Building a Jet Engine -- Hawken Project 2023

    Throughout this project, it has always felt as if we could get so much more done with more time. In the case that I decide to continue the project into the summer, here are some thoughts as to what I would do with more time.      First a quick reflection on this portion of the project so far. I ultimately view all of the 3D printing, designing, and setbacks as inevitable. This sort of prototyping is how it needed to be done. There would've been no way to predict all of the different connectors and design details that needed to go into this project, especially coming from a very limited engineering background. Even just having this prototype model is incredibly helpful. It gives me a tangible idea of how everything would fit together and a much better sense of the materials I would need. In many ways, the prototype was absolutely necessary, because to be quite honest, guessing what materials you need when some couplings cost upwards of $200 per unit isn't the...

      During our first visit to MAGNET, Mrs. Becker put us in contact with one of MAGNET's many full-time engineers. Ouday had been interning at MAGNET as he completed his degree in mechanical engineering from Cleveland State University, and upon graduating, he was hired as a full-time engineer. On his third day on the job, we showed up seeking his help. Initially, MAGNET was just a place we wanted to tour to find out about their manufacturing processes and engineering jobs, but it soon became an impromptu shop when Mrs. Becker offered us her help. At this point, we would take anything. We were pressed for time to manufacture what seemed like a dozen parts (and what was actually about three), and we needed tools that we didn't have. She told us to come in with our designs and that she'd have Ouday try and help us out. We came in Friday after having sent the designs over earlier in the week to discover that he had already printed out all of the parts we sent him, and an ev...

      The design process has been slow, to say the least. What we initially had envisioned to be less than a week in our proposal turned out to be a project-long struggle. We felt pretty good about our initial designs (see previous blogs), but things kept popping up. Connections were the main issue. How were we going to connect the diffuser to the tube, the inlet to the diffuser, the compressor to the diffuser without having an excessive amount of friction? Those are all connections between stationary parts and one moving part, but what happens when we want to connect two moving parts, like the motor to the main shaft? These were all questions we had to answer before we could even finish the design process. Our preliminary designs, particularly for the diffuser, were rather problematic. Even if they included a nice fitting to slide over the tube, they were infeasible to print. As a result, we ended up with an 18-hour diffuser print that had no way of connecting to the tub...

      Today instead of following of normal routine of waking up and heading East down Gates Mills, Ben picked me up and we headed West! We'd contacted Mrs. Jennie Becker (old Hawken teacher) to tour her new job - MAGNET. Mr. D suggested that we go there to find out about some of the manufacturing processes that could be used to create a more functional and polished jet engine, and it was so worth it. We started in this fantastic building with glass walls and a really open layout. It had been an abandoned CMSD school that was converted in an effort to revitalize Midtown through community building. Mrs. Becker taught us about how MAGNET has two branches, the main one being consulting, and the minor one being workforce development. MAGNET hosts high school and adult programs that directly matriculate into real jobs in the manufacturing industry. The main branch however is essentially a group of engineers that consults for small to mid-sized manufacturing companies. Because M...

               These are the drawings from our designs of the full model, inlet, impeller, and diffuser. As a quick review of the function of each part: the inlet is vital for the efficiency of the impeller, the impeller brings in air, and the diffuser channels the air into the correct place and makes sure the air is traveling in the correct way (no spin).      Our design process was quite smooth despite having to both work on the same file. We used Fusion 360 and shared all of our files with each other so we could work on them at any time. We were able to use an online design for the impeller, and Nikhil designed the inlet flange and diffuser based off that impeller. We chose the design for the impeller that we did because it was used to test rocket engines so we assumed it was an efficient design. I also enjoyed making the drawings in Fusion so that they can be easily understood and helpful.      On 5/16, ...

