LUBRICATION MECHANISM DESIGN

FOR AIRCRAFT LANDING GEAR BEARING

A SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted by

JINSAN C.K (JCE16AN046)

to

the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the

Degree of

Bachelor of Technology
In
Aeronautical Engineering

7
 DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
JAWAHARLAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
LAKKIDI, OTTAPALAM, PALAKKAD, KERALA
NOVEMBER 2019
DECLARATION

I undersigned hereby declare that the seminar report (“Lubrication mechanism design for
aircraft landing gear bearing”), submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of degree of Bachelor of Technology of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological
University, Kerala is a bonafide work done by me under supervision of Assistant
Professor Mr. John George. This submission represents my ideas in my own words and
where ideas or words of others have been included, I have adequately and accurately cited
and referenced the original sources. I also declare that I have adhered to ethics of
academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated any data or idea
or fact or source in my submission. I understand that any violation of the above will be a
cause for disciplinary action by the institute and/or the University and can also evoke
penal action from the sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom
proper permission has not been obtained. This report has not been previously formed
the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or similar title of any other University.

Lakkidi

11 November 2019 JINSAN C.K

 DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
JAWAHARLAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY LAKKIDI, OTTAPALAM, PALAKKAD,
KERALA

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report entitled ‘Lubrication mechanism design for aircraft
landing gear bearings’ submitted by ‘Jinsan C.K’ to the APJ Abdul Kalam
Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the
Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Aeronautical Engineering is a bonafide record of
the seminar work carried out by him under my guidance and supervision.. This report in
any form has not been submitted to any other University or Institute for any purpose.

SUPERVISOR HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I place this seminar work at the feet of God almighty who is the power and
strength in each step of progress towards the successful completion of this seminar.

I am thankful to Adv.Dr.P Krishnadas, Chairman and Managing Trustee, NGI for

inspiring me by granting such an opportunity to work on this seminar. I thank Dr.V.P Sukumaran
Nair, Principal, Jawaharlal College of Engineering and Technology for continuous his support and
confidence.

I would hereby sincerely like to thank Mr. Mohamed Sameer T K, H.O.D Incharge,
Aeronautical Department, for the encouragement and support he has given to take up this seminar.

I am highly indebted to Assistant Professor John George, my seminar guide for providing
invaluable guidance and insights into the subject and helping me wherever possible for the
successful completion of the seminar.

I am also thankful to all the Staff members of Aeronautical department who have rendered
their valuable help in making this seminar successful. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all my
classmates and friends for their continuous support throughout the progress of this seminar.

i
 ABSTRACT
A shock absorber with lubricated bearings for an aircraft landing gear includes a piston that is
received in a cylinder and an upper bearing fixed to the piston that slidably engages an inner
surface of the cylinder. A lower bearing extends inwardly from a lower portion of the cylinder
and engages an outer surface of the cylinder. The lower bearing has a center axis and defines
an annular bearing surface configured to slidably engage the piston outer surface . The annular
bearing surface has a first portion that extends circumferentially more than one hundred eighty
degrees about the center axis at a constant radius , defining a circular annular segment . A
second portion closes the circular annular segment and defines a shallow channel or pocket in
the annular bearing surface . In some embodiments the lower bearing further comprises
oppositely disposed frustoconical thrust portions.

ii
 CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

CONTENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES v

ABBREVIATIONS vii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 LITERATURE SURVEY 3

3 TURBINE-LESS JET ENGINE 5

3.1 Motor powered by a Battery 5

3.2 Motor powered by a Fuel Cell 6

3.3 Comparative study of Battery and SOFC 6

3.4 Reformer 8

3.5 TLFC Engine Model 8

3.6 Fuel type 9

3.7 System configurations 10

4 MATHEMATICAL MODELS 13

4.1 Reformer and SOFC 14

4.2 Jet Engine 16

iii
 4.3 Propulsion system 16

4.4 Solution method 17

4.5 Validation assessment of the SOFC model 18

5 PARAMETERS ANALYZED 19

5.1 Pressure ratio 19

5.2 Combustor exit temperature 22

5.3 Flight Mach number 23

5.4 Flight altitude 25

CONCLUSION 27

REFERENCES 27

iv
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

3.1 The thermodynamic schematic diagram of TLFC engine 9

v
 3.2 Actual configuration of TLFC engine 9

3.3 Temperature-entropy diagram of the SOFC engine 10

With a compressor and nozzle

3.4 Fuel: Decane (l)/Propane (l)/ Methane (g) 11

3.5 Fuel: Methanol (l) 11

3.6 Fuel: Hydrogen (g) 12

3.7 Fuel: Hydrogen (l) 12

3.8 Fuel: Methane (l) 12

4.1 Schematic diagram of catalyzer partial oxidation 14

Reformers

4.2 Schematic diagram of SOFCs 15

4.3 Flowchart of the engine of TLFC modeling 18

4.4 Validation assessment of the SOFC model 19

5.1 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC 21

engines vs pressure ratio

5.2 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC 22

Engines vs combustor exit temperature

5.3 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC 24

engines vs Mach number

5.4 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC 25

Engines vs flight altitutde

vi
 ABBREVIATIONS

APU Auxiliary Power Unit

CET Combustion Exit Temperature

GT Gas Turbine

SI Specific Impulse
vii
SOFC Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

