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Development of a gas turbine with a 20 mm

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 The Sixth International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for
Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2006, Berkeley, U.S.A.

Development of a gas turbine with a 20 mm rotor:

review and perspectives

D. Reynaerts1, J. Van Den Braembussche2, P. Hendrick34, M. Baelmans1, J. Driesen5,

R. Puers5, F. Al-Bender1, J. Peirs1, T. Waumans1, P. Vleugels1, K. Liu1, Z. Alsalihi2,
A. Di Sante2, T. Verstraete2, D. Verstraete4, J. Trilla4, T. Stevens1, F. Rogiers1,
S. Stevens5, F. Ceyssens5
1
K.U.Leuven, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Leuven, Belgium
2
von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, St. Genesius Rode, Belgium
3
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
4
Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium
5
K.U.Leuven, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Leuven, Belgium

Abstract

This paper reviews the status of the Belgian powerMEMS turbine development. The technology developments for realizing a
20 mm diameter hydrogen-based gas turbine running at 500,000 rpm are presented. The overall layout is taking into account
rotor dynamics and internal heat management. The system is relying on miniaturized air bearing technology designed for
optimal performance at high running speeds. For the rotor construction, a three-dimensional micro manufacturing technology
is being developed. The rotor geometry has been optimized taking into account the aerodynamic performance, the rotor heat
management, material strength at elevated temperatures, and centrifugal load. For the hydrogen combustion system, several
configurations have been simulated and compared with experimental results. The system also incorporates a recuperator that
optimized in terms of geometry, performance, and manufacturability. Finally the design of a high-speed Switched Reluctance
generator is discussed.
Keywords: PowerMEMS, Microturbine, and Hydrogen

for microturbines where the relative combustion chamber and

1 - INTRODUCTION
recuperator size has to be increased to get sufficient time for
In literature, two different turbine size ranges can be found: a combustion.
“microscopic” range (MIT [1], Tohoku University [2], Onera
[3], National University of Singapore [4]) and a
“mesoscopic” range (Stanford [5], University of Tokyo [6],
Tohoku University [7], ETH Zurich [8], Belgium [9]). The
micro range uses silicon technology, enabling the production
of very small components with high accuracy and aims at an
electrical power output in the range of 1 to 10 W. Appli-
cations could be in small portable electronic devices, wireless
sensors, or consumer electronics.
The micro gas turbine discussed here fits into the mesoscopic
power segment aiming at an electrical power output of about
1 kW. All components had to be redesigned and new
concepts had to be used. Major problems are the high
rotational speed (> 500,000 rpm) and temperature (> 1200 Figure 1: General layout
K), and the efficiency of the components. The next sections An annular design was chosen. The combustion chamber is
give an overview of the whole project. enclosed on the outside by the recuperator and by the exhaust
2 - GENERAL LAYOUT AND SENSORS diffuser on the inside, which allows recycling heat losses
from the combustion chamber. The generator is located on
Figure 1 shows the general layout of the microturbine and the left side, far from the hot parts. The inlet air is led through
generator. The system basically consists of a compressor, the generator stator for additional cooling. To extract more
recuperator, combustion chamber, turbine and electrical power, an exhaust diffuser is added to create a sub-ambient
generator. In total it has a diameter of around 95 mm and a pressure at the turbine exit.
length of 120 mm. The compressor and turbine impellers are A single-shaft solution is preferred as any two-shaft solution
20 mm in diameter. The rotor takes only a small part of the results in an overall lower performance or major
total volume, in contrast to large gas turbines. This is typical complications in the design [10]. The following rotor

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 The Sixth International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for
Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2006, Berkeley, U.S.A.