  Our first few days consisted of compiling designs from the internet with our own designs to make a cohesive product. The impeller was taken from a previously made design and Nikhil modeled the inlet flange and the diffuser around that impeller. We made design choices such as where to add bearings and how we will connect them all together after printing an initial prototype, as seen in the pictures.  Left: impeller, Top: diffuser, Bottom: inlet       The system seemed to work surprisingly well as we were able to feel a draft by spinning it ourselves. The next round of printing should give us our final inlet, impeller, and flange; however, we will make changes as necessary.      We ran into one large issue: Case's Think[box] is closed during May. This means that many of our parts will have to be 3D printed and we will most likely use an acrylic tube for the housing. The benefit of using an acrylic tube is that the housing will be transparent ...

      This blog will be a more in-depth account of the design process and details. Picking up from the last blog, we found the initial models that we would be testing against each other and had a pretty good sense that we would be going with the model that was tested in a rocketry lab over the model that was found online with no caption. The only problem with this design was that there were no premade designs for the intake and the diffuser of this model. Because of this, we had to design our own inlet flange and diffuser. Additionally, the model that was used in the lab was a parametric model, which meant we had to navigate additional software (OpenSCAD) if we wanted to customize it in any way. Because these designs were premade, it was also much more difficult to manipulate them in Fusion360 because they came as simple meshes.          Despite all these potential complications, the inlet flange just required us to draw an arc around the profile ...

     The beginning of our project was quite eventful. Our first week was interrupted mainly by AP tests and other commitments, but additional time spent over the weekend made up for the lost time. We discovered on Thursday that the Think[box] would be closed for almost the entirety of our project. As a result, we had to switch gears regarding our manufacturing processes and move more toward 3D printing. We spent most of our time designing and troubleshooting. We started out by looking for a radial compressor design online. Our initial intent was to find a radial compressor that we could buy that would have a CAD model published online, but we found that most companies don't release their designs online. As a result, we had to look into some open-source alternatives, of which there were a few. We had to weed out designs that were only made for aesthetics, and we were left with two designs that had potential. We printed both out (pictures below) and decided to go with the d...

      Nikhil Subhas and I will be attempting to build a functioning compressor, turbine, and shell of a miniature turbojet engine. We were inspired by similar projects that people have completed on YouTube and college projects like the Miniature Turbojet Engine project from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. To give some context for our project, a turbojet engine generally works by compressing air, mixing it with fuel, and combusting the mixture, which then produces thrust and turns a turbine that brings in more air. We will not be able to make the combustor or put fuel in our project as it was deemed unsafe; however, we will be making the compressor, turbine, and shell of the engine. Our plan is to purchase an automotive turbocharger to act as the compressor while we prototype and manufacture the turbine and shell of the engine. If we get that to function properly, we will build a compressor as well. Our goal is to achieve a 1:4 pressure ratio with the compressor, which we...

     Behind this project personally was a combined interest in my family legacy and engineering. My grandfather worked as a jet engine designer at General Electric for many decades, and since my childhood, I've always been fascinated by his work. As I grew up, that fascination coincided with my genuine curiosity in STEM subjects, particularly engineering. Taking classes like physics and chemistry has begun to satiate this curiosity, but in many ways, this project is an extension of my own curiosity. In this project, I hope to create a jet engine, but more broadly I hope to get a better understanding of the engineering process on a broader level. I want to be able to understand exactly what undertaking a big problem by breaking it down into smaller steps and troubleshooting them looks like.      Essentially, I want to answer the question: How does one undertake a massively complex project by breaking it down into smaller problems and working through them? Bu...

Since our meeting with Mr. Charnas, progress has slowed down a little bit. Our main breakthrough has been the discovery of a paper released by a group of seniors a few years ago at WPI. The paper basically detailed their senior project building a miniature turbojet engine which is very similar to our plan. We’ve reached out to several people regarding this project and just recently got a reply from the project advisor who now works in the aerospace industry. Our welding skills have also improved tremendously, and we’ve finished several smaller projects for fun. Additionally, we’ve found a contact who has access to some scrap sheet metal and is willing to give us some for our project. Aside from that we’ve also utilized a few airfoil design programs and have successfully designed one axial compressor stage. All the literature we’ve read about miniature turbojets suggests using a radial compressor, so we may switch to that design later. We still have to source our other materials that ar...