Design and Developement of a Microjet Engine Indoor Test Cell
Following design and construction of a prototype of an engine such as a microjet engine, the engine is placed in a test cell, and is tested by special instruments until the desired engine performance is achieved. The aim is to determine all of the engine components’ performance parameters. Successful testing, acquiring the right data and subsequent processing and analysis can be useful and effective in design, optimization and maintenance of such engines. This paper describes the process of design and construction of microjet engine indoor test cell at Amirkabir University of Technology and performance testing of a microjet engine. This project has been conducted after testing the engine at outdoor test cell. The fact of bringing the engine in an enclosed test bed has effects on engine’s performance especially on the engine’s thrust. Therefore, the aerodynamic design of the test cell is conducted in a way to provide uniform airflow for the engine, have less proneness to test cell influence factors and reduces the adverse environmental conditions on engine’s performance during the process of testing. The phase of construction of the indoor test cell followed after designing phase is presented. On the other hand, the choice of instrumentation and the way it is arranged is discussed. Finally, the process of testing the engine and gathering data is described and results from the first tests conducted on the finished facility are presented.