No abstract

A low-cost, high-temperature radial turbine has been developed demonstrating the technology required to manufacture a small, cooled turbine using photoetched laminates bonded together to form a complete wheel. An advanced long-life, high-performance turbine design is described which uses an iterative optimization procedure to provide a balanced mechanical and aerodynamic design. The design efficiency was 87.2%, with a predicted life of 8500 h in stress rupture and a low-cycle-fatigue life of 7600 cycles. The calculated bulk heat-transfer effectiveness was 0.54 with operation at 2300°F. Several wheels were manufactured from Astroloy, and the mechanical integrity was demonstrated in a series of proof tests conducted in a whirlpit test facility.