Development of Rotor Speed Measurement of Experimental Gas Turbine

Abstract

Aircraft are typically powered nowadays with gas turbine engines, which have electronic control system almost without exception. In contrast to other fields of industry, the operational rotor speeds are one or two magnitudes higher. At the Department of Aeronautics, Naval Architecture and Railway Vehicles of BME there is a small scale turbojet engine for educational and research purposes, the TKT-1, which has a digital control based on Engine Pressure Ratio (EPR) and Turbofan Power Ratio (TPR) as well. The rotor speed measurement, mostly due to the previously mentioned property, has not been developed yet, however. The present work has the goal to introduce the reader into the realization of a rotor speed measurement system from the mechanical aspects through electronic circuits up to the operational tests. The aim of this work was to create such a device, which can be fit into the present modular FADEC system. Besides the design of electronic circuits, the authors have created the firmware of the 32-bit microcontroller in charge for the data acquisition and control.