• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.805-810
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• 2002

Development of a small gas-turbine combustor for 100㎾ class APU(Auxiliary Power Unit) has been performed. This combustor is a reverse-annular type and has a tangential swiller in the liner head to improve the fuel/air mixing and flame stability. Three main and three pilot fuel injectors of the simplex pressure-swirl type are used. The performance target at the design condition includes a turbine inlet temperature of l170k, a combustion efficiency of 99%, a pattern factor of 30%, and an engine durability of 3000 hours. Under developing the combustor, we conducted the performance test of our first prototype(TS1) with some variants. As a result of the test, the performance targets of the combustor are satisfied except that the pattern factor is about 4% higher than the target value. Therefore, the second prototype(TS2) was redesigned and the performance test was conducted with the critical focus on the pattern factor and the exit mean temperature. We adopted TS2 four variants to check the improvement of the pattern factor. As a result, the pattern factors of several variants were satisfied with the performance target. Finally, the TS2A variant was chosen as a final combustor fur our APU model.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2020

In this paper, we present an experimental investigation of the leakage and endurance performances of mechanical face seals in a 75-tonf turbopump for the Korea Space Launch Vehicle II first-stage engine. A mechanical face seal is used between the fuel pump and turbine to prevent mixing of the fuel and turbine gas. However, excessive leakage occurs through the carbon attached to the mechanical face seal bellows. To reduce this leakage, we redesign the mechanical face seal such that the contact area between the fuel and carbon is reduced, height of the carbon nose is reduced, and stiffness of the bellows is increased. Then, we conduct static and dynamic leakage tests and endurance tests to compare the performances of the original and modified mechanical face seals. The investigation of the leakage of the old and new mechanical face seals confirms that the leakage performance is significantly improved, by 80%, in the new design in comparison with the old design. The endurance tests demonstrate that the average wear rate of carbon in the new mechanical face seal is 0.1094 ㎛/s. The service lifetime is predicted to be 4,200 s, which is 28 times greater than the requirement. Finally, we present a new mechanical face seal in a 75-tonf turbopump, and perform a validation test in the real-propellant test facility at the NARO Space Center. Based on the test results, we can confirm that the modified mechanical face seal works well under real operating conditions.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.154-159
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• 2016

This paper presents an experimental study of the leakage performance and endurance performance of a mechanical face seal in the 7-ton-class turbopump of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 2 third-stage engine. We install a mechanical face seal between the fuel pump and turbine to prevent the mixing of the fuel and turbine gas. We design and manufacture a prototype mechanical face seal, which has two parts, namely, a bellows seal assembly and mating ring. We set up a test facility to measure the leakage and endurance of the mechanical face seal. For the similarity tests, we use water under real operating conditions such as high rotational speed, high temperature, and high pressure. Through investigation of the leakage and carbon wear rate, it is possible to evaluate the performance of the mechanical face seal. The results of the leakage and endurance performance test demonstrate the absence of any leakage from the prototype mechanical face seal after a trial run and clarify that the acceptable wear rate fully satisfies the turbopump requirements. Finally, we install a qualified mechanical face seal in a 7-ton-class turbopump and perform a validation test in the turbopump real-propellant test facility in the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. The test results confirm that the mechanical face seal works well under real operating conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.29 no.7 s.238
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• pp.828-836
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• 2005

Impingement/effusion cooling technique is used for combustor liner or turbine parts cooling in gas turbine engine. In the impingement/effusion cooling system, the crossflow generated in the cooling channel induces an adverse effect on the cooling performance, which consequently affects the durability of the cooling system. In the present study, to reduce the adverse effect of the crossflow and improve the cooling performance, circular pin fins are installed in impingement/effusion cooling system and the heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The pin fins are installed between two perforated plates and the crossflow passes between these two plates. A blowing ratio is changed from 0.5 to 1.5 for the fixed jet Reynolds number of 10,000 and five circular pin fin arrangements are considered in this study. The local heat/mass transfer coefficients on the effusion plate are measured using a naphthalene sublimation method. The results show that local distributions of heat/mass transfer coefficient are changed due to the installation of pin fins. Due to the generation of vortex and wake by the pin fin, locally low heat/mass transfer regions are reduced. Moreover, the pin fin prevents the wall jet from being swept away, resulting in the increase of heat/mass transfer. When the pin fin is installed in front of the impinging let, the blockage effect on the crossflow enhances the heat/mass transfer. However, the pin fin installed just behind the impinging jet blocks up the wall jet, decreasing the heat/mass transfer. As the blowing ratio increases, the pin fins lead to the higher Sh value compared to the case without pin fins, inducing $16\%{\~}22\%$ enhancement of overall Sh value at high blowing ratio of M=1.5.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.338-345
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• 2011