ST Specific Thrust

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

viii
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is a type of aircraft that operates without a human
pilot onboard. Recent technologies have allowed for the development of many different kinds
of advanced unmanned aerial vehicles used for various purposes. An unmanned aerial vehicle
is also known as drone. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which
include a UAV, a ground-based controller and a system of communications between the two.
The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy either under remote control
by a human operator or autonomously by onboard computers.
Compared to crewed aircraft, UAVs were originally used for missions too “dull, dirty
or dangerous” for humans. While they originated mostly in military applications, their use is
rapidly expanding to commercial, scientific, recreational, agricultural and other applications,
such as policing and surveillance, product deliveries, aerial photography, smuggling and drone
racing.
Propulsion systems for UAVs and other unmanned systems, typically rely on either a
fuel source or an electric battery source. Battery powered electric propulsion system use a motor
to drive propellers, fans or wheels. They can be found in multi rotor drones, fixed wing UAVs
that rely on forward flight, as well as unmanned surface, ground and underwater vehicles.
Electric motors for UAVs and other unmanned vehicles may be brushed, which are simpler but
nosier and more prone to wear, or brushless motors which are more efficient but often costlier.
UAVs engines may be piston-driven internal combustion engines, rotary engines or gas turbine
engines.
Gas turbine engines are also called as jet engines. Different types of gas turbine engines
are ram jet engines, pulse jet engines, turbojet engines, turboprop engines and turbofan engines.
The principle of jet propulsion is derived from Newton‟s law of motion. The working of jet
engine is mainly based on Newton action-reaction principle. The reaction force is thrust which
propels the aircraft in forward direction. The gas turbine engines are also referred as air-
breathing engine, as it utilizes air from the atmosphere to produce thrust. The main parts of gas
turbine engine include inlet-diffuser, axial flow compressor, combustion chamber, axial flow
turbine and exhaust nozzle. The function of diffuser is to convert the kinetic energy of the
incoming air into a static pressure rise, the inlet must have a clear aerodynamic design so as to
ensure an evenly distributed air flow in to the engine. The air now enters the axial flow
compressor which consists of stator and rotor blades. The compressed air then enters the

1
combustion chamber where fuel is sprayed and mixed uniformly with compressed air, the air
fuel mixture is then ignited and the fuel burns there by converting chemical energy within the
fuel into thermal energy. The combustion gases now approaches the turbine, the thermal energy
released by burning the fuel is now utilized by the turbine to produce work. The combustion
gases also expand through the turbine which consists of rotor and stator blades. The main
function of axial flow turbines is to derive the axial flow compressor through a common shaft.
The gases now enter the exhaust nozzle where the high kinetic energy of the exhaust jet is
produced by expanding the combustion gases into atmospheric conditions. This exhaust jet (by
Newton‟s 2nd law and 3rd law) produces the thrust for the aircraft.

2
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

Christopher P. Cadou[1] This work investigates the use of engine-integrated catalytic

partial oxidation (CPOx) reactors and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to reduce fuel burn in
vehicles with large electrical loads like sensor-laden unmanned air vehicles. Thermodynamic
models of SOFCs, CPOx reactors, and three gas turbine (GT) engine types (turbojet, combined
exhaust turbofan, separate exhaust turbofan) are developed and checked against relevant data
and source material. Fuel efficiency is increased by 4% and 8% in the 50 kW and 90 kW separate
exhaust turbofan systems respectively at only modest cost in specific power (8% and 13%
reductions respectively). Similar results are achieved in other engine types. An additional
benefit of hybridization is the ability to provide more electric power (factors of 3 or more in
some cases) than generator-based systems before encountering turbine inlet temperature limits.
A sensitivity analysis shows that the most important parameters affecting the system's
performance are operating voltage, percent fuel oxidation, and SOFC assembly air flows. Taken
together, this study shows that it is possible to create a GT-SOFC hybrid where the GT mitigates
balance of plant losses and the SOFC raises overall system efficiency. The result is a synergistic
system with better overall performance than stand-alone components.
Daniel C. Gandolfo[2] This paper discuss about the energy evaluation of low-level
control in UAVs powered by lithium polymer battery. The energetic cost of flying in
electricpowered UAVs is one of the key challenges. The continuous evolution of electrical
energy storage source is overcome by the great amount of energy required by the propulsion
system. Therefore, the on-board energy is crucial factor that needs to be further analyzed. In
this work, different controls strategies apply to a generic UAV propulsion system are considered
and a lithium polymer battery dynamic model is included as the propulsion system energy
source. Several simulations are carried out for each control strategy, and a quantitative
evaluation of the influence of each control law over the actual energy consumed by the
propulsion system is reported. This energy, which is delivery by the battery, is next compared
against a well-known control-effort-based index. The results and analysis suggest that
conclusion regarding energy savings based on control effort signals should be drawn carefully,
because they do not directly represent the actual consumed energy.