dynamic aspects were taken into account during microturbine Small dimensions lower the efficiency of the compressor and
design: air bearing fractional speed whirling resulting in turbine. Manufacturing tolerances further limit the minimum
subsynchronous shaft vibrations, magnetic forces in the clearances that can be achieved. Hence larger peripheral
generator causing supersynchronous vibrations, unbalance speeds are needed to achieve the required pressure ratio. Best
causing synchronous vibrations and other asymmetries in the efficiency is obtained with a more complex 3D impeller
system (bearings, generator, etc.) causing synchronous geometry. This not only complicates the manufacturing but
vibrations, including higher harmonics. also requires a careful design to achieve high performance
A stiff shaft suspended on air bearings has very low and guarantee the mechanical integrity of the turbomachinery
suspension eigenfrequencies and relatively high bending and components. A multidisciplinary optimization technique is
torsion eigenfrequencies, which is desirable. However, the developed for this purpose [12]. The large heat transfer
geometry of the single shaft solution is not ideal, as heavy between the turbine and compressor has been evaluated by a
masses are located at the ends while the compressor inlet combination of diabatic flow calculations and a Finite
introduces a low stiffness in the center. In the current design Element Analysis of the heat transfer in the solid impellers,
the suspension eigenfrequencies are a few 100 Hz. The first housing and shaft. A systematic study has revealed that the
bending and torsion eigenfrequencies lie around 8.5 and 17.5 internal heat transfer is function of the dimensions,
kHz respectively, the former coming close to the rotational geometrical shape and conductivity of the materials used
frequency (8.3 kHz). Current rotor optimization aims to (Figure 2). The impact on cycle performance turns out to be
increase the first bending eigenfrequency. less than generally accepted [13].
Design of the sensors required to operate the system is a
challenge because of the small size and evident aggressive 4 - BEARINGS
atmosphere linked with hydrogen combustion. The sensors Due to miniaturization the rotational speed required by the
must control the turbine by measuring a.o. pressure, thermodynamic cycle, results in speeds of more than 500,000
temperature and rotational speed. MEMS sensors, e.g. a rpm for rotor diameters around 20 mm. Focus of research is
pressure sensor, are considered to be a viable solution, but are on hybrid and foil bearings. A rotordynamic modeling tool of
often limited in their operating conditions, in comparison to a micro-turbine rotor supported on aerostatic bearings has
their macroscopic variants. Research is ongoing in the use of been developed. The system allows an accurate prediction of
heat and chemical resistant materials (e.g. ceramics like critical speeds, imbalance response and stable operation
silicon carbide, oxide or nitride) for the construction of such a range. First, an accurate and efficient modeling technique has
MEMS pressure sensor. been developed to obtain static and dynamic air bearing
properties. These bearing coefficients serve as input for a
3 - THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE AND EFFICIENCY rotordynamic model yielding damped natural frequencies,
During the aerodynamic design of micro gas turbine unbalance response and stability limits [14]. For experimental
components, it is questionable if the computational tools, validation of this model coastdown measurements were used
used for large turbomachinery components, are still valid for to identify the cylindrical and conical critical speed at
the non adiabatic flows at very low Reynolds number flows different bearing supply pressures. Figure 3 shows that there
in rotating channels with relatively large surfaces roughness. is good agreement between simulated and measured mode
Special research is underway to verify the turbulence models frequencies (cylindrical and conical) at varying supply
at those particular conditions. A special facility has been built pressures.
to measure directly the relative flow in a rotating channel at
low Reynolds number by means of Particle Image Velocity.
First measurements show that the traditional turbulence
model fall short in accounting for the rotational effects [11].

Figure 3: Experimentally identified and predicted

critical speeds.
A second part of the work focuses on designing new foil
bearing concepts, suitable for the small dimensions
encountered here. Figure 4 shows the experimental setup
used to test the different bearing designs [15]. It consists of a
housing with nozzles and sensor interfaces in which different
bearing modules can be inserted. In the picture shown,
Figure 2: Heat transfer inside a micro gas turbine aerostatic thrust and journal bearing inserts are used for
(20 mm rotor OD, TiT = 1200 K, CiT = 293 K) bearing the test shaft. The tested bearing is in the middle.

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 The Sixth International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for
Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2006, Berkeley, U.S.A.

source for this application. Compared to hydrocarbons,

hydrogen has a greater heating value, a more rapid rate of
vaporization, a faster diffusion velocity, a shorter reaction
time and a significantly higher flame speed. So, it was
certainly the first fuel to be investigated. The development of
this combustion system has been focused on different aspects:
mixing, addition of air dilution and integration in the global
machine.
As a preliminary design [10], for the micro turbine under
consideration, a fluid flow speed around 20 m/s was adopted
resulting in an annular combustion chamber length of 50 mm
and a height of 15 mm. Some plates were added to create
extra recirculation zones and to increase the residence time of
the mixture inside the combustor (Figure 6). The first T-
shaped plate is added for fuel injection and mixing while the
second small plate is added to stabilize and to anchor the
Figure 4: Test set-up for foil bearings
flame. Furthermore to increase the performance of the
5 - COMPRESSOR AND TURBINE combustion chamber a configuration with dilution is selected.
The efficiency of every component is critical for the overall Part of the air bypasses the flame and is injected downstream
gas turbine performance (especially compressor and turbine, at both the external and internal diameter. In this way, both
requiring an efficiency of at least 60-70%). One way to the stability and the efficiency of the chamber are increased.
reduce the impact of losses on performance is by increasing The by-pass air also cools the walls and in this way reduces
the mass flow. The mass flow of the current design is the heat losses. Figure 6 shows the steps followed in this
therefore fixed at 20 g/s for an impeller diameter of 20 mm research.
and a pressure ratio of three. A computerized design system
based on a Genetic Algorithm, an Artificial Neural Network
and a 3D Navier Stokes solver has been used to optimize the
3D compressor and turbine geometry. The main challenge
regarding fabrication are the three-dimensional impellers for
both compressor and turbine. For a first prototype, we opted
to use a metal compressor and a ceramic turbine. The
compressor forms a monolithic metal part with the shaft and
has been machined on a Kern MMP 5-axis micromilling
machine. Figure 6 shows a polymer test part.

