Viola House Publications

Well it's now nearly 8 months since I first ran the turbine and until February, I hadn't done much to it. I've been considering modifications for a few months and have decided to make quite a few major.

If you have seen the picture of the first combustion chamber you will see that the airflow has to go round two 90 degree bends. This was not very good for efficient burning and limited the gas flow that I could use before the turbine was red hot. Having looked at other designs, I have decided to make the air flow axially in the chamber and also introduce some swirl to the flow before it mixes with the gas. The air now flows in through the original side port and along the full length of the combustion chamber around a steel tube 3 inches in diameter. At the ignition end, there are four large vanes formed from the steel tube which introduce swirl to the air. The air then passes through the burner tube and exits through the end plate where a new manifold for the turbo is fitted.

Below are some pictures of where I am with the work at the moment. Hopefully it will all be working again soon!

	This is the combustion chamber - a piece of 6 inch diameter steam pipe (all that I had at the time - it weighs about 35 pounds!) The air inlet is on the left facing towards the camera. The exhaust can be just seen on the left end plate. The port on the right is the old exhaust which has a temporary seal on it. The spark plug and gas inlet can be seen on the right. You can see the heat discolouration to the combustion chamber around the old exhaust.
	This is the new air guide tube which fits in the combustion chamber. The vanes at the top hold the tube in place and create swirl as the air passes. As you can see this is a lump of old gate post which needs all the paint removing as well as the vanes grinding to a better finish. In use, the vanes produce a very powerful swirling flame (but a lot of smoke from the paint)
	This is the burner tube which sits inside the air guide tube. The spark plug and gas inlet can be seen at the left hand side. I am currently experimenting with a new hole pattern due to the radical change in airflow.
	This picture shows the guide tube inside the combustion chamber. As I said before, it needs finishing - as you can see from the paint and rough edges. You can also see the exhaust putty that was sealing the old end plate to the combustion chamber.
	This picture shows the turbine. The port facing the camera is the hot air inlet. The tube at the right is a prototype version of the afterburner. The smaller tube towards the left is the oil return pipe.
	This picture shows the compressor inlet on the turbo. You can see from the blades that it has had a hard life!
	This picture shows the top side of the turbo. The pipe in the lower centre is the prototype afterburner tube. The oil entry fitting can be seen facing upwards in the centre. The two brass fittings are the cooling water inlet and outlet.
	And Finally.... This must be the dirtiest, crudest spark generator in the history of TurboTurbines! It is a magneto from a lister petrol engine driven by a rear wiper motor from a Vauxhall. It may look horrible but it is very effective giving first time ignition every time. Update - I have a new spark igniter