Jiang Qin[3] This paper discuss about the Thermodynamic performance evaluation of a
turbine-less jet engine integrated with solid oxide fuel cells for unmanned aerial vehicles. The
3
performance of conventional turbine engines for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is limited
by the combustor exit temperature and the concept of turbine-less jet engines was proposed. For
the engine, compressors are powered by a battery in the current study. The endurance and thrust-
weight ratio of UAVs equipped with the turbine-less jet engines are strongly affected by the
performance of batteries. In order to improve the performance of
UAVs, the feasible scheme of turbine-less jet engines integrated with a solid oxide fuel cell
(TLFC engine) is put forward. For the TLFC engine, reformed gas is provided to the solid oxide
fuel cell (SOFC). The SOFC produces electric power to drive the compressor by a motor. Then,
the extra fuel and SOFC exhaust enter into the combustor. The combustor exhaust expands and
produces propulsion power in the nozzle. In order to evaluate the performance of the TLFC
engine, the thermodynamic analysis model is built. The effects of pressure ratios, combustor
exit temperature, flight Mach number and flight altitude on the TLFC engine are studied.
L.S. Yanovskiy[4] This paper represents results of research of a perspective power unit
based on the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) fueled by the synthetic gas (syn-gas). As compared
with the fuel cells of other types, SOFC has an opportunity to work with the hydrocarbon fuels
converted into the syn-gas. Application of nanocatalytic membranes for a syn-gas generation is
analyzed. The paper predicts an efficient technology of energy and pure water production from
alternative renewable sources. The advanced technologies for the fuel cells developed for the
aviation can create cost-effective ground power units for the electricity and heat energy and
pure water generation in close proximity to customers. The new nanocatalytic membrane
technology for fuel cell allows to combine generation of electricity in fuel cells and generation
of syn-gas for supply to these fuel cells in one unit. It increases the fuel cell battery efficiency
up to 65e70%. The generation of electricity and pure water with the fuel cells from products of
biological treatment of different wastes and agricultural sources is appropriate due to the high
efficiency of electric power generation.
Li Liu[5] This paper follows the Experimental investigation on the online fuzzy energy
management of hybrid fuel cell/battery power system for UAVs The hybrid powerplant
combining a fuel cell and a battery has become one of the most promising alternative power
systems for electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). To enhance the fuel efficiency and
battery service life, highly effective and robust online energy management strategies are needed
in real applications. In this work, an energy management system is designed to control the
hybrid fuel cell and battery power system for electric UAVs. To reduce the weight, only one
programmable direct-current to direct-current (dcdc) converter is used as the critical power split
component to implement the power management strategy. The output voltage and current of the
dcdc is controlled by an independent energy management controller. An executable process of
4
online fuzzy energy management strategy is proposed and established. According to the demand
power and battery state of charge, the online fuzzy energy management strategy produces the
current command for the dcdc to directly control the output current of the fuel cell and to
indirectly control the charge/discharge current of the battery based on the power balance
principle. Another two online strategies, the passive control strategy and the state machine
strategy, are also employed to compare with the proposed online fuzzy strategy in terms of the
battery management and fuel efficiency. To evaluate and compare the feasibility of the online
energy management strategies in application, experiments with three types of missions are
carried out using the hybrid power system test-bench, which consists of a commercial fuel cell
EOS600, a LiPo battery, a programmable dcdc converter, an energy management controller,
and an electric load. The experimental investigation shows that the proposed online fuzzy
strategy prefers to use the most power from the battery and consumes the least amount of
hydrogen fuel compared with the other two online energy management strategies.

CHAPTER 3
TURBINE-LESS JET ENGINE

Turbine-less jet engine is simply composed of a combustor, compressor and nozzle.

