Yes, turbines have 3 of the most important of the requirements locked. power/weight, cooling not needed (though high temp alloys are), low maintenance when compared to reciprocating engines. And On 17 Mar 2004 at 22:57, David Brodbeck wrote: > On Wed, 17 Mar 2004, tom ring wrote: > > > Possibly true, but they don't scale to small size very well. Turning the fuel > > directly to hot gas to spin the turbine is probably more efficient, and even > > more important, has a better power to weight ratio. For instance, I haven't > > seen a lot of steam turbine prop aircraft. > > You don't see a lot of water-cooled prop aircraft either. ;) Aircraft > powerplants need high power to weight ratio. This is more important than > any other factor, including fuel efficiency. The thing about steam power > is it's HEAVY. Not only do you have to carry around a boiler, you have to > carry around quite a bit of water and possibly a condenser as well. > > > David Brodbeck, N8SRE > '82 Volkswagen Diesel Westfalia > '86 Volvo 240DL wagon >
------ Tom Ring K0TAR, ex-WA2PHW EN34hx 85 Westphalia GL Albert 96 Jetta GL The Intimidator taring@taring.org "It is better to go into a turn slow, and come out fast, than to go into a turn fast and come out dead." Stirling Moss |
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