Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
The last time I saw a gas turbine on a car it basically would empty a 15 gallon tank of kerosene just to park the thing! That was on a VW Bug just like mine!
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If it was using the thrust to move then i am not surprised. I don't imagine a jet plane gets very good MPG figures taxiing around on the ground either.
If the turbine was the sole source of motive power then it would need to be sized to meet the maximum power that the vehicle may require. It's load would always be changing just like an ICE and so it wouldn't always be operating at it's most efficient speed or load.
When the turbine will be used at a constant rate to extend the vehicles range then the turbine can be sized to match the continuous load. So a 10kW requirement could be met by a turbine which is operating at 100% load at 10kW or whatever is the most efficient match to the load. The range extending turbine would be either operating at it's most efficient speed or it would be switched off.
BTW, i hadn't thought of using a turbine until Isaac's post. It was just one of the first engines that popped up on a search for a high power to weight ratio engine. So not necessarily the most efficient.
And the photo of the micro turbine sitting next to the pencil just looked so cool.