The compressor is driven by a motor. The motor can be powered by a battery or fuel cells.
3.1 MOTOR POWERED BY A BATTERY
A battery is a device that produce electrons through electrochemical reactions, and
contains positive (+) and negative (-) terminals. A battery makes electricity it has stored inside.
Lithium batteries are the most common battery chemistry used to power compressor motor due
to their high energy densities and high discharge capabilities. A lithium ion battery is a type of
rechargeable batteries. The number of lithium ion battery should be increased to power the

5
motor, thus the weight of the batteries will be larger. The power-weight ratio of the battery is
extremely low compared with fuels. The thrust-weight ratio of the turbine-less jet engine
decreases with the increase of the battery power. So, the time of endurance of UAVs equipped
with the turbine-less jet engine is short. In addition, the weight of UAVs powered by a battery
is nearly constant during the flight. Therefore, the turbine-less jet engine performs poorly when
the compressor is powered by a battery.

3.2 MOTOR POWERED BY A FUEL CELL

Fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often
hydrogen) that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent
(often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from
most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen to sustain the chemical
reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from metals and their ions or
oxides that are commonly already present in the battery except in flow batteries. Fuel cells can
produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplies.
There are many types of fuel cells, but they all consist of anode, a cathode, and an
electrolyte that allows ions, often positively charged hydrogen ions (protons), to move between
the two sides of the fuel cell. At the anode a catalyst causes the fuel to undergo oxidation
reactions that generate ions and electrons. The ions move from the anode to the cathode through
the electrolyte. At the same time, electrons flow from the anode to the cathode through an
external circuit, producing direct current electricity. At the cathode, another catalyst causes ions,
electrons and oxygen to react, forming water and possibility other products. Fuel cells are
classified by the type of electrolyte they use and by the difference in startup time ranging from
1 second for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEM fuel cells or PEMFC) to 10 minutes
for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).

3.3 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF BATTERY AND SOFC

SOFCs have been extensively researched, including numerical simulations and
experimental study. In practical application, many SOFC plants have been built until now. There
are several projects in recent years as for the SOFC application in mobile vehicles. Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency tested the STALKER-XE UAV powered by SOFCs. The
endurance of the UAV is remarkably higher than that of the UAV powered by a battery. Volvo
manufactured and tested the first European SOFC auxiliary power unit (APU) fueled by diesel
on a heavy-duty truck. The SOFC APU is significant as generation equipment. Nissan has
developed the world‟s first light duty prototype vehicle with a conventional SOFC stack for
cruising range extension, fueled by bio-ethanol reformate. Giacoppo et al. studied the mini UAV
powered by SOFCs with cooling systems. SOFCs can integrate with a gas turbine well, which
6
has been extensively studied for ground electric generation in recent years, including of
performance analysis, thermodynamic optimization, control strategies and experiment research.
There were some plants have been built. SOFC gas turbine hybrid systems were also applied to
propulsion and electric generation on aircraft.
Himansu et al. found that the SOFC gas turbine hybrid systems fueled by hydrogen
could perform well when durations of the high altitude long endurance UAVs mission is 10~20
days because the thermal efficiency of the hybrid systems is far higher than that of the internal
combustion engine. Aguiar et al. showed that the efficiency of the hybrid system fueled by
hydrogen ranges from 54.4% to 66.3%, which could be achieved by different combinations of
gas turbines and SOFCs. Brian et al. found that there exists the optimal value of pressure ratios
for the hybrid systems.
Fernandes et al. found that hydrogen maybe not be the best fuel for aircraft owing to
huge entropy loss in the preheating process. Besides, SOFC gas turbine hybrid systems were
also assumed to the application for distributed propulsion aircraft. The main engine generates
electric to drive fans for propulsion. Keiichi pointed out that hybrid systems can serve well as
the core engine for distributed propulsion aircraft owing to the highly-efficient electric
generation. Apart from this, the results showed that the system weight and operability are a
critical technology for the aero-engine. Moreover, the hybrid systems can be applied to
allelectric commuter airplanes. Stoia et al. demonstrated that the 50% reduction in fuel cost
could be achieved with a SOFC gas turbine power hybrid system. Yanovskiy et al. showed that
the efficiency of the SOFC gas turbine hybrid system is higher than the initial gas-turbine one,
and it can be significantly increased due to the use of alternative fuels (liquefied natural gas or
liquid hydrogen).
Daniel et al. have found that SOFCs can integrate with turbofan or turbojet engines well
for the electric generation and propulsion. The results showed that hybrid systems could supply
more electrical power efficiency than comparable engine-generator systems with the only
modest decrease in power-weight ratio. Choudhary et al. analyzed a thermodynamic cycle of an
internal reformed solid oxide fuel cell, which is integrated with the gas turbine to form a hybrid
APU system for a UAV. In addition, Choudhary et al. proposed a concept of blade cooled
turboprop engines integrated to SOFCs. Results showed that the performance of a hybrid
turboprop SOFC system can be increased significantly by about 12–13% compared with a
turboprop engine.
All previous work has identified that SOFCs can work as high-efficiency aero engines.
Moreover, SOFCs can integrate with gas turbines well. Therefore, it is possible for the turbine-
less jet engine to integrate with SOFCs. In this paper, a new scheme of turbine-less engines
7
integrated with SOFCs (TLFC engine) is proposed. The partial air from the compressor and
reformed gas are provided for SOFCs. SOFCs provide electric power to drive compressors by
a motor. The rest of the air from the compressor, SOFC exhaust, and extra fuel enters the
combustor. The combustor exhaust expands and produces thrust in the nozzle. The thrust-weight
ratio of TLFC engines is high when the compressor is powered by SOFCs instead of a battery.
The endurance of UAVs equipped with TLFC engines can vary in a wide range.
The power-weight ratio of the battery is extremely low compared with fuels. The
thrust weight ratio of the turbine-less jet engine decreases with the increase of the battery
power. So, the time of endurance of UAVs equipped with the turbine-less jet engine is short.
In addition, the weight of UAVs powered by a battery is nearly constant during the flight.
Therefore, the turbine-less jet engine performs poorly when the compressor is powered by a
battery. Whereas for fuel cells like SOFC has power to weight ratio ten times greater than
batteries. Thus the thrust weight-ratio will increase and time of endurance will increase. So
turbine-less jet engine performs efficiently when the compressor is powered by fuel cell like
SOFC. SOFC gas turbine hybrid systems were also applied to propulsion and electric
generation on aircraft. It is possible for the turbine-less jet engine to integrate with SOFCs.
SOFC powered turbine less jet engine gives higher efficiency and performance while
compared to battery power UAVs.

