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Muscatatuck
Post subject: Wet Heater TurbinePosted: March 22nd, 2017, 5:21 am
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Joined: July 30th, 2015, 11:40 pm
Location: Indiana
Its been a long while since I've been on here, but the other day I had a thought and been chasing it. The wet heater turbine engine was designed around 1908, and from what I can understand acts similar to a rocket motor that flash boils water to cool the exhaust down to manageable levels while also producing large volumes of working fluid to turn the drive turbines, so basically a rocket turboshaft. From what I understand a wetheater turbine is extremely power dense and came across in my findings as more fuel efficient than a dryheater. This brings about the question, how would the efficiency of a wetheater compare to a oil fired steam turbine plant, granted the only reasonable way for this to be fair is to have some of the power from the wetheater drive a compressor instead of having a compressed air tank. I would assume the best compressor set up would be a centrifugal compressor feeding the wetheater. I read some wetheaters used saltwater where others carried their own fresh water, would salt. My idea involves an AU that I've been planning for destroyers in the interwar period, basically I want a diesel electric cruising plant but have a high power plant such as the wetheater for sprinting, but if a wetheater is more efficient then a oil fired steam turbine plant then only a wetheater setup ignoring the diesels. I understand this may be pushing metallurgy of the time, but the premise is there for a wet-turboshaft if I'm not mistaken. The biggest problem I foresee is saltwater being an absolute killer since the propulsion plant of a vessel is not meant to be disposable like that of a torpedo.
So basically would a wetheater be a feasible destroyer propulsion plant?


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