Thrust to weight improvement of JetCat P100-RX turbojet engine
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Date
2019-04-26Author
Jones, Lauren
Coulon, Thomas
Johnson, Riley
Mines, Michael
Schumacher, Grant
Swart, Colton
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The purpose of the presented design is to improve the thrust-to-weight ratio of the JetCat P100-RX small turbojet engine, a project sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory. This project is a year-long endeavor ending with a competition at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The primary challenge is to increase thrust with minimal increase in weight. Several solutions were considered such as nozzle geometry optimization, exit guide vane addition, and material improvement. The final design included the optimized nozzle geometry configured with seven exit guide vanes with leading edges oriented 10-degrees into the exhaust flow. This new nozzle was additively manufactured in titanium to reduce weight and mitigate deformation from high exhaust gas temperatures. An inlet cowling of the original geometry was fabricated from foam to reduce weight. Finally, a new battery was substituted to reduce additional weight. The improved nozzle resulted in a thrust increase of 23%, and the material and battery improvements resulted in a weight reduction of 8%, leading to an overall thrust-to-weight improvement of 32%. The thrust-to-weight ratio was improved from 6.64 to 8.75.