3.4 REFORMER
The reformer is the device that extracts the pure hydrogen from a hydrogen source, such
as hydrocarbon or alcohol fuels, and then provides the hydrogen to the fuel cell. Since the
hydrogen fuel reformer is extracting the hydrogen itself, the reformer has to clean up the
hydrogen and separate it from the rest of the heat and gases that get produced during the
reforming process. Despite the reformer‟s best efforts, the hydrogen it can provide to a fuel cell
isn‟t as pure as the hydrogen accessed by a pure hydrogen fuel source. As a result, the overall
energy efficiency of a fuel cell that requires a hydrogen fuel reformer is lower than that of a fuel
cell operating on pure hydrogen.

3.5 TLFC ENGINE MODEL

8
 Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2
Figure 3.1 and Figure 3.2 shows the schematic diagrams of the TLFC engine. The
thermodynamic schematic diagram of the TLFC engine is shown in Figure 4.1. Air compressed
from atmosphere is split into three parts. One part of the air enters into combustors and the other
air is utilized by the catalyzer partial oxidation reformer and the SOFCs in turn. The SOFC
exhaust and the extra fuel also enter into the combustor. SOFCs produce electric power to drive
the compressor by the motor. Working fluids expand to produce propulsion power. The possible
actual configuration is shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.3 Temperature-entropy diagram of the SOFC engine integrated with a

compressor and nozzle

3.6 FUEL TYPE

Table 3.1 Fuel Properties
Fuel type State of matter Molecular Molecular Hydrogen
formula weight weight fraction

9
Hydrogen Gas H2 2.02 1
Hydrogen Liquid H2 2.02 1
Methane Gas CH4 16.04 0.25
Methane Liquid 16.04 0.25
CH4 CH3OH
Methanol Liquid 32.04 0.12
C3H8
Propane Liquid 44.09 0.18
C10H22
Decane Liquid 142.31 0.15

Fuel type Temperature(K) Pressure(MPa) Density (kg/m3)

Hydrogen 300 70.0 39.1 71
Hydrogen 13.15 300 0.145 211
Methane 110.65 70.0 425
Methane 300 0.101 792
Methanol 300 0.101 489
Propane 300 1.01 730
Decane 0.101

Several common fuels are shown in Table 3.1. They are high pressure gas hydrogen,
cryogenic liquid hydrogen, high pres-sure methane, cryogenic liquid methane, liquid methanol,
liquid propane and liquid decane. At current, methanol, propane and decane are acceptable
logistic fuels, which have been extensively used. They have advantages in energy density and
storage. In addition, it is easy for methanol and propane to reform. There are some difficulties
in feeding vehicles by methane and hydrogen. Gaseous methane and hydrogen have low volume
energy density and it is difficult for liquid methane and hydrogen to store and carry due to their
low liquefaction temperature. Despite that, they are regarded as promising fuels in the future
because they are eco-friendly and can be used by fuel cells. The technology development can
make it possible that these fuels can be widely used for mobile vehicles. SOFC jet engine is a
novel engine combining fuel cells and jet engines. Different fuels have great influence on the
specific thrust and the specific impulse of the engine.
Therefore, the performances of the engine based on different types of fuel are studied.

