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Operating Experience with the Turbine Technologies SR-30 Turbojet Engine Test System Joseph P. Callinan and Gary Hikiss Department of Mechanical Engineering Loyola Marymount University

Abstract The experience gained from the operation of a commercially available turbojet engine laboratory system is described. This system, the Turbine Technologies, Ltd. Mini-LabT M, is suitable for use in undergraduate mechanical and aeronautical engineering laboratories. Key turbojet engine performance parameters can be computed from the data measured during test runs. The use of this system provides an excellent opportunity for students to apply the principles of thermodynamics.

The Mini- LabT M was acquired by the Mechanical Engineering Department of Loyola Marymount University (LMU) during the fall semester of 1999. It was checked out and interested faculty members were trained in the use of the system. The system was installed in the Thermal Sciences Laboratory at LMU and approved for operation by the university’s Environmental Health and Safety Officer. The installation included providing the necessary utilities, building a baffled intake manifold for sound suppression and building a double-walled exhaust manifold for exhaust gas expulsion, thermal protection and sound suppression.

The Mini- LabT M includes the SR-30 turbojet engine, the auxiliary subsystems required for the operation of the engine, controls, a safety enclosure, the instrumentation needed to acquire the experimental data and the data acquisition interface. The engine consists of a conical diffuser, a centrifugal compressor, a reverse flow annular combustor, an axial flow turbine and a converging conical exhaust nozzle. The system has been used in LMU’s senior mechanical engineering laboratory for the past two years and for demonstrations during open house type events. Engine speed, various pressures and temperatures, fuel flowrate and thrust are measured. Using these measured data, thermodynamic relationships, and property data, the following performance parameters can be determined: compressor, turbine and exhaust nozzle adiabatic efficiencies; fuel-air ratio; air mass flowrate; engine thermal efficiency; specific thrust; and thrust specific fuel consumption. In addition, the thrust can be computed from exhaust nozzle data and compared with the measured thrust.

Overall, the operational experience and test results have been very good. There are some exceptions to the test results that are most likely related to measurement errors. The most notable exceptions are the values of the turbine and nozzle isentropic efficiencies (computed from the measured data) which are too large (sometimes exceeding 100%). A second exception is the value of the thrust computed from the measured data, which does not agree with the measured value of the thrust. The use of unshielded thermocouples is one source of measurement error that would affect both of these results. The method of measuring thrust is a second (possible) source of error.

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Callinan, J., & Hikiss, G. (2002, June), Operating Experience With The Turbine Technologies Sr 30 Turbojet Engine Test System Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10481