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**Michael John Nunnerley** · 02-02-2010, 10:50 PM

HI all

It's so simple when you put the pieces together, THATS WHAT STAN MEYER FOUND and he is not the only one.

US drones are exactly this, purpose made, cheap and running on, guess what?

Well if you didn't get the answer right you shouldn't be on this forum

Mike

**Michael John Nunnerley** · 02-02-2010, 10:54 PM

Oh foregot to say, where did they get this from, well I will give you a clue, 1945

enjoy
Mike

**Aaron** · 02-03-2010, 03:08 AM

homemade turbojet engine

Mike,

I'm blown away by all this homemade turbojet stuff!

Here is one of the simplest setups I've seen so far:
YouTube - Jet engine made from junk parts at junkyardjet.com

His how to his here:
The Junkyard Turbojet Engine - A Real Working Jet Engine Built From Junkyard Parts

He did it with all common hardware store pipes, etc...

----------------------------------------------------

Another how to for anyone interested:

TURBOCHARGER GAS TURBINE - Page 1

and more links:

Links
These are some pages I found useful, informative and inspirational.

Yahoo groups DIYGasTurbines
This group has a lot of good info for conventional in the box thinkers.
But beware discussing anything other than the status quo mindset
because it isn't welcome. They will insult you, call you names, etc...
and then wonder why you defend yourself. These members are a
bunch of know-it-alls that think they know every application for a jet
engine just because they know people who have been in the jet engine
industry for 40 years. Well, we all know that just means they are more
indoctrinated than anyone else. Too bad, actually thought they might
like to learn something new but I can assure you, they have nothing
else to learn because they are convinced they have it all figured out.

Aardvark's jet engine projects
Bruce (a fellow Kiwi) has lots of information on his turbocharger gas turbine as well as his pulse jet projects. He also describes his gas turbine powered go-kart, his pulse jet kit sets and he even provides a FAQ for other turbocharger jet engine builders.

Mike's home built turbojet engine
I found Mike's page very inspirational indeed. He built an engine using standard metal pipe fittings and easy to get components. Presented as a day by day account Mike gives a lot of useful information with photographs as well.

Turbocharger based gas turbine engine
Another home made jet engine made from a Holset diesel engine turbocharger.

The Berndt turbine project
Robert Berndt's beautifully made turbocharger gas turbine.

Jan's hobby page
Kenneth M�ller's home made jet and pulse jet engine
Even though these pages are different Kenneth and Jan's engine is a joint effort by the both of them. Their engine is built from a KKK truck engine turbocharger. Between them they give a lot of useful information and pictures about how they built their engine. Kenneth also provides a great archive of pulsejet plans and designs.

Technologie-Entwicklung Baumgart
Thomas also has a turbocharger gas turbine engine as well as Solent gas turbine starter.

Gas turbines
Patrick Arnold's self contained KKK turbocharger based engine.

Nye Thermodynamics
Many interesting gas turbine projects including the NT/5 turbocharger gas turbine (with afterburner) and the NT/6 wood burning gas turbine engine!

Chris's Turbines
Chris has a very nice engine and some fantastic afterburner shots! Also described is an engine he has made using a huge Schwitzer D6S turbocharger originally from a M-60 tank!

Turbocharger turbine page
Another turbocharger based gas turbine as well as some information on gas turbine starters and APUs.

Mitch's Jet Engine Page
Mitch is building an engine at school with a turbo from a 1985 Nissan 300Z.

Britannica.com - Gas turbine engine
The Britannica online entry on gas turbine engines.

Rolls Royce - How a gas turbine works
The Rolls Royce (who know a thing or two about jet engines) education page on how a gas turbine works.

Howstuffworks - Gas turbine engine
Howstuffworks entry on gas turbine (and jet) engines.

NASA Glenn Learning Technologies Project
Lots of information about jet engines on this NASA site including some rather interesting applets to play with.

Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft
Another NASA site not entirely about jet engines but a fasinating (and long) read. Part 2 give a lot of interesting information about jet engines.

Fundamentals of aircraft power plants
U.S. Department of the Army field manual all about gas turbine power plants. Viewable online as well as downloadable.

Justin Beardsley's jet engine Justin is a high school student who built his own jet engine based on my design. Great work Justin!
An Amateur Liquid Fueled Turbo Turbine site
Turbocharger Gas Turbine Engine
DIY-Turbo-Turbine Page
Larrys home made Gas Turbine Jet Engine
Mark Nye's turbine page
pcats5
Roger Marmion's Turbocharger Turbine page
Small Gas Turbines Home Page

**Aaron** · 02-06-2010, 07:47 AM

Gas Turbine FAQ

I'll straighten out the links that I added. Some are no good.

