On Mar 14, 3:13*pm, " wrote:
On Mar 14, 5:34*pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:

I'd like to make something around 6" diameter, if I can.
--That's massive! IIRC the one Bill Lear made for his sand racer
only had a 4" dia rotor and was rated over 100hp!

Hmm. Maybe Lear had a reason to make it that small? I though the
single-stage de Lavals were around 6" or 8" diameter and only produced a few
horsepower.

However, that was over 100 years ago.

--
Ed Huntress

IIRC for rocket nozzles you need to know the amount of gas first and
the atmospheric pressure where it will be used, and then you design
the nozzle.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dan

The little booklet I referred to above walks you step-by-step through
the nozzle and rotor design for a model turbine.

I build 1/16 scale models of locomotive steam turbo-generators, fully
functional.

At that small size, 5/8" rotor dia. and .025" nozzle throat one can
take some liberties with the nozzle geometry. The rotor blades are
not that forgiving, even in small sizes. I use the Terry turbine
blade design which gives 180 deg flow return... very effective. The
small turbine described will light up 4 flashlight bulbs @ 2.5 volts @
1 amp @ 56,000 RPM, with 80 psig steam pressure. Increase the steam
pressure and it will burn out the bulbs in a flash. A pressure
regulator is necessary for unattended use on a steam locomotive.

Wolfgang