumes that the Compressor stage operates at an internal efficiency of 70%. If the temperature of the intake air is higher or the compressor is less efficient the temperature after the compressor would be signifi- cantly higher than 120°C. Consideration has to be given (w the fact dua the only ait available t© euol the combus- tion chamber and the bearings has already been pre- heated. It is technically possible to increase the pressure ratio by redesigning the compressor wheels. However, Diagram 1 os 7 z nt 2 ai a 2 i im +] seen i. “ 7 ntertumancearnd” Diagram 2 stn cand na rn or eR 0 58 ES 95 seme this inevitably leads to cooling problems. particularly at the combustion chamber. ‘A greater rotational velocity increases the pressure ratio, which in turn improves the thermal efficiency of a turbo engine. It follows that increasing, rotational veloci- ty also results in an ever steeper increase in thrust. The graph in diagram 4 plots values measured from the afore-mentioned jet turbines. When you compare dia- gram 2 with diagram 4, it is apparent that thrust and pressure increase along a similarly steep curve “Technical reasons prevent the turbine from withstand- ing particularly high temperatures. ‘This is particularly nue of the wrbine staye. Clearly, wun bewween temperature and rotational velocity is of major signifi- ince. The easiest method of establishing the tempers ture in the turbine stage is to measure the temperature of the exhaust gas, since these are directly related, Diagram 3 shows values reconded for ex perature for our turbines. The start procedure Starting the turbine requires the use of an auxiliary drive to accelerate the rotor fo at least n10%. A velocity of n10% does not necessitate a particularly powerful Jetturbine Wheel diameter (mm) _ 10% (rev/min) 100% (rev/min) 130% (rev/min) Behowe +6666 12,000 120,000 36,000 E66 66, 12,000 120,000 36,000 1K-50 50. 15,000 150,000 50,000 Home Built Model Trobines: Diagram 3 _Aetemperonre aie conpenor sage peEeEeEged Diagram 4 onan toy and ht of re 6,46 sn 150 ye ses ettional veloc 1.00 rev/min starter motor. A small electric motor with shaft power of 20 watt would be sufficient, provided it were coupled Girectly t0 the rotor shalt via a shpping clutela, In any case, tuining the rotor immediately causes air 10 be «drawn into the combustion chamber. Consequently, igni- tion can take place as soon as the rotor starts 0 cum. ‘This produces an immediate turbine effect that in turn lends greater force to the stare ‘xperience shows Uhat the combustion charnber ius be pre-heated. This is true even if every efforts male t0 inject Fuel an the form of a very Aine mist and likewise applies even at the average temperatures of central Diagram 5 att i temperance of the PSO nd 6 oc oxational yoy 1.00 revi European summer. ‘Therelore, to produce an ignitable misture, the combustion chamher is heated from the inside by a propane-hutane gts flame Guxiliary gas method). Within a few seconds of the introduction of Sufficient auniliary gas the ro1or will aceelerue to 230% However, providing that the fuel is finely metered it possible to switch on the fuel pump before the turbine Teaches n30%6. At n30% the engine will be self sustain ing, According, to the flow of fuel, it will continue to run, assistance. The without either auxiliary gas or starter supply of electricity to the glow ph off immediately after ignition, although this is not absolutely neces ignition is alko possible without using a glow or high- ‘cunent plug. Ata rotational velocity of

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