A gas turbine constructed from a turbocharger and some steel tubes runs under its own power for the first time. Impatient people, you can skip to 4:28 to see it running properly.
Note: the end screen says 2017, but this was actually filmed in November of 2018.
For patient people, here is a little more information: The turbocharger is from an old SAAB; the inlet is roughly 43mm in diameter. The outer shell of the combustor is 4" in diameter, while the inner shell has a diameter of 3" and a pattern of holes drilled in it to mix the fuel properly with the air from the compressor. As for improvements, we intend to cool the turbine housing and the end of the combustor by brazing copper tubing to those areas and running water or oil through it. We also hope to provide proper pressurized oiling, and switch it to gasoline or kerosene once it is running, as it drank 300g of propane in 20 seconds of running. We shut it down at the end for fear of melting something, and because the propane bottle was empty and exceptionally cold.
14 окт 2024