3.7 SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS

10
Figure 3.4 Fuel : Decane (l)/Propane (l)/ Methane (g)

Figure 3.5 Fuel: Methanol (l)

11
 Figure 3.6 Fuel: Hydrogen (g)

Figure 3.7 Fuel: Hydrogen (l)

Figure 3.8 Fuel: Methane (l)

The performance of the SOFC jet engine is superior to that of the turbojet engine in
terms of specific thrust, specific impulse and thermal efficiency because its compressor is
powered by the highly efficient fuel cell. Moreover, combustion temperature can be extremely
high because there is no turbine in the rear of the combustor.
Figure 3.4 to Figure 3.8 shows the schematic diagrams of the SOFC jet engine
integrated with a compressor and a nozzle fuelled by different fuels. They are decane (l),
propane (g), methane (g), methanol (l), hydrogen (g), hydrogen (l) and methane (l),
respectively. The general thermodynamic processes are as follows. First, atmospheric air is
compressed by the intake and the compressor in turn. After that, the pressure and temperature
of the air rise. Then, reformate or hydrogen and preheated air are fed into SOFC anode and
cathode respectively. Next, fuel cell exhaust burns in the combustor and refresh fuel is added
to it to improve nozzle inlet temperature. Finally, high temperature gas preheats the air

12
entering into the SOFC and expands in the nozzle to produce propulsion power. There are
some differences among the specific schematics when they are fed by different fuels.
Figure 3.4 shows the scheme of the SOFC jet engine fuelled by decane (l)/propane
(l)/methane (g). In order to improve hydrogen yield and reforming reaction rate, auto-thermal
reforming (ATR) occurs in the reformer. Some compressed air is provided for the reformer and
the other is provided for the SOFC cathode. Anode circulation exhaust consisting of plenty of
water steam is also provided for the reformer. Figure 3.5 shows the scheme of the SOFC jet
engine fuelled by methanol (l). Compared with the previous scheme, there is no air being
injected into the reformer because chemical reforming rate of methanol is fast at high
temperature. Figure 3.6 shows the schematic of the SOFC jet engine fuelled by hydrogen (g).
There is no reformer and anode exhaust circulation. The fuel-exhaust heat exchanger is added
to improve the fuel temperature from the storage tank. Figure 3.7 shows the schematic of the
SOFC jet engine fuelled by hydrogen (l). Considering the low temperature of liquid hydrogen
and the emergency of the pich point of the heat exchanger, two heat exchangers are used to
increase temperature. Figure 3.8 shows the schematic of the SOFC jet engine fuelled by methane
(l). The auto-thermal reformer and two heat exchangers are adopted because the temperature of
liquid hydro-carbon methane is too low.

CHAPTER 4
MATHEMATICAL MODELS

The following assumptions are employed for the mathematical models

(1) The gaseous working fluid is considered as the ideal gas.
(2) The air used in the system contains 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen.
(3) Gas leakage from the system is disregarded.
(4) Flow is steady.
(5) Changes in potential energy are disregarded.
(6) Temperature, pressure, and chemical components distribution inside the cell is disregarded.
13
(7) Gas temperature of the cathode and anode outlet are the same.
(8) The cell stack voltage is constant.

4.1 REFORMER AND SOFC

Figure 4.1 Schematic diagram of catalyzer partial oxidation reformers.

