Small Gas, LPG, or Diesel Turbine Generator

I have found some good info that I forgot to post in the original post from wikipedia

("microturbines" and the following section "turbines in vehicles").

I know about the millimeter size ones that MIT has been working on...

In the long run the only really efficient (and small) thing would be a small diesel reciprocating engine since it wouldn't require the use of cogeneration to achieve a reasonable power output for the amount of fuel burned.

CAPSTONE Micro gen. is what you probably need.

CAPSTONE seems to be the only company really making a product with these little turbines. I've seem pictures of how they raise the efficiency through cogeneration (heating the building with waste heat...not really an option for me though) and preheating the intake air.

It is encouraging to see these little turbines being used for power generation though.

The search continues....

Rover made small turbines in the late 50's and 60's. The RN used them as emergency fire pumps, they would fit in with your power requirements. They ran on several different fuels, Diesel was one of them.

Good pumps, we cleaned the power turbine with freh water and crushed walnut shells....kept them really clean....

Start looking here:-

http://www.4wdonline.com/Rover/GasTurbines.html

The trouble with very small gas turbines is poor efficiency. The basic engine losses (bearing friction, boundary layer, parasite drag) do not scale well and are of essentially the same magnitude for small engines as for large. Also, a very small engine has to turn at exceedingly high rpm to achieve the compression necessary. As an example, the high speed spool of a TFE-731 is turning on the order of 24000 rpm at rated power while the Solar turbine that you mention is probably on the order of 90000 rpm. While blade tip speeds are comparable, the bearing speeds for the small engine are much higher.

Good point on the blade tip speed vs the bearing speeds...I hadn't considered this.

Can't be of any help to you but it's hard to beat the T-62. They are APU's in CH-47 Chinooks. Super reliable in my book, if overpowered for your use.

Hooker

Does it have to be a small (inefficient therefore) Turbine? Also very pricey....can you tell use what you are trying to do?

I'm building a purely electric car (a conversion for regulatory reasons even though I'd much rather building the chassis myself) and purely for curiosity have been looking into what it would take to have a addable module that could provide power for longer trips.

Since it takes about 30-40hp for an already relatively aerodynamic vehicle to travel at highway speeds (100km/h) I used this as the primary parameter. Anything smaller would prolong the discharge time of the main battery pack but they would still discharge eventually, requiring significant time to recharge.

I had read a few articles on the web about hybrid vehicles with 'toaster sized turbine generators' and was wondering if there was any truth to it or someone was straightaway speculating about the scalability of the technology. A couple answers posted so far have cleared up a few concepts for me and now I personally think it won't happen that a 30-40 hp turbine, while it could be packaged small enough, will not provide a fuel burn rate that would be satisfactory since there is simply too much waste heat.

It would sound like a tractor but I know Kubota makes a small diesel engine in the power range I'm considering that will likely be the best candidate if this ever happens. Still a bit bulky though so it would likely end up on some sort of trailer.

I feel that the diesel idea is far far better to....

I wish you luck and please post us some fotos from time to time......

Hi kkjensen,

Some time now I came with that same ideia...

Car manufaturers are more interested in have tax reduction simply by adding a litlle electric motor in normal cars then really use available technology to built "real" Hybrids that could even use more than one fuel...

At least in Europe, that is the way i see it...

Do you have a website for anyone follow the project

If you need help in some way, I would be happy to help

Let's make a better world

Good luck