Figure 6: Combustion chamber design

7 - RECUPERATOR
The main challenge is to find a recuperator design with low
pressure drops in the channels in combination with high heat
exchanger effectiveness, taking into account geometrical
constraints of system integration and manufacturing limits. In
conventionally sized recuperators, complex, well-designed
fin configurations are used in order to improve the gas-air
Figure 5: Micromilled 20 mm diameter compressor heat transfer. In order to avoid these costly and difficult to
The production of the turbine impeller is more difficult fabricate configurations, alternative recuperator designs based
because a Si3N4-TiN ceramic composite (Kersit 601 from on micro channels are proposed for micro-scale applications.
Saint-Gobain) is used. Machining on a SARIX SX-100 At present, no adequate micro recuperators have been tested
micro-EDM machine is currently investigated. A pure silicon in combination with a micro gas turbine. MIT already
nitride coating will be applied by plasma-enhanced CVD. A proposed a micro recuperator design in 2001, which was
reliable connection between the two parts is also under study. tested independently [18]. General design requirements for
micro recuperators were proposed in 2004 [19]. The main
6 - COMBUSTION CHAMBER conclusion of this research was that pressure drops are
Although the functional requirements of a micro combustor preferably located at the cold side of the recuperator.
are quite similar to those of a conventional gas turbine Therefore, the hot channels should be larger than the cold
engine, miniaturization poses many new obstacles to be ones. Further, small heat exchangers generally suffer from
overcome: a much shorter residence time, higher surface performance deterioration due to streamwise heat conduction
area-to-volume ratio, low Reynolds number regime, and through the solid material. Therefore, an optimization based on
materials [16,17]. Hydrogen is an ideal primary energy cycle efficiency as a cost function on one hand and a detailed

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 The Sixth International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for
Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2006, Berkeley, U.S.A.

flow and heat transfer recuperator model on the other is

performed to determine the optimal heat exchanger 9 - CONCLUSION
configuration. The recuperator under development is a De development of a 20 mm diameter miniature gas turbine is
counter-flow micro-channel heat exchanger, consisting of 6 underway. The small dimensions have implications on the
cube-like blocks arranged in an annular shape around the gas efficiency of the components, the required design tools, their
turbine. Each block consists of alternating hot and cold plate manufacturability and the integration of the assembly. The
layers with micro channels. Two configurations are studied high thermal and centrifugal loads represent an additional
numerically with an inverse pressure drop model in design challenge. The first prototype components, design
combination with a heat transfer model that accounts for axial software and related test set-ups are currently available within
heat conduction in the walls: one with the channels located in the Belgian powerMEMS project.
axial direction and one with the channels located in radial
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
direction. In this case, the micro gas turbine radial design
seems to be favorable for very small or high outer diameter This research is sponsored by the Institute for the Promotion
values of the recuperator, whereas an axial design for of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders,
intermediate values is preferred. Belgium, project SBO 030288, and by the Belgian
For a recuperator with length of 67 mm, ID of 60 mm and programme on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction (IAP5/06:
OD of 90 mm, a heat exchanger effectiveness of 87 % is AMS). Also, this work was coordinated within the framework
achieved for pressure drops at hot and cold side of of the EC NoE "Multi-Material Micro Manufacture:
respectively 7.4 kPa and 11.1 kPa. This results in a total cycle Technologies and Applications (4M)".J. Peirs acknowledges
efficiency of 34 %. The internals of this design consist of the Industrial Research Fund K.U.Leuven. T. Waumans
7620 and 9816 hot and cold side microchannels with a acknowledges the Fund for Scientific research Flanders.
hydraulic diameter of 381 μm and 289 μm. REFERENCES
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