Author Topic: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build  (Read 931004 times)

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Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1305 on: May 16, 2016, 04:44:04 PM »
Anders, I just finished reading about your bike and the fact that you are building your own turbine engine blows me away. I envy your talent and look forward to seeing the engine completed.
                              Jeff McCain

Thank you very much Jeff, building the entire race bike myself is very rewarding and seeing the potential in it last summer (275.2km/h on the english mile first time I ever raced it) despite the weak 170-ish hp engine I use at the moment is very promising.

With the new 270hp gas turbine built and installed in the bike it will really be flying down the track!  :-)

Cheers!
/Anders

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1306 on: May 16, 2016, 04:44:53 PM »
As I might have said before I will make an external fuel supply on JU-02 compared to the internal "standard" soldered syringe fuel ring I used on JU-01, it is easy to make but in order to check it for syringe blockage I have to tear down the entire engine which isn´t very practical at a race weekend.



The solution is to complicate things a bit and make an external fuel supply, 18 separate syringe injectors will be fitted in banjo bolts and fitted through threaded holes in the engine cover rear wall pointing into the evaporator tubes. The banjo fittings will be shortened and silver soldered to a length of copper tube and then into a larger diameter circular plenum tube into which the fuel is fed from the pump.



The injectors are made from turned down 3D printer nozzles threaded into the banjo bolt and drilled to accept a 0.7mm syringe needle that is silver soldered in place. This way I can take the injector apart for ultra sound cleaning during overhaul.



Here below is a picture of how the injectors will line up with the evaporators, the syringe needle will protrude into the bellmouthed entry of the evaporator and have a bend at the end so the kerosene hits the tube wall.



Cheers!
/Anders

Offline bbarn

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1307 on: May 17, 2016, 09:49:29 AM »
Anders - In that last picture of the injectors is the air gap between the injector and the evap tube going to remain? What is the plenum between the injector plate and the NGV plate used for? Is this just because the design calls for it or is that charged with cooling air or ...?

BTW - Great work on the almost daily updates I really love seeing your work!
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1308 on: May 17, 2016, 03:26:57 PM »
Anders - In that last picture of the injectors is the air gap between the injector and the evap tube going to remain? What is the plenum between the injector plate and the NGV plate used for? Is this just because the design calls for it or is that charged with cooling air or ...?

BTW - Great work on the almost daily updates I really love seeing your work!

Hi bbarn!

Since the flame tube isn´t built yet it is a bit hard for anyone not me to imagine how it will look later, but the air gap between injector and evap tube is there to let air into the evap tube entry. Air is needed so the kerosene boiling off the evap walls can mix into a combustable gas that lights off as soon as it exits the evap tubes in the combustor.

Plenum between injector plate (engine case rear wall) and NGV plate (where the evap tubes sit)? Aren´t you talking about the air gap discussed above?

Once all of the major parts are built I can make a video for you guys explaining the inner workings of the engine, if there is any interest of course. If so feel free to suggest stuff that needs extra explaining.

Cheers!
/Anders


Offline bbarn

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1309 on: May 17, 2016, 03:54:16 PM »
i get it! The air gap remains as you are creating your final mixture at the tip of the injector - Inserting fuel and air then placing them in the evap tube to boil/vaporize the mixture for combustion in the chamber.

Plenum between injector plate (engine case rear wall) and NGV plate (where the evap tubes sit)? Aren´t you talking about the air gap discussed above?
Yes, where are you feeding air into that plenum from? I missed seeing any inputs. Is it free air or compressed air?
I almost never wake up cranky, I usually just let her sleep in.

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1310 on: May 17, 2016, 04:03:33 PM »
i get it! The air gap remains as you are creating your final mixture at the tip of the injector - Inserting fuel and air then placing them in the evap tube to boil/vaporize the mixture for combustion in the chamber.

Plenum between injector plate (engine case rear wall) and NGV plate (where the evap tubes sit)? Aren´t you talking about the air gap discussed above?
Yes, where are you feeding air into that plenum from? I missed seeing any inputs. Is it free air or compressed air?

Everything is compressed air, no free air anywhere in the engine since everything passes through the compressor on the way in.

