A.V. Roe Canada 'Omega' Project

I've always appreciated your work, Justo. Has anyone worked up the radial flow gas turbine since the Canadian efforts?

David
 
I've always appreciated your work, Justo. Has anyone worked up the radial flow gas turbine since the Canadian efforts?

David
A dead end project with insurmountable problems of overheating airframe, ball-bearing overspeed and gyroscopic effect .
There is no evidence that anyone has engineered an example of this radial-flow turbodisc engine type.:confused:
 
Ah, that is something I looked into a few decades ago and have kept an eye on since. The archivist at Rolls-Royce said they had nothing that matched the description and another geezer at Rolls-Royce to whom I sent drawings told me I couldn't read technical drawings. That annoyed me.
Ricardo had a small engine that matched the description but that was all I could get. Then, earlier this year (two days before lockdown) I came across the BS.70, described as a radial inward flow turbine with a centrifugal compressor. I must chase that up.

I think the problem with digging this up is nomenclature as radial flow to one company could mean something completely different to another.

I always reckoned you would need two, back-to-back, or a 'co-radial' turbine (more complexity) or have each half rotate in opposite direction to avoid the gyroscopic effects and that the sections could be machined like airframe parts, but that would be fun in Inconel back in the 1950s.

Chris
 
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J.C.M. Frost Patent
 

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from, Saucer Attack (pop culture in the golden age of flying saucers), Eric & Leif Nesheim, General Publishing Knc., CA., 1997
 

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Dear Merriman,
The Ljungstrom radial turbine concept dates back to 1908 when it was invented by Birger and Fredrick Lungstrom, a pair of brothers who patented dozens of industrial devices including bicycles and steam turbines. Ljubgstrom’s first turbines were steam-powered with radial turbines and were mainly used to generate electricity. After a few years, Ljungstrom replaced them with more efficient axial flow turbines.

As recently as 2013 and 2014 counter-rotating, radial turbines were proposed for a light helicopter with co-axial rotors.
Sherpa flew a 1/5 scale model of its Sagita light helicopter with an internal combustion engine and air compressor behind the cockpit. That hot air (100 degrees Celcius) blows up - inside the main rotor mast - and escapes between a pair of radial turbines. The radial turbine is make of two discs with concentric circles of blades pointing up or down. Escaping air blows past these concentric circles of blades imparting rotational energy to the two discs. Since blades on the top disc are curved opposite to blades on the bottom disc, they try to counter-rotate. The top rotor is bolted to one radial turbine while the bottom rotor is bolted to the other radial turbine. ... sort of like WW1-vintage rotary engines.
Inventor Hubert Antoine claims that their new turbine is more efficient than conventional geared transmissions because hot air is doing all the hard work, with fewer moving parts.
When seen from above, radial turbine blades look similar to blades in axial flow turbines, but they are constant chord.

Unfortunately we have not heard anything from this Belgian start-up company since 2014.
Were they able to raise enough money to continue development?
 
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Wow!
The AVRO Omega had long and complex internal engine exhaust ducts.
How much thrust did it lose to internal drag/friction?
 
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