Tetradecane is used as a surrogate for the fuel of kerosene. The reformer is divided into two
parts as shown in Figure4.1. One part of the reformer is used as catalyzer partial oxidation
reforming of fuel and the other part of the reformer is used for heat addition of air. The air
entering into the reformer is also divided into two parts. In the reformer internal, the air is mixed
with atomized fuel and reformed by the catalyst. In the external reformer, the air is heated by
the catalyzer partial reforming reaction heat. The internal reformed gases are provided to SOFC
anode and the external air is provided to the SOFC cathode.
Since the catalyzer partial oxidation reforming reaction is fast, the reaction is supposed
as equilibrate state. The equilibrate state of the reforming reaction is solved with the software
CEA provided by NASA as Eq. (1) in Table 4.1. The oxygen-fuel ratio in the internal reformer
is defined as Eq. (3) in Table 4.1. The reforming reaction heat is used to preheat air as Eq. (2)
in Table 4.11. In order to ensure SOFC working well, the reforming temperature is constant. It
is considered as the temperature of the reformer outlet. Also, the outlet temperature of air
provided to the SOFC cathode is constant. Therefore, the oxygenfuel ratio for reforming is
variable to satisfy the outlet temperature requirement of the external air.
Table 4.1 Equations for the mathematical model in the reformer.
Components Equations No.
Reforming reaction C14H30 + n(O2 + N2) → (1)
aCH4 + bCO + cH2 + dCO2
+ eH2O + nN2 + Δhref
Energy balance equation Δhref = href,out-href,in (2)
Oxygen-Fuel ratio Rref = nO2/(nC14H30 × 14) (3)

In the SOFC unit, there are three gas channels, which are anode reformed gas channel,
cathode air channel and a cooling air channel respectively as shown in Fig.4.2. All of the units
14
are the same. The air cooling channel is set to prevent overheating of SOFCs. The cooling
working fluid is air, which is from the compressor outlet. The reforming reaction for CH4 and
CO in the anode channel is taken into account. The cooling air for SOFCs is mainly heated by
electrochemical reaction.

Figure 4.2 Schematic diagram of SOFCs

Due to the high operating temperatures of the SOFC, it can be fueled by the
hydrocarbons fuel such as methane. The reformed gas is provided to the SOFC anode, which
is composed methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and hydrogen. A
fuel cell with direct internal reforming has been used where the heat provided by the
electrochemical reaction of electrodes is utilized to carry out the endothermic reforming
reaction. Since the reforming reaction in the cell is endothermic and the shifting and
electrochemical reactions are exothermic, the net heat transfer of the SOFC will be obtained
from the three reactions. A portion of this residual net heat is used to raise the temperature of
the cell‟s internal and out flowing gases and the other portion enters the surrounding
environment, which is ignored. The design parameters for SOFCs are shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2 Efficiencies of components used in the reformer and SOFC.

Components Symbol Value Unit
Reforming temperature Tref ηf 973 K
Fuel utilization RSOFC 0.85
Oxygen-fuel ration in the SOFC Maximum 1.5
Rref
of oxygen fuel ratio in the reformer 3.5
Fuel inlet temperature
Cathode air inlet Temperature Tf,in 700 K
SOFC working temperature Ta 923 K
Operating voltage TSOFC U 1073 K
0.7 V

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4.2 JET ENGINE
According to thermodynamic equations, the parameters for the intake and compressor
can be determined as Eqs. (1)–(6) in Table 4.3. The polytropic exponent for compressing is
replaced with the adiabatic exponent, which is common in gas turbine model. Since a portion
of fuel and air entering the system are not utilized in the fuel cell, a combustor is necessary for
the engine. All reactions are exothermic and they raise the temperature of the combustor exit.
The equation for it is Eq. (8) in Table 4.3. The nozzle is set to produce thrust and its details can
be acquired by literature as Equations (6) and (7) in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3 Equations for the mathematical model in the turbine-less jet engine

The components efficiency is listed in table 4.4.

Table 4.4 Efficiencies of components used in the reformer and SOFC.

4.3. PROPULSION SYSTEM

Considering the TLFC engine as a control volume, its specific thrust, specific impulse, thermal
efficiency, propulsion efficiency and overall efficiency will be obtained and adopted to measure

16
the performance of the engine, which are defined as Table 4. ma ̇ is the mass flow of the air
from the compressor. ṁfa is the mass flow of the fuel for the reformer. ṁfb is the mass flow of
the fuel for the combustor mf ̇ is the sum of ṁfa and mfḃ . KEgainstands for kinetic energy from
nozzles. Qr is the heat value of the fuel.
Table 4.5. Equation for the mathematical model of the TLFC engine

4.4. SOLUTION METHOD

The prepared computer program is based on the lumped method and is shown in Fig.
4. The first part of this computer code contains the TLFC engine‟s input information including
its combustor exit temperature, pressure ratio, flight Mach number, flight altitude and so on. At
this point, an arbitrary mass flow of fuels provided to the reformer is initially guessed, because
it is not constant. Using the guessed value, the catalyzer partial oxidation reforming and fuel
cell calculations begin. Because the temperature of the compressor outlet is variable, the heat
addition of air provided to the cathode is not constant. Thus, the reformer fuel-air ratio is
guessed. Then, to acquire planned voltage, the SOFC current density is guessed again. In the
next step, the nonlinear reforming and electrochemical equations along with the cell's thermal
equations are solved simultaneously and the desired outcomes including the amounts of
produced chemical components, the values of temperature, voltage loss, real voltage, current,
power, efficiency, and other considered parameters in the fuel cell are obtained. In case the
convergence conditions of the cycle are not fulfilled, the analysis will be repeated by guessing
new values. Next, the combustor and nozzle are calculated. The engine performance analysis is
carried out in the final section.

