3 ms·
It is pretty mind-boggling. Makes the average turbofan's turbine assembly look like child's play, and those are also pretty ridiculous in terms of power-to-weig
by kunai 5y ago
It is pretty mind-boggling. Makes the average turbofan's turbine assembly look like child's play, and those are also pretty ridiculous in terms of power-to-weight ratio.
- HPsquared 5y agoIt's mostly because the working fluid is at very high pressure (much denser than the air coming through an aero engine). The turbine side works with hot gas at 100+ bar, and the pump side is dealing with liquid. Therefore small parts can exert a lot of force (large pressure differences) and do a lot of work (high speeds). The most similar technology is a boiler feed pump (used to feed the boilers in a steam turbine system, e.g. in a ship or power station) - these work in a similar way, high pressure steam is bled off from the system to drive a small turbine, which drives a high pressure pump to feed the boiler, which feeds the 'main' steam turbine. Similar pressure (>100 bar), but the turbine on the rocket engine needs to handle much higher temperatures (hot gas rather than steam).
- avmich 5y agoTurbofans can be more complex than rocket engines - in the rocket engine thrust chamber you don't have moving parts, but with turbofans the whole engine is like a big turbopump, with air compressor instead of centrifugal pump.
- bernulli 5y agoSure, and in the gas turbine combustor there are also no moving parts. But there’s lots going on outside.