I moved these here from the other thread because this is such
in awesome topic on its own that it needed it's own thread.

Must read FAQ Homebuilt Gas Turbine FAQ

**Cherryman** · 02-06-2010, 03:03 PM

I did some basic research on this too...

The most simple form is a pulsjet, no moving parts!

Look it up at youtube and see the amazing heat it generates. YouTube - Advanced Thermalpulse "Chinese" Valveless Pulsejet Engine

I designed a test setup to test different fuels, don't expect much, i'm just playing with idears :

**Aaron** · 02-12-2010, 05:43 AM

Turbojet Engine DIY

That is a sweet picture of a pulsejet!

I saw it in the other thread.

----------------------------------------

Here is a good fyi on building the turbojets for anyone that is interested...
How to build your own Jet Engine

**Allcanadian** · 02-13-2010, 02:40 AM

@Aaron
I have been down this road over 20 years ago and can tell you there are more problems than solutions with gas turbines and pulse jet engines. When I got out of college I started designing gas turbines, I needed 10 pages of paper (both sides) to calculate a simple gas turbine to match point--when the turbine can carry the load of the compressor. Next I wrote code for a few computer simulators to do the calculations and started on prototypes but the machining is unbelievable. With a turbo charger/gas turbine you can smoke (overheat) the blading very easy and the efficiency is very low as it utilizes a constant pressure cycle.
I have built a few pulse jet engines and they have issues as well, they look simple but they are resonance engines based on pressure waves so geometry is critical. The efficiency is very low as well because 90% of the energy in the fuel generates heat and the other 10% thrust so you may as well use a conventional burner. One thing they do very well is make noise, lol, imagine a shotgun blast a few feet away from your ear only the sound is continuous. When I fired my first engine you could hear the echo miles away, Im not sure what a person would use to dampen the noise.
Next I built a pulse detonation engine, a pulse detonation engine is one that generates enough internal pressure to "detonate" the fuel/air charge instantly. Internal combustion engines and pulse jet engines "burn" fuel and in reality the burn is very slow. A detonation engine burns the whole fuel air charge in nanoseconds as the whole charge detonates all at once and there is no slow propagating flame front as in a fuel burn. The thrust is insane as the internal pressure is very high and the efficiency is also very high. The issue is the pressure which cannot be controlled as the whole charge detonates and either the pressure escapes fast enough through the exhaust or the machine explodes like a hand grenade. I called my detonation engine the "fear of god" because you have never known real fear until you have been near this engine in operation--you can feel all your bones vibrating, your hair stands on end,the ground shakes and the noise is beyond all reason. I had it running 20 seconds and then I put in a box and never touched it again because it was a ticking time bomb-- it was insanity to run it any longer. In any case I have been there done that and I don't think this is the technology your after, I moved on many years ago because of the poor efficiency or dangers involved.
Regards
AC

**Aaron** · 02-13-2010, 03:19 AM

Turbojet Engine

In 20 years many things changed and have become simpler.
I can open one small program, input the turbo specs and
the entire combustion chamber and flame tube is calculated in
less than 1 second - and this is the calculations that are the
standard for calculating the holes, quantity, diameter, etc...

If anyone takes the time to see the massive amount of builds out
there both high and low quality, it is really a common sense
engine to build especially when simply converting a pre-existing
car turbocharger by simply adding a combustion chamber and
a few other parts.

It doesn't need to be more complicated that it is and it is not
a complicated thing to do.

Discouraging this is not the intent of this thread.

**Allcanadian** · 02-13-2010, 04:04 AM

@Aaron

It doesn't need to be more complicated that it is and it is not
a complicated thing to do.
Discouraging this is not the intent of this thread.

I would agree the computer sim's have changed considerably however the process to actually build and operate a gas turbine have not. I used to operate 10,000 hp gas turbines and they operate the same as a 100 hp turbine, as well the technology itself has not changed much in the last 20 years only the metallurgy. Believe me when I tell you from experience you have no idea how complicated it is, what you won't see in these video's or websites is how many times they have smoked (overheated) the turbine blades or warped the can type combustor or cooked the bearings, if they overspeed the turbine it will disintegrate the turbine in microseconds. I am not discouraging anyone here, I did it and it is a good engineering lesson but you are wrong in believing it is not a complicated thing to do. Running it 5 minutes for a video does not constitute a reliable machine which can consistently perform to specs. Maybe you should ask these people building how many machines they have in continuous service? I am guessing zero, that is why I am an engineer and they are not, it is my job to know these things. If they can use a fuel or process to reduce the heating effects and control the fuel rate then it is much easier but load control will still be an issue. Do you know what happens to an unregulated turbine which is unloaded rapidly? Well it sounds like shotgun pellets hitting aluminum house siding, lol.
Regards
AC

**Aaron** · 02-13-2010, 04:10 AM

check pm

Check your PM AC.

