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Thread: Gas Turbine Powered Bus

  1. #16
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    Since DesignLine International has US offices in Charlotte, these buses are in service there as well. I saw & heard them at the airport last month. They're eerily quiet, not much more than a low whine. The sound isn't much different from the gas-turbine emergency generators gaining popularity in hurricane country. The best thing about GT's is they can run efficiently on many types of fuel. Bio-mass methane is one way waste processors, lumber/pulp mills and dairies are putting them to good use as self-powered operations.
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  2. #17
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    I thought about this thread for a bit. I realized that they can make a turbine engine for a bus and not a for a car.
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  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by cargirl1990 View Post
    I thought about this thread for a bit. I realized that they can make a turbine engine for a bus and not a for a car.
    They've done it before, it was either Chrysler or GM.

  4. #19
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    There was a Rover prototype in the 50s with a turbine, there was an F1 racer or two with one.. there's been a few now.

    There are/were some hydrogen fuel cell buses cranking about Perth.. they seemed nice. For a bus anyway.

  5. #20
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    I've seen the turbine powered motorcycle that Jay Leno has. Pretty cool, but not the most practical with the throttle response issues.
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  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by wwgkd View Post
    I've seen the turbine powered motorcycle that Jay Leno has. Pretty cool, but not the most practical with the throttle response issues.
    He has a one off biofuel powered gas turbine car as well. It apparently has a 5 speed Corvette gearbox- thing is, how the hell do you adapt an engine running at 20,000 RPM to a transmission that usually runs at 9,000 RPM or less?

    I've been waiting for him to update information on that car, he seems a bit too busy enjoying his other cars. Can't blame the man.

  7. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by cargirl1990 View Post
    I thought about this thread for a bit. I realized that they can make a turbine engine for a bus and not a for a car.
    The technology probably does not scale too well....once you shrink it to some size design for certain components become more difficult, and I would think cooling will be a problem as well as certain sound proofing feature...

    I am not too sure as to how well the turbine will work for a regular car type gearbox though, they don't strike me as something that likes to work is constantly varying rpm out put.....
    Last edited by RacingManiac; 09-16-2009 at 10:17 AM.
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  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac View Post
    The technology probably does not scale too well....once you shrink it to some size design for certain components become more difficult, and I would think cooling will be a problem as well as certain sound proofing feature...

    I am not too sure as to how well the turbine will work for a regular car type gearbox though, they don't strike me as something that likes to work is constantly varying rpm out put.....
    Like I said earlier, Jay Leno is having a turbine engined car built. It's practically running, but it's probably way too noisy to be an everyday car.

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  9. #24
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    Chrysler experimented with turbine engined cars as far back as the 1960s. They even produced a series of 50 cars for customer evaluation. According to my source, fuel economy was rather poor and they were too expensive to build profitably. Most of the cars were later destroyed when testing was done (in some ways, this story reminds me of the GM EV1).

    Technology has probably improved a lot since then, and the cost is probably offset somewhat by the fact that busses are more expensive to build than cars anyway.

    [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car]Chrysler Turbine Car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
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  10. #25
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    US military is looking to replace gas turbine power for the next gen tank with regular diesel engine. As I said, I don't think turbine likes to operate in the same profile as a piston engine. I think they can be incredibly efficient for constant rpm operation, but reving up and down on varying load is probably bad. CVT would make sense if you make them for car, or in the case of the bus here, use it as a generator.
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  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac View Post
    US military is looking to replace gas turbine power for the next gen tank with regular diesel engine. As I said, I don't think turbine likes to operate in the same profile as a piston engine. I think they can be incredibly efficient for constant rpm operation, but reving up and down on varying load is probably bad. CVT would make sense if you make them for car, or in the case of the bus here, use it as a generator.
    The turbines they're using run diesel because it's safer if you're getting shot (lower "cookoff" occurances.) And people have been complaining about the maintinance and mileage of them for a while, and discussing going back to a standard diesel, but so far not a lot is being done since 1. they do have a lot of benefits in that application and 2. there's not a driving need for a new main battle tank anyways. The only people with anything that really edges out an abrahms are our allies who only have about 5 of the new models.

    Back on topic, though, I'm still not convinced this is an economically superior alternative rather than just pushing new technology in a trial/publicity stunt.
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  12. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by wwgkd View Post
    The turbines they're using run diesel because it's safer if you're getting shot (lower "cookoff" occurances.)
    youre almost right. all current propulsion turbines run fuel equivalent to diesel. this is not to say that it is exaclty diesel fuel, but jet fuel has the same properties, just cleaner.

    in the military there is a common fuel requirement, and it was determined quite a while ago to be diesel. so everything the military uses will run on plain diesel fuel. aircraft dont like it, but in an emergency, it is doable. there are differences in the fuel you get at sea compared to what you get ashore when it comes to specific formulation, but it is still all diesel.

    as far as the "cook off" i think what you are referring to is flash point. diesel is appreciably higher than gasoline, and the stuff we get on ships is even higher than that. if you want a more specific definition of how all that works, i can provide it, but i think it is beyond the scope of this thread. but so is most of what i have just written.
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  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by cmcpokey View Post
    youre almost right. all current propulsion turbines run fuel equivalent to diesel. this is not to say that it is exaclty diesel fuel, but jet fuel has the same properties, just cleaner.

    in the military there is a common fuel requirement, and it was determined quite a while ago to be diesel. so everything the military uses will run on plain diesel fuel. aircraft dont like it, but in an emergency, it is doable. there are differences in the fuel you get at sea compared to what you get ashore when it comes to specific formulation, but it is still all diesel.

    as far as the "cook off" i think what you are referring to is flash point. diesel is appreciably higher than gasoline, and the stuff we get on ships is even higher than that. if you want a more specific definition of how all that works, i can provide it, but i think it is beyond the scope of this thread. but so is most of what i have just written.
    I've always been kind of curious about how the equivalency thing works. But you're right, it is beyond the scope of the thread. Would you be able to start another thread for this stuff?

    Also, by "cook off" I was reffering to the slang for secondary damage/explosions after a tank gets hit, rather than the flash point of the fuel. Although I suppose they would be related somewhat.
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  14. #29
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    AFAIK all US military vehicles from the Hummer to the F22 Raptor runs on JP-8 jet fuel, a kerosene based fuel that is similar to the diesel. The diesel trucks will run on them, and it is actually the requirement to the manufacturers to ensure that happens.
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  15. #30
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    Diesels can be nice and versatile like that.. see all the used deep fryer oil stories.

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