M400 Turbojet engine

A page about the powerful M400 turbojet engine we developed.
  • Full 3D CAD design

    Based on the expierience we acquired with the earlier KJ66 turbojet engine, we set out to design and build our own larger turbojet! A full 3D design was thoroughly worked out over the span of a few weeks.

  • 3D printing to test geometry

    After designing all the parts, the compressor and turbine blades were sourced abroad, and most of the other in-house produced parts were first 3D printed in order to double-check how they fit, after which they were produced in Aluminium, steel etc.

  • CNC machining/welding/printing final parts

    Exotic materials like Inconel, and advanced geometries are needed inside the combustion chamber in order to contain the 2000+°C combustion happening inside. The rear stator and turbine blade get constant exposure to 700°C gasses at up to 2300km/h velocities!

  • Brazing the fuel, gas and lubrication system

    A turbine engine can not work without a proper gas- fuel- and lubrication system. Everyting was carefully made from brass and hard-soldered using silver based brazing compounds.

  • Combustion chamber design + integrated electronics

    Multiple internal and external combustion chamber liners were developed and CO2 lasered while working out the perforation patterns in order to achieve a stable combustion process.

  • Outer case + covers + control box

    Further cowling, sensors and wiring was added to achieve a completed turbojet engine.
    The motor needs quite a few external pumps, control systems and in- and outputs in order to function safely, so we proceeded by designing an elaborate control box beneath it.

  • Control box data acquisition sensors

    A wide array of sensors were used to monitor and log the performance of the motor, like thrust, chamber pressure, rpm, fuel consumption, temperatures, power draw etc.

  • Integration + remote control development

    Since the turbine spinning up to nearly 100 000rpm has a very large danger zone, a proper remote control system was developed including multiple redundant safety measures to allow for remote startup and control.

  • Testruns!

    Multiple successful testruns were done in order to validate and characterize how the turbine functioned.
    A proper and stable combustion cycle was achieved, and the performance closely matched the expected specs we set out to achieve.

  • Logged data processing

    Because the difference between messing around and doing science is writing it down, we processed a lot of logged data after the testruns in order to find some fascinating properties and correlations between different variables!