**Aaron** · 02-15-2010, 09:58 AM

Free Piston Jet Engine

Free Piston Jet Engine With Self Actuated Fuel

CLICK ON IMAGEs for FULL SIZE!

According to Jack Horton the Loudmouth was a turbine because it met the requirement of reacting to a current of fluid, which is subjected to pressure-in this case, high temperature, high pressure, high velocity gases. A turbine blade or impeller does not necessarily have to be metallic. It could be steel, wood, or plastic. In the case of this free piston engine, the spinning impeller is gaseous, when the powerful gas exhaust reaches the special nozzle, it creates a vortex causing its gases to spin at high speed, which is similar to a modern turbine impeller. Its high powered thrust is achieved because of the vortex phenomenon of spinning gases.
Most engines have a crankshaft to deliver output. The Free Piston Engine does not have a crankshaft and the added complexity of rods, bearings, complicated lubrication mechanism... The Free Piston Engine Consists of little more than the Piston itself which oscillates inside a metal tube (cylinder) generating high volume of heated gas which is used to propel vehicles thus a jet engine.
Originally developed by Charles Gahagen, the engine has only two moving parts. The inventor boasted an amazing 50% thermal efficiency (this has been improved upon recently). Diesel has an efficiency of only 40% and the four cycle gasoline engine is the least efficient with a thermal efficiency of only 30%.

The secret of it's amazingly high efficiency lies in it's design. Each stroke produces power, a four stroke engine of similar displacement only produces a fourth of the power and is terribly complicated and heavy compared to free piston engines.
July 1957 Science Digest, page 93
The Tiny Giant

"The cycle occurs about 70,000 time per minute, moving the pistons about 2 inches, and expelling large amount of gases, at high pressures, through the exhaust ports which lead through a contoured tube. The gases are collected in this tube, or after-burner, and are pushed out at high speeds giving it a jet-like thrust.

It is the number of moving parts in this engine that is so fascinating. In reality the only moving parts are the pistons connected by a rod. Mr Gahagen says some people may count the disc-like valves as moving parts, but these require no lubrication. With few parts, the lubrication is easy. Adding 3% oil to the standard gasolene gives all the necessary lubrication to the piston riding inside a 5 inch steel sleeve."

"Due to high thrust the Piston Jet Engine can be used where turbo-jets aren't practical. To further increase this thrust and to increase the volume of gases, a metal plate, equally spaced between the walls of the nozzle, would be added. This plates cuts the nozzle into two halves. Water sprayed from a supply line to create steam would increase the thrust of the engine significantly.

From Popular Mechanics

Free Piston Engine 001 , Free Piston Engine 002 , Free Piston Engine 003
Free Piston Engine 004 , Free Piston Engine 005 , Free Piston Engine 006
Free Piston Engine 007

Patent Below Click Image

**Aaron** · 02-24-2010, 06:23 AM

Ammonia Combustion in Gas Turbines

ScienceDirect - Symposium (International) on Combustion : Ammonia combustion properties and performance in gas-turbine burners

F.J. Verkampa, M.C. Hardina and J.R. Williamsa
aApplied Research Department, Allison Division, General Motors Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Available online 27 April 2007.

Experimental studies were conducted to determine the minimum ignition energy, quenching distance, flame-stability limits, and gas-turbine-burner performance of ammonia-air mixtures. The minimum ignition energy of ammonia was 8 millijoules compared to less than 0.5 millijoules for propane. At stoichiometric conditions, the quenching distance for ammonia-air was 0.275 in. The corresponding reported value for propane-air is 0.08 in. In the flame stability experiments, ammonia would burn at only one-half the air-flow velocity possible with hydrocarbon fuels and the range of equivalence ratios for stable flame was much narrower than for hydrocarbon fuels. These characteristics were essentially substantiated in gas-turbine-burner testing. It was concluded that neat ammonia cannot be used as a substitute fuel for hydrocarbons in conventional gas-turbine burners unless the ignition-system energy is increased, the combustion linear diameter is increased by a factor of approximately 2, and the ammonia injected in the gaseous state.
Two approaches were investigated for improving the combustion properties of ammonia. These were to use additives or to partially pre-dissociate the ammonia. Additives were tested in the flame-stability apparatus in concentrations of 5% by volume of the total fuel. At this concentration, none of the additives improved the flame-stability properties to the extent required. The minimum ignition energy, quenching distance, and flame-stability properties of 28% dissociated ammonia were approximately equal to these same properties of methane. Partially dissociated ammonia was also tested in the gas-turbine burner. It was concluded that 28% dissociated ammonia could be used as a substitute fuel in gas-turbine-combustion systems optimally sized for hydrocarbon fuels.