Here is a picture of the injectors and evap tube inlets in JU-01, just outside the combustor (sheet metal parts with lots of holes in it) will the engine cover be when the engine is assembled.



Cheers!
/Anders

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1311 on: May 21, 2016, 05:40:50 PM »
Making the fuel plenum is usually among the last things to do on a gas turbine build, but since I have been waiting for some spare parts for my 3D printer (they arrived today and it works again now!) so I can print the casting pattern for the compressor cover I had to find something to do.



I cut the banjo fittings down and drilled them to accept a short length of copper brake line silver soldered to them, then I rolled a ring from a larger diameter copper tube as the fuel plenum and made an AN4 steel fitting that will be soldered in place where the copper tube ends meet.



Unfortunately my hand held propane torch is too weak to heat up the copper tube ring enough so I have to borrow an oxygen/acetylen torch to solder it someday the upcoming week.



Time to get the casting pattern printed, I just need to fine tune the printer settings since I don´t want to screw up a 24 hour print. :-)

Cheers!
/Anders

Offline Crackerman

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1312 on: May 22, 2016, 09:40:20 PM »
Can you get a map gas torch at local hardware store? (yellow bottle) it's typically quite a bit hotter than propane.

Offline sofadriver

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1313 on: May 22, 2016, 11:27:19 PM »
Anders, how are you going to match the flow of all those injectors?
Mike in Tacoma

"aww, what the hell - let's just do it".............

Bike #833
100cc A/G, A/F and APS/G (in 2019)

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1314 on: May 23, 2016, 11:20:46 AM »
Can you get a map gas torch at local hardware store? (yellow bottle) it's typically quite a bit hotter than propane.

Great idea! Even if I can borrow an oxy torch now I still need some means of silver soldering larger stuff like this in the future.

Anders, how are you going to match the flow of all those injectors?

I can use propane and compare the flame heights from each syringe injector, I did that with good results on JU-01.

Offline manta22

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1315 on: May 23, 2016, 12:07:52 PM »
Anders;

With an oxy-acetylene torch you must be careful not to overheat the copper or the flux will burn and then it won't take silver solder on the surface. MAPP gas is a better choice.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1316 on: May 23, 2016, 01:01:46 PM »
Anders;

With an oxy-acetylene torch you must be careful not to overheat the copper or the flux will burn and then it won't take silver solder on the surface. MAPP gas is a better choice.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Great information, I´ll skip the oxy torch and get me a proper MAPP torch instead. Thanks Neil!

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1317 on: May 24, 2016, 04:32:16 PM »
I have finally managed to repair my 3D printer, it was the flat cables to the print head that had become damaged from the constant flexing causing the heat control to stop working. I bought an upgrade kit with better cables so hopefully I won´t have this problem again.



This morning I finished a 24 hour print of the first half of the compressor cover pattern, and the second is being printed as we speak. When they are both finished I will glue them together and coat the pattern until I get a smooth and finish with enough thickness to account for the casting shrinkage.



I also managed to borrow a propane torch to silver solder the fuel manifold.



I think that the first job now is to get the compressor cover cast, then make the oil pipes that will enter and exit through the comp cover and after that make the combustor. No risk that I will find myself without anything to do this summer in other words. :-)



Cheers!
/Anders

Offline Papi

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1318 on: May 24, 2016, 04:55:21 PM »
Wow.  :cheers:
Steve "Papi" Chappell, SCTA-BNI #2230 to 2239
Dirty 2 Club Member, Mojave Mile 2 Club Member
San Diego Roadster Club

Offline Mobacken Racing

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Re: APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build
« Reply #1319 on: May 28, 2016, 04:28:52 PM »
I´ve printed the second half of the compressor cover pattern now, I was just about to print some lettering when the damn printer gave up on me again. It was the third time the micro SD card with the printer connection settings failed so I´ll have to wait for a new one to be shipped from the US... :x



I glued the halves together with epoxy last night and it seems to fit quite well, I just need to add some filler around the inducer since the casting shrinkage would leave me with to large radial clearance otherwise.



Cheers!
/Anders