Unfortunately
due to circumstances beyond my control the JFS100 has
died. A full autopsy will
be carried out sometime tomorrow (Sunday 08/07/2006), performed
by myself and Paul Davidson. More information
will be issued when the engines family has been notified.
I feel like
giving up, this is really testing my enthusiasm for Gas Turbines.
Latest - What Happened?
Basically I installed a new oil cooler for the JFS and
made sure the oil was topped up. I then started the engine
and gave it a run of about 60 seconds, I wanted to do
this to see how well the cooler was working so the JFS
needed time to get hot. I then noticed that through the
new clear oil pipe that there was an air block on the
oil
feed side so I instantly shut down the engine. At about
50% RPM oil then started to spit out of the air intake
and cover the back of the seat, then I also shut
down
the electric oil feed pump.
I let the JFS cool for about an hour and inspected
the engine, when I tried to turn the turbine wheel, it
seemed to me to be stiffer then normal. I removed the
new oil cooler and re-fitted the original cooler with
the computer fans on. I was hoping that there was some
back
pressure caused by the new cooler which resulted in
a pressure build up and reduced flow from the oil return
scavenge port and thus caused
oil to visibly flow out of the compressor shaft seal
when the compressor air
pressure was reduced.
It was then the moment of truth, time for a start. The
starter barely turned the engine over.
So today (Sunday) we have had a go at stripping the components
down and have so far found that there are two issues
with the starter: (a) Four broken Starter Brushes as
per picture below (these
were
rattling around the starter housing) (b) worn comutator
segments, although they are not good , thet are satisfactory.
If I can get the Brushes replaced then I will put the
JFS back together again and see how it performs. Strange
how the
brushes
failed at the same time there was an oil (?) issue. Coincidence?
Maybe there is still light at the end of the tunnel!
