I'm making a video about the Power Recovery Turbine
I want to do something different, so I'm making a video about the Curtis Power Recovery Turbine, AKA the turbo compound engines. It shouldn't take too long and if all goes well will be out later this week.
This technology is amazing to me because it legitimately increases fuel economy, yet never made it into the mainstream, it was killed off by the jets.
I haven't seen a good video on this, at least not one that's complete so I thought I would make one myself.
Comments (23)
Yes, please.
Greg, Speaking of engines with great efficiency. Have you seen the videos Jay Leno did on the Doble Steam car? I believe Abner Doble had a really good system going and if it had come along a bit earlier I really wonder if steam technology would have lasted a bit longer in automobiles. As an aside, in 1933 George Besler had a Doble steam engine mounted in an airplane, a Travel Air 2000, and it worked pretty well. It could reverse the direction of the motor to brake and back up. It was so quiet the pilot had no problems yelling at people on the ground. There is a video of it on YouTube. Anyway, I don't mean to get sidetracked.....I'm looking forward to turbocompounds! Clarke
Interesting! Does this have any relationship to the turbo "augmented" system P&W was using on the R-4360? As far as i could tell that relived the engine of power losses used to drive the superchargers by pre-compressing intake air before it got to the supercharger compressors.
Looking forward to the next one! Got a suggestion for another video: how about one on the operation of the electric propellers? I think the hydraulics are pretty well understood, but the electrics have always intrigued me.
I appreciate your effort, more power to ya. (snicker, get it ------ sorry)
I’m really interested as I understand that there efficiency was next level
I was just watching this the other day: https://youtu.be/D0Ra-DUZmgE?si=N7LukRT5yihDr4vr. But I know yours will be much better.
Should be interesting.
Great idea. I'm looking forward to it.
The SAE has some journals on the subject that are legitimately useful on the topic. And the technology is still kicking in one form or another
Glad you didn’t state that like “And now for something completely different” or we’d get how .50 calibre rounds, cannon rounds, and bananas compare to each other regarding lethality and damage. We won’t discuss penetration as yours is a family channel.
Yes it will be interesting. Allison had an experimental turbo compound V1710 that produced 2700-3000 hp!! It was limited by the temperature the power recovery turbine could tolerate. Gas turbines are limited in peak first stage turbine temperature. Piston engine combustion temperatures are MUCH HIGHER allowing for greater efficiency. I seem to recall a BSFC for the R3350 of 0.34 pounds per hp hour.
I've always been curious how they compared to a conventional turbocharged setup when it comes to altitude performance. Was there a crossover point where the conventional turbocharged engine still delivered better altitude performance or was the turbocompound setup superior at all altitudes?
Great idea Greg, neat piece of tech
🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤
That sounds fascinating. Bring it!
Very interested in this- thanks!
Great news. I've always been impressed by how much more they got out of the turbo-compound R3350.
Cool. At some point when your turbocharger gets big enough, you might as well just get rid of the cylinders.
Yes, yes, yes yes!
Yes, this is a fascinating piece of machinery. I teach an aircraft systems for pilots class and we discuss superchargers, turbochargers and the combination of the two. we obviously don’t bother talking about power recovery turbines, but I’ve taken the time to do some research on it… it is fascinating the progress that was made through these technologies to bring us the jet and the turbo shaft engines. I wish I could walk the class through the historical progress… I think they’d understand turboshaft engines better. I’m looking forward to the video.
I 2nd Chris's comment
FINALLY. I've been wanting a video with your kind of insight on this for a long time. I think I even asked about it a couple years ago. Great to know!