The swirl flow applied for high efficiency and reduction of emission such as NOx, CO in a gas turbine engine makes recirculation zone by shear layer in the combustion chamber. This recirculation zone influences a decreasing flame temperature and flame length by burned gas recirculation. Also it is able to suppress from instability in lean-premixed flame. In this study, it was found that the swirl flow field was characterized as function of swirl number using PIV measurement in dump combustor. As increasing swirl number, a change of flow field was presented and recirculation zone was shifted in the nozzle exit direction. Also turbulent intensity and turbulent length scale in combustor were decreased in combustion. It has shown reduction of eddies scale with swirl number increasing.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.11-17
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• 2011

In order to see flame behavior in the annular reverse gas turbine combustor, sector combustion test was performed. Ignition test by using torch ignition system was carried out at various combustor inlet velocity and air fuel ratio. Also, flame blow out limit was measured by changing fuel flow rate with constant air mass flow rate. In test results, stable ignition is possible at air excess ratio of 6 and this limit is gradually increased with combustor inlet velocity. The minimum blow out limit is about 4 at 40 m/s of combustor inlet velocity. This blow out limit is also increased up to about 10 with increasing combustor inlet velocity. Test result shows that lean blow out limits are increased with air velocity. The highest blow out limit was found at the combustor inlet velocity of 65 m/s.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.9-15
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• 2017

In order to verify the possiblity of improving the combustion performance of ethanol using zeolite catalyst and the characteristics of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emission, micro gas turbine experiments were performed using catalytic reaction products, ethanol and kerosene as fuels and the results were compared. The thrust of the catalytic reaction product was lower than that of kerosene, but it was improved by 5% on average compared with the use of ethanol. Nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emissions of the catalytic reaction products were measured to be very low overall compared to kerosene. As a result, when the ethanol was reformed using the zeolite catalyst, the engine performance could be improved while maintaining the environment friendliness of the ethanol.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.153-159
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• 2010

In order to see the flame behavior in the annular reverse gas turbine combustor, sector combustion test was performed. Ignition test by using torch ignition system was carried out at the various combustor inlet velocity and air fuel ratio. Also, flame blow out limit was measured by changing fuel flow rate with constant air mass flow rate. In the test results, stable ignition is possible at air excess ratio of 6 and this limit is gradually increased with combustor inlet velocity. The minimum blow out limit is about 4 at 40 m/s of combustor inlet velocity. This blow out limit is also increased up to about 10 with increasing combustor inlet velocity. Test result shows that lean blow out limits are increased with air velocity. The highest blow out limit was found at the combustor inlet velocity of 65m/s.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.966-978
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• 2011

Transpiration cooling is the most effective cooling technique for the high-performance liquid rockets and air-breathing engines operating in aggressive environments with higher pressures and temperatures. When applying transpiration cooling, combustor liners and turbine blades/vanes are cooled by the coolant(air or fuel) passing through their porous walls and also the exit coolant acting as an insulating film. Practical implementation of the cooling technique has been hampered by the limitations of available porous materials. But advances in metal-joining techniques have led to the development of multi-laminate porous structures such as Lamilloy$^{(R)}$ fabricated from several diffusion-bonded, etched metal thin sheets. And also with the availability of lightweight, ceramic matrix composites(CMC), transpiration cooling now seems to be a promising technique for high-performance engine cooling. This paper reviews recent research activities of transpiration cooling and its applications to gas turbines, liquid rockets, and the engines for hypersonic vehicles.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.3 no.1 s.6
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• pp.43-50
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• 2000

Upgrade development of a high pressure ratio centrifugal compressor in marine engine turbochargers is presented. A new matched operating point at increased speed of rotation was determined through system cycle analysis using the exisitng test data of turbine performance. Under some severe restrictions for geometric parameters, the state-of-the-art methods of both aerodynamic design and CFD analysis were applied, in which only an impeller, a vaned diffusor and some part of casing wall were modified. Prototype hardware was fabricated and assembled for system performance tests. Excellent performance in pressure ratio and efficiency was obtained over whole speed region. Reduced surge and choke margin was, however, observed at design speed of rotation.