As far as I know, no amateur has ever built a working turbopump. I think it's within reach of an amateur with access to a well equipped machine shop and decent engineering skills. This has come up a number of times on the aRocket list, and I think at least one person is trying to do it. The general consensus seems to be that the way to do it is to use an automotive turbocharger and a barske type impeller. There are amateur turbine engines based on automotive turbochargers that might serve as the basis of a turbopump. Check out some of the links at the bottom of this page <http://www.usrcjc.org/turbine_corner.htm> for some hobby turbine engines.

One of the things that an amateur turbopump builder will need is a gas generator. This has a lot in common with a rocket engine igniter, which is one of the reasons I'm currently building one (igniter, not GG) in collaboration with some of the other folks on Arocket. Once we have a working design I think a gas generator should be relatively straightforward. Alternatively, if HTP is one of the propellants the GG is pretty simple.

I just checked the aRocket archives and I see you've posted to the list, so no doubt some of this is old hat. Anyway, I think the place to start is with a proven gas turbine design and modify that into what will probably be a very poorly performing turbopump. Once you've learned a bit from the modified turbine you'll have a solid basis to build a higher performance turbopump. If you can build a turbopump you will have little difficulty in finding collaborators to work on engines, airframe, guidance, structure, etc.

......Andrew

On Tuesday, June 24, 2003, at 05:11 PM, Henrik Schultz wrote:

Just got to wonder... lots of talk about how difficult it is to built
reliable and efficient turbo pumps... lots of good intentions to
experiment...

But has anyone ever succeeded in building a small-scale pump suitable for
amateur use, and who would be willing to share anything from a rough sketch
to a detailed blue-print?


Cheers - Henrik

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Henrik Schultz                      Schultz Software
Senior Systems Architect            IT Services and Solutions
http://www.schultz-software.dk/     Tel: +45 3963 4856

_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list

--
Dr. Andrew Case, PhD.
Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics,
University of Maryland, College Park
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
 - David Hume

_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list

Reply via email to