Me again I have a fairly random question for everyone. I've been designing a new prototype RC boat for a while now, which if scaled to full size would have the profile and power to be classed as a superyacht. I've been toying (exscuse the pun) with the idea of using gas turbines for propulsion. It's just a prototype. This is never going to get built, I'm designing it purely for fun. I know some research has gone into miniature turbines and some may even be available, but just assume that I want to use a miniature version of a full scale gas turbine in this model. This time last week I knew nothing about full scale gas turbines, let alone their "barely in existence" miniature cousins, but it's been fun learning about them and ccalculating theoretical fuel capacity, engine efficiency and nautical range based on data from current full scale production turbines. What I'm really not sure of and what I hope someone could shed some light on for me is what is the most common primary fuel for burning in a CODOG or CODAG turbine setup in a marine environment? I want to know purely for interests sake, because I've read that they can burn anything from ordinary petrol to common gasses like propane. It doesn't really matter for my prototype, because like I said it's really just a drawing, but I'd still like to know.
I know for a fact that most of them use gasoline (aka petrol). Some gas turbines can run on diesel (like the M1 Abrams tank) and I'm sure a fair few marine engines do diesel as well. My dad knows a lot about naval gas turbines, but he's traveling at the moment. I've sent him an email. I'll update you when he replies.
Have a look on Yahoo for a group about this kind of thing, there's a home-build turbine group and while it's not what you're after I'm sure they know all about it.
Miniature turbines are actually fairly well developed. Take a look at this link On a pedantic note, a prototype is something that gets built to test out concepts etc, what you're talking about is a design or a concept. Moriquendi
Most marine gas turbine's in the CODOG/DAG setup burn diesel or whatever fuel the other engines are using. Since it tends to simplify fueling, and managing the ship. Using two different fuels on a ship tends just add weight and headaches. The military ships that have come to port here with the CODOG set-up burned diesel in their turbines if I remember the conversation I had with one of the crewman right... But just be prepared to measure your fuel consumption in Gallons per minuet, versus Gallons per hour. As far as mini turbines go all the turbines I've seen tend to use propane as a fuel source, although I'm not too sure what the actual production RC Model turbines use.
A lot of the north sea rigs use part of the natural gas they are extracting to fuel the gas turbines that provide the electricity for the rig.
That's pretty much what my dad just told me. He said he's going to double check tomorrow - something about it varying by size of ship (either the big ones have two types of fuel or the small ones do).
That's very true, thanks for the correction. You never know, I may build the miniature version some day. It would be extremely expensive though, so it's unlikely And thanks for all the info everyeone! I actually found out since that CODOG/DAG setups do commonly burn just diesel, which uncomplicates things massively for me. I was incorporating an entirely seperate diesel tank into the hull as well as a petrol tank for the turbines. Using just one fuel makes much more sense and allows me to allocate some of that extra space for other things [edit] That's a dangerous link to give someone like myself! Very nice though Kinda tempting
I kinda wish I did modules on that, although it's as far removed from my area of study as you could get
What do you do? I'm mechanical engineering So far it's mostly applied maths (and a lot of stats ) we've spent about 8 days total actually hands on making stuff in the first 2 years!
Gas Turbines can burn almost anything from hydrogen all the way down to coal dust (the Nazis tried it at the end of ww2 when they were running out of oil, it worked but eroded the turbine). AFAIK production model turbines run on kerosene just like the full size ones but would probably use diesel just as well. The DIY ones made from turbochargers mostly use propane as it's easier to ignite and maintain a stable flame. Moriquendi
It's an Electronics & Software degree, my specialty is digital electronics. I've had about 8 hours manufacturing experience in the past 4 years Very heavy course for theory but I enjoy it. I get my practical experience elsewhere
