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1950, designer F.R. Bell and Chief Engineer Maurice
Wilks from British car manufacturers Rover unveiled
the first car powered with a gas turbine engine. The
two-seater JET1 had the engine positioned behind the
seats, air intake grilles on either side of the car,
and exhaust outlets on the top of the tail. During
tests, the car reached top speeds of 140 km/h, at a
turbine speed of 50,000 rpm. The car ran on petrol,
paraffin or diesel oil, but fuel consumption
problems proved insurmountable for a production car.
It is currently on display at the London Science
Museum.
Rover and the BRM Formula One team joined forces to
produce a gas turbine powered coupe, which entered
the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, driven by Graham Hill
and Richie Ginther. It averaged 107.8 mph (173 km/h)
and had a top speed of 142 mph (229 km/h). American
Ray Heppenstall joined Howmet Corporation and McKee
Engineering together to develop their own gas
turbine sports car in 1968, the Howmet TX, which ran
several American and European events, including two
wins, and also participated in the 1968 24 Hours of
Le Mans. The cars used Continental gas turbines,
which eventually set six FIA land speed records for
turbine-powered cars.[7]
For open wheel racing, 1967's revolutionary STP Oil
Treatment Special four-wheel drive turbine-powered
special fielded by racing and entrepreneurial legend
Andy Granatelli and driven by Parnelli Jones nearly
won the Indianapolis 500; the STP Pratt & Whitney
powered turbine car was almost a lap ahead of the
second place car when a gearbox bearing failed just
three laps from the finish line. In 1971 Lotus
principal Colin Chapman introduced the Lotus 56B F1
car, powered by a Pratt & Whitney gas turbine.
Chapman had a reputation of building radical
championship-winning cars, but had to abandon the
project because there were too many problems with
turbo lag.
The original General Motors Firebird was a series of
concept cars developed for the 1953, 1956 and 1959
Motorama auto shows, powered by gas turbines.
American car manufacturer Chrysler demonstrated
several prototype gas turbine-powered cars from the
early 1950s through the early 1980s. Chrysler built
fifty Chrysler Turbine Cars in 1963 and conducted
the only consumer trial of gas turbine-powered
cars.[8] Their turbines employed unique rotating
recuperator that significantly increased efficiency.
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota demonstrated
several gas turbine powered prototype vehicles such
as the Century gas turbine hybrid in 1975, the
Sports 800 GT in 1977 and the GTV in 1985. No
production vehicles were made.
The fictional Batmobile is often said to be powered
by a gas turbine or a jet engine. In fact, in 1989s
filmed Batman, the production department built a
working turbine vehicle for the Batmobile prop.[9]
Its fuel capacity, however, was reportedly only
enough for 15 seconds of use at a time.
In 1993 General Motors introduced the first
commercial gas turbine powered hybrid vehicle—as a
limited production run of the EV-1 series hybrid. A
Williams International 40 kW turbine drove an
alternator which powered the battery-electric
powertrain. The turbine design included a
recuperator.
The arrival of the Capstone Microturbine has led to
several hybrid bus designs from US and New Zealand
manufacturers, starting with HEV-1 by AVS of
Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1999, and closely followed
by Ebus and ISE Research in California, and
Designline in New Zealand. AVS turbine hybrids were
plagued with reliability and quality control
problems, resulting in liquidation of AVS in 2003.
Today, the most successful design by Designline is
now operated in 5 cities in 6 countries, with over
30 buses in operation worldwide.
It is worth noting that a key advantage of jets and
turboprops for aeroplane propulsion - their superior
performance at high altitude compared to piston
engines, particularly naturally-aspirated ones - is
irrelevant in automobile applications. Their
power-to-weight advantage is far less important.
Gas turbines offer a high-powered engine in a very
small and light package. However, they are not as
responsive and efficient as small piston engines
over the wide range of RPMs and powers needed in
vehicle applications. In hybrids, gas turbines
reduce the responsiveness problem, and the emergence
of the continuously variable transmission may also
help alleviate this. A recent idea is the
'Multi-Pressure' turbine proposed by Robin Mackay of
Agile Turbines. This concept is expected to provide
three different power level ranges - each of them
exhibiting high efficiency and low emission levels.
The engine has two compressor spindles and an
intercooler. By a system of three-way valves, it can
be operated with both 'wings' in super atmospheric
pressure mode (high power) or one 'wing' super
atmospheric and the other sub atmospheric (cruising
power) or both 'wings' in sub atmospheric mode
(idling). Since there is no change in direction or
speed of gas flow at transition from one power level
to another (only mass flow changes) transition is
almost instantaneous - thus overcoming the slow
throttle response characteristic of gas turbines in
land vehicle applications.
Turbines have historically been more expensive to
produce than piston engines, though this is partly
because piston engines have been mass-produced in
huge quantities for decades, while small gas turbine
engines are rarities; but turbines are mass produced
in the closely related form of the turbocharger.
The MTT Turbine SUPERBIKE appeared in 2000 (hence
the designation of Y2K Superbike by MTT) and is the
first production motorcycle powered by a turbine
engine - specifically, a Rolls-Royce Allison model
250 turboshaft engine, producing about 283 kW (380
bhp). Speed-tested to 365 km/h or 227 mph (according
to some stories, the testing team ran out of road
during the test), it holds the Guinness World
Records for most powerful production motorcycle and
most expensive production motorcycle, with a price
tag of US$185,000.
Several locomotive classes have been powered by gas
turbines, the most recent incarnation being
Bombardier's JetTrain. See gas turbine-electric
locomotive for more information. |
