Turbocharger Gas Turbine Engine

Turbocharger based Gas turbine engine built as my school tech project. Works great and is very auxilarating although some issues with maintaining good oil pressure once oil warms up. When oil is cold it will pump over 90 psi and engine is difficult start. But once oil warms up it can drop below 15 psi. The engine develops up to 20 psi of boost without a nozzle and the thrust is unknown at this stage. When the oil is hot and being pumped below 20 psi the turbine shaft can wobble dangerously above 3-5 psi of boost resulting in a rapid reduction in engine revs. It will be noticed that when the engine is throttled down it coughs at times. This was one of the first times this has happened and my understanding is that it is compressor surge or something similar.
The engine is started with compressed air. The compressed air source is the LPG tank sitting on the ground separate from the test stand containing 115 psi of air pressure. The air line runs from there into the hot end of the turbocharger where a jet is welded in place and directed at the turbine wheel. The only issue i have found with this type of system is the small amount of time it allows you to start the engine. This requires some practice.
This was a great project and plenty of fun as well as hard work.
Safety is paramount however and plenty of research should be undertaken before such a project is attempted.
Feel free to ask any questions(:

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• jet
• engine
• gas
• turbine
• school
• tech
• project
• turbocharger
• DIY
• homemade