The Whittle Jet Propulsion Gas Turbine* Tion of Power Jets, and the Air Ministry Was A
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288 THE ENG INEE R OoT. 12, 1945 • The President of the Air Council was a. party to the agreement which r esulted in the forma The Whittle Jet Propulsion Gas Turbine* tion of Power Jets, and the Air Ministry was a. shareholder from the start in that a proportion By Air Commodore F. WHITTLE, C.B.E ., R.A.F., M.A. , Hon. M.I . Mech. E.t of the shares alloted to me was held in trust for the Department. No. I During the negotiations leading to the forma· tion of Power J ets, I was working on the designs of an experimental engine. Messrs. 0. T. Falk INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL OUTLINE a Flight Cadet at the R.A.F. College, Cranwell. and Partners placed an order with the British HE main argument against the gas turbine Each term we had to write a science thesis, and in my fourth term I chose for my subject Thomson-Houston Company, Ltd., for engi. Twas that the maximum temperatures per neering and design work in accordance with my missible with materials available, or likely to the future development of aircraft. Amongst other things, I discussed the possibilities of jet requirements in advance of the formation of be available, was such that the ratio of positive the new company. Power Jets placed the order to negative work in the constant-pressure cycle propulsion and of gas turbines ; but it was not until ·eighteen months later, when on an for the manufacture of the engine (except the could not be great enough to allow of a reason combustion chamber, instruments, and some able margin of useful work to be obtained, after instructors' course at the Central Flying School, Wittering, that I conceived the idea of using a accessories), with the British Thomson-Houston allowing for the losses in the turbine and com Company in June, 1936. pressor. There seemed to be a curious tendency gas turbine for jet propulsion. I applied for my first patent in January, 1930. The principal The engine was to be a simple jet propulsion to take it for granted that the low efficiencies gas turbine having a single-stage centrifugal of turbines and compressors commonly cited drawing of the patent specification as filed is reproduced in Fig. 1. It may be seen that I compressor with bilateral intakes, driven by a. • were inevitable. I did not share the prevalent tried to include the propulsive duct, or single-stage turbine directly coupled. Com pessimism because I was convinced that big bustion was to take place in a single combustion improvements in these efficiencies were possible, " athodyd," as it has since been called, but this had been anticipated at least twice, so the upper chamber through which the working fluid passed from the compressor to the turbine. ftG. l . drawing and relevant descriptive matter had to be deleted from the specification. We were going beyond all previous engineer The idea was submitted to the Air Ministry, ing experience in each of the major organs. We but was turned down on the ground that as it were aiming at a pressure ratio of about 4/1 in a single-stage centrifugal blower when at the time, so far as we knew, a ratio of 2t/1 had not 7 been exceeded. We were aiming at a breathing c .. ~ . D capacity in proportion to size substantially ~ 1\ NOZZl E THROAT \ lli S'~ A BS., ~ 1,938 FT. PE R SEC ))-8 SQ. IN . flG. 2., g ~ \ V B c ..... ... - ~ I ~ ... J MAIN NOZZl E ..a ~ UTH ~ \ EF ...« ........ • 1 .... ......_ ' I'.. A G I - 0 100 lio )CO 400 ~ lo 600 7lo elo " VOLUME-CV. FT. S WAI N Se .. Sea. level cycle. f tc• 0 Assumptions :-Coml?ressor efficiency, 70 per cent. SW"'f N Se. \0 Turbme efficiency, 70 per cent. Axia.l velocit y a.t turbine exhaust, 1020ft. FIG. 3- .Assembly of the First 111odel of E xperiTMntat per second. Engine E fficiency of final expansion, 90 per cent. Weight of air, 26 lb. per second. Weight of fuel, 0 · 3635lb. per second . greater than had previously been attempted. y = 1· 4 for compression= 1· 379 for ex- • The combustion intensity we aimed to achieve t pa.ns10n. Kp = 0 · 24 for compression= 0 · 26 for was far beyond anything previously attempted. I combustion and el.."P&nsion. Finally, we had to get over 3000 S.H.P. out of a Static thrust, 1240 lb. a single-stage turbine wheel of about 16lin. FIG. 2- The Pressure- Volume Diagram, Design A ssump outside diamet er, and to do it with high \0 tiotl8, &, c. , on which the Initial Design of the efficiency. E xperimental Engine was Based At first, our intention was to do the job stage by stage that is, to make a compressor and $ W AI,.. Se. was a gas turbine the practical difficulties in the t est it ; then to add a combustion chamber to The upper drawing-the thermo-propulsive duct--had way of the development were too great. the compressor; then to test a turbine alone; to be deleted from the specification During 1930 I tried to interest various firms and finally to build an engine but we very FIG. !