Symposium (International) on Combustion
Volume 11, Issue 1, 1967, Pages 985-992

**Aaron** · 02-24-2010, 06:24 AM

Ammonia Combustion in Gas Turbines

ScienceDirect - Symposium (International) on Combustion : Ammonia combustion properties and performance in gas-turbine burners

F.J. Verkampa, M.C. Hardina and J.R. Williamsa
aApplied Research Department, Allison Division, General Motors Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Available online 27 April 2007.

Experimental studies were conducted to determine the minimum ignition energy, quenching distance, flame-stability limits, and gas-turbine-burner performance of ammonia-air mixtures. The minimum ignition energy of ammonia was 8 millijoules compared to less than 0.5 millijoules for propane. At stoichiometric conditions, the quenching distance for ammonia-air was 0.275 in. The corresponding reported value for propane-air is 0.08 in. In the flame stability experiments, ammonia would burn at only one-half the air-flow velocity possible with hydrocarbon fuels and the range of equivalence ratios for stable flame was much narrower than for hydrocarbon fuels. These characteristics were essentially substantiated in gas-turbine-burner testing. It was concluded that neat ammonia cannot be used as a substitute fuel for hydrocarbons in conventional gas-turbine burners unless the ignition-system energy is increased, the combustion linear diameter is increased by a factor of approximately 2, and the ammonia injected in the gaseous state.

Two approaches were investigated for improving the combustion properties of ammonia. These were to use additives or to partially pre-dissociate the ammonia. Additives were tested in the flame-stability apparatus in concentrations of 5% by volume of the total fuel. At this concentration, none of the additives improved the flame-stability properties to the extent required. The minimum ignition energy, quenching distance, and flame-stability properties of 28% dissociated ammonia were approximately equal to these same properties of methane. Partially dissociated ammonia was also tested in the gas-turbine burner. It was concluded that 28% dissociated ammonia could be used as a substitute fuel in gas-turbine-combustion systems optimally sized for hydrocarbon fuels.

Symposium (International) on Combustion
Volume 11, Issue 1, 1967, Pages 985-992

**Aaron** · 02-24-2010, 06:31 AM

Development of an Ammonia-Burning Gas Turbine Engine

Defense Technical Information Center Accession Number : AD0671667

Title : DEVELOPMENT OF AN AMMONIA-BURNING GAS TURBINE ENGINE

Descriptive Note : Final technical rept. 30 Sep 1964-31 Jul 1966

Corporate Author : SOLAR TURBINES INTERNATIONAL SAN DIEGO CA
Personal Author(s) : Bull, M. G.
Handle / proxy Url : writeHandle("http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD671667"); http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD671667 Check NTIS Availability...

Report Date : 03 APR 1968

Pagination or Media Count : 56

Abstract : Combustion rig testing with ammonia fuel was conducted using a single can burner configuration. Ammonia was injected into the burner in the liquid state, a combination of vapor and liquid, and in the vapor state. Vaporized ammonia injection gave the most encouraging preliminary results; consequently systems using liquid ammonia injection were abandoned early in the program. Ammonia vapor combustor tests showed it was possible to burn ammonia in a manner similar to that used in conventional hydrocarbon burning combustors, but with a significant reduction in range of flammability. Improvements in combustion performance were obtained by the use of catalytic aids, and techniques using catalytic oxidation of ammonia showed the greatest potential. Two different ammonia combustion systems were developed for use with a gas turbine engine in the 250 hp size range. One system was essentially similar to a conventional hydrocarbon, single can combustor, but of increased size. The second system incorporated an oxidizing catalyst bed integral with the combustor as a means of increasing fuel reaction rate and reducing combustor volume. A standard hydrocarbon burning engine was modified to enable operation using both types of ammonia combustion systems in addition to its normal hydrocarbon system. A development test program was conducted to obtain satisfactory engine operation with each type of combustion system. Performance measurements were made with the engine operating with each type of combustion system. Performance measurements were made with the engine operating with each type of combustion system. The results are plotted and allow comparison between ammonia fuel and hydrocarbon fuel engine performance.

Descriptors : *GAS TURBINES, *FUELS, *AMMONIA, COMBUSTION, FUEL INJECTION, LIQUEFIED GASES, HYDROCARBONS, REACTION KINETICS, CATALYSTS, FLAMMABILITY, VAPORS, COMBUSTION CHAMBERS

Subject Categories : FUELS
JET AND GAS TURBINE ENGINES

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Turbojet Engine | Gas Turbines | DIY

Turbojet Engine | Gas Turbines | DIY

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