| Summary: | Gas turbines are widely used for jet engines, but also for power generation, especially in mobile applications such as aircrafts and ships. The need exists at the North-West University for the development of a micro gas turbine test system, as well as support documentation that supports the system. This facility and the support documentation will be used by the university for educational and research purposes.
This project is thus the development of a gas turbine measurement system. This system should be able to measure specific parameters of the gas turbine engine at specific locations. This measured data can then be used to characterize the gas turbine engine according to the Brayton cycle.
Similar systems are available at high cost. The aim is to develop this system at a reduced cost, without limiting the features and usability of the system. The system can then be integrated with Flownex®, a thermal-fluid network analysis package, where the results between a Flownex® simulation and the actual system can be verified.
Thirteen sensors, including temperature, pressure, thrust, speed, and fuel flow are implemented to measure the data at specific locations in the gas turbine engine. The data is shown in real time on a PC and on the control panel. The PC records the data for later analysis.
A system engineering approach was followed throughout the design process. A very important contribution of this work is a functional analysis done on the complete system to ensure functional capability of the system. A functional analysis, as will become clear from this work, simplifies and accelerates the development process since it combines all aspects of the design.
An optimal design was required. Therefore, attention was given to design for safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), maintainability, affordability, and usability during the design phases. === Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer and Electronical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.
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