- Reproduction of Drawings Illustrating Briti,sh in the scheme, but met with no success ; for soon realised that this was likely to be a. long Patent No. 341,206,flled January 16th, 1930 the most part they thought the same way as and costly pro ess and we decided to go for a u.nd, in the application of jet propulsion to the Air Ministry. It is probably also true that in complete engine right away. aircraft, I realised that there were certain their view the prevalent industrial depression This first engine was based on a design for favourable factors not present in other applica made it anything but a favourable moment for flight, but was not intended for flight ; and tions, namely :- expensive ideas of this sort. though it was designed to b j very light by normal Nothing very much happened for a few engineering standards, we did not put forth ( 1) The fact that the low temperatures at years. I gave up hope of ever getting the idea special efforts to make it as light as possible. high altitudes made possible a greater ratio to the practical stage, but continued to do paper I was fairly confident in the compressor a.nd of positive to negative work for a given work at intervals, until, in May, 1935, when I turbine elements, but felt rather out of my depth maximum cycle temperature. was at Cambridge as an engineer officer taking with the combustion problem, and so (in 1936) (2) A certain proportion of the com the Tripos Course, I was approached by two I visited the British Industries F air with a pression could be obtained at high efficiency ex-R .A.F. officers (Mr. R. D. Williams and view to enlisting the aid of one of the oil burner by the ram effect of forward speed, thereby Mr. J. C. B. Tinling}, who suggested that they firms, but the requirements I specified were raising the average efficiency of the whole should try to get something started. Though I considered to be far too stringent by most of compression process. had allowed the original patent to lapse them until I met Mr. Laidlaw, ofLaidlaw, Drew ( 3) The expansion taking place in the through failure to pay the renewal fee, and and Co. Though he recognised that we were turbine element of such an engine was only though I regarded thein as extremely opti aiming at something far in advance of previous that which was necessary to drive the com m istic, I agreed to co-operate. I thought that experience in this field he considered the target pressor ; and therefore only part of the there was just a bare chance that something possible of attainment, and so it was with his expansion process was subject to turbine might come of it. help that we attacked the combustion problem. losses. We eventually succeeded in coming to an While the engine was in course of design and Outline.- ! first started thinking about this arrangement with a firm of investment bankers manufacture, we carried out a number of com general subject in 1928, in my fourth term as (Messrs. 0. T. Falk and Partners}, which led to bustion el..'Periments on the premises of the the formation of Power J ets. Ltd., in March, British Thomson-Houston Company, with • First James Clayton Lecture. Institution of 1936. Before Power Jets was formed, 0. T. apparatus supplied by Laidlaw, Drew and Co., Mechanical Engineers, October 6th. Abstract. t Special Duty List, R.A.F., attached to Power Jets Falk and Partners obtained the opinion of a until we considered that we had enough informs.· (Research and Development), Ltd., Whetstone, Leicester. consulting engineer (Mr. M. L. Bramson), who tion to design a combustion chamber. P ower The statements and opinions expressed herein are the gave a wholly favourable report. The initial Jets therefore placed the contract for the design personal views of th& lo c t~ e r, and ar_e .not to be t ake? as in any way re~r e sentmg the opm10ns. of the A1r sum subscribed was £2000, and with this we and manufacture of the combustion chamber Ministry or the Min1stry of Aircraft Product10n. cheerfully went ahead. with Laidlaw, Drew and Co. OcT. 12, 1945 THE ENGINEER 289 By this time the Tripos Examinations at impeller as manufacturing limitations would assembly which contained one of the two water Cambridge were over, and the Air Ministry permit, in order to keep the blade loading as jackets for the turbine cooling could not be he.d agreed that I should stay for a post low as possible.