The team would have to construct a turbine engine. How? From an automotive or truck turbocharger.Add a simple combustor with automotive fuel injectors, and an oil supply. Use a reduction gear box to drive an aircraft or boat propeller, or wheels on a small car or go-cart. I know of someone that made such an engine in a relatively small amount of time by himself. Of course, he does rebuild turbos for a living, so parts were easy to come by.

-- Kimberly Panos (krpanos@qwest.net), January 20, 2001

Answers

Since a turbocharger spins around 50 thousand RPMs and doesn't develope any torque, I don't think that it would be possible to assemble and balance a drive train, much less get it to move anything.

-- Rick Alexander (r_w_alexander@yahoo.com), January 23, 2001.

Actually, most automotive turbochargers spin over 100,000 RPM. The larger ones on Detroit and Cummings diesels peak around 50,000 to 70,000 RPM, but they are BIG. The variable nozzle turbo on my own vehicle doesn't have a wastegate and peaks at 178,000 rpm according to Garrett. Some of the larger turbine engines use in the model aircraft industry now are capable of 30 horsepower or more, and are using the compressor wheels out of automotive and truck turbos. The guy I know that made a turbine engine completely from a moderately sized turbo was making 12-15 horsepower to run a generator for a demonstration. It was crude, but it worked! It would certainly out- run those steam powered vehicles.

-- Kimberly Panos (krpanos@qwest.net), January 24, 2001.

There are other ways of tapping the output of a gas turbine engine.

But you need to think outside the box to understand it.

Hint: how does a jet airplane fly?

-- Dan Hollis (goemon@blort.invalid), January 24, 2001.

Yes there is. I fly RC jets. But, a turbocharger would make quite a small jet engine to propel a human occupied vehicle. The specific thrust output from a turbocharger based jet engine wouldn't be very high. A small vehicle, say--400 pounds with driver, could net between 10 to 30(size dependent) shaft horsepower out of the reduction gearbox, would accelerate faster and reach a higher speed than one propelled by 10-12 pounds of jet thrust.

-- Kimberly Panos (krpanos@qwest.net), January 28, 2001.

Hint: there are other types of jet engines than just gas turbines. They are actually easier to build than gas turbines, and you can scale them more easily to the amount of thrust you need.

Think outside the box.

(To reply in email replace blort dot invalid with anime dot net)

-- Dan Hollis (goemon@blort.invalid), January 28, 2001.

Yeah, I guess they could build a pulse jet. I've started and run one that was rated at about 5 lbs of thrust. The noise is past the deafening stage. Oh well.

-- Kimberly Panos (KRPanos@qwest.net), January 29, 2001.

Is importante for my investigation over distribuited generation to know over turbos of cars of more 70.000 rpm.

Thanks you

-- José Fermín Niño Galeano (jfninog@unal.edu.co), November 26, 2004.