ABSTRACT
Developments in the field of microturbine technology and gas turbine driven
aircraft has been progressing without much progress in light aircraft
predominantly propelled by piston engines. Because of inhibitive maintenance
and overhaul costs of such however, propulsion via a gas turbine engine has
been proposed with the potential of eventually replacing current engine
configurations. Subsequently, the objective was to conceptually design a
replacement gas turbine engine in the 150 kW range.
A selection of case studies was used to illustrate the changing technologies to
illustrate the technological viability of micro-gas turbines for light aircraft.
Advantages and disadvantages of both engine types were discussed and a
concise description of gas turbine operations and its components was given.
A brief overview of fundamentals as well as the transmission layout was also
supplied. Three configurations were isolated, namely the single spool design, a
twin spool design featuring a free power turbine and the effect of a fuel
conserving recuperator.
Calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel, which proved sufficient in
effectively calculating complex formulae - even under the necessary iterative
feed-back conditions the design process demanded.
Eventually, variable-specific design criteria were derived regarding the three
engine types. Because fuel consumption still proved inhibitive, the effect of
recuperation was investigated which yielded a very competitive engine - should
the possibility of recuperator technology exist on time.
As a result, one particular recuperated, single spool gas turbine engine was
successfully identified. Having met all the design criteria sufficiently, this
preliminary prototype design was numerically described and put within context
of principal, peripheral working components such as a compatible gearbox
layout.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4589 |
| Date | 07 March 2008 |
| Creators | Bereczky, Horst Zoltan |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 2081071 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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