Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Leland Stanford Junior University

Hao-Chih Liu

Tibor Fabian

Fritz B Prinz

Minoru Matsunaga

Sangkyun Kang

Hideaki Tsuru

Frank Holman

The present invention provides a miniature gas turbine engine for power generation. The engine has a highly integrated unitary rotor shaft where turbine, compressor and shaft are made in one piece in one fabrication process. The turbine and compressor are positioned back to back on the shaft in an overhung configuration, allowing the front bearings to be located in the cold zone of the engine. Preferably, the Mold SDM fabrication technique is utilized to make the unitary rotor shaft in one monolithic part out of ceramics such as silicon nitride, eliminating the need for post process assembly while strengthening the integrity, reliability, and performance of the unitary rotor shaft. Integrated with a permanent magnet in the unitary rotor shaft, the miniature gas turbine engine can generate electric power of 1 kW or less. Additionally, the axial length of the miniature gas turbine engine is about 100 mm or less. The miniature gas turbine engine according to the present invention is therefore particularly useful for powering lightweight, self-sustaining mobile devices such as unmanned vehicles and-autonomous robots.

Miniature gas turbine engine with unitary rotor shaft for power generation

Growing community of inventors

Redwood City, CA, United States of America

Hao-Chih Liu