Sooo, microturbines

[Oleg]

@Boxersix

In reality, only as much as their complexity requires if run within their operating parameters. My knowledge on turbines comes from my dad who before retiring designed alot of the internal bearing and bucket retention parts for GE’s gas and steam turbines, so I guess these smaller micro turbines would be a bit less susceptible to the normal wear of those monsters. Bucket wear and tightness in the hub was the biggest issue, however alot of these new hyper alloys and their derivatives are very tough. Even things like compressed graphite buckets and DLC are making their way into these things for durability. In the steam turbines the biggest issue is bucket wear at the tips, trying to keep them from becoming supersonic in that area. I imagine that these micro turbines utilize one piece turbine wheels(like you’d see in a turbocharger for example) vs individual buckets. These micro turbines run at turbocharger like speeds(50K+ RPM) whereas the larger turbines that make us our daily electricity at the powerplants turn at 3000-3600rpm, so who knows what kind of wear is subjected at that level under continuous use.

The turbines burn at extremely high temps in the combustor and staged sections gas and because of that the likely hood of carbon build up is very low, even if shit fuel is used. They can be made to run very very clean at super high temps, so you could run them on used oil right out of your own car provided it’s filtered enough to not clog the combustor nozzles.

I’d have to get Seth to chime in here. He’s working for a design company in CT that’s been dealing with turbine stuff.

It’s been a long time since this was worked into a vehicle, and we’ve come a long way in tech since then so I can’t imagine it not being possible on a small frame, reliable scale

Yeah, from what I’ve seen of released schematics online the one-piece wheel is the most common design, like the two below. Top one even has compressor and turbine on same disc. It’s fascinating stuff.
Looking back most of what we consider modern inventions has been invented decades, sometimes centuries ago, but couldn’t be made due to lack of technology, materials, or prohibitive cost. Those microturbines look like they just may become common given another 10-20 years and some advances in materials. I kinda hope they’ll eventually make hybrid motorcycles running these so you can pretend to pilot a little two-wheeled jet haha. And they’ll actually be ride-able as opposed to the Y2K.
Thanks for the info :thumbup