17
 Figure 4.3 Flowchart of the engine of TLFC modeling.
4.5 VALIDATION ASSESSMENT OF THE SOFC MODEL
The validation assessment is the process of determining the degree to which a model is
an accurate representation of the real world from the perspective of the intended uses of the
model. The goal of validation is to quantify confidence in the predictive capability of the
model by comparison with experimental data. The SOFC simulation results are compared with
the experiment work of Suwanwarangkul et al. The results have been found to be in good
agreement with experiment works as shown in Fig. 4.4. In general, the models built in this
paper may exactly describe the thermodynamic processes in the real world.

18
 Figure 4.4 Validation assessment of the SOFC model.

CHAPTER 5
PARAMETERS ANALYZED

5.1 PRESSURE RATIO

The pressure ratio is vital for the aero-engine. The high-pressure ratio can contribute to
the improvement of aero-engine performance. Moreover, the performance of SOFCs will be
enhanced with the increase of pressure ratio. Figure 5.1 shows the performance of the TLFC
engine and the turbojet engine for varying pressure ratio at flight altitude H=10 km with flight
Mach ∞ M =0.3 and combustor exit temperature CET=1700 K. The specific thrust and specific
impulse of the TLFC engine are remarkably higher than the specific thrust and specific impulse
of the turbojet engine, as shown in Figure 5.1. Also, the TLFC engine has an advantage in

19
thermal efficiency, overall efficiency and thrust specific fuel consumption over the turbojet
engine. In the thermal cycle of the turbojet engine, the chemical energy of the fuel is converted
into heat energy first and then the heat energy is converted into mechanical energy or kinetic
energy. However, in the thermal cycle of the TLFC engine, the chemical energy of a partial fuel
is directly converted into electric power and then the electric power is converted into mechanical
energy. The latter is highly efficient relative to the former because a little exergy loss is
produced in the process of chemical energy converted into heat energy. In addition, more
propulsion power can be output for the TLFC engine, because no expansion power supplies for
the compressor. Obviously, the jet velocity of the TLFC engine is higher than the jet velocity
of the turbojet engine. Therefore, the propulsion efficiency of the TLFC engine is lower than
the propulsion efficiency of the turbojet engine.
As pressure ratio increases, the specific thrust and specific impulse of the TLFC engine
increase. Because more compressor power can be provided by high-efficiency SOFCs, the
more propulsion power can be output with pressure ratio increases. Therefore, the specific
thrust increases. Meanwhile, with the increase of temperature of the compressor outlet the
more fuel can be utilized by SOFCs because the fuel-air ratio decreases in the reformer, which
means that the hydrogen ratio increases. The efficiency of catalyzer partial oxidation
reforming reaction and SOFC increases. Thus, the specific impulse increases. However,
improving pressure ratio is difficult, which results in the increase of compressor outlet
temperature. More air is needed for SOFC cooling owing to the decrease of the temperature
difference between the compressor outlet and SOFC outlet. When the pressure ratio is high
enough, the compressed air cannot satisfy the requirement of SOFC cooling.

20
 Figure 5.1 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC engines vs pressure
ratio.
In a nutshell, no expansion power is supplied for the compressor in the TLFC engine.
More propulsion power is output, which is beneficial to improve the performance of the
engine. In addition, the compressor power is provided by SOFC, which is highly efficient. The
energy of SOFC exhaust can be utilized by the nozzle. So, the TLFC engine has a huge
advantage over the traditional turbojet engine in specific thrust and specific impulse. The
advantage of the TLFC engine increases with the increase of pressure ratio, as shown in Table
7. The increment of specific thrust and specific impulse are 0.49 and 0.16 at most respectively
when pressure ratio is 33.

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5.2 COMBUSTOR EXIT TEMPERATURE

Figure 5.2 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC engines vs combustor
exit temperature.
Combustor exit temperature is a key parameter for aero-engines. The performance of
engines can be dramatically improved with the increase of combustor exit temperature. But, it
is hard to improve combustor exit temperature owing to the limitation of the material and
technology of the turbine blade. The TLFC engine has a remarkable advantage that there are
no turbines. Therefore, the performance limitation of engines caused by combustor exit
temperature does not exist for the TLFC engine. The temperature of the combustor outlet can
be improved tremendously, which lead to the great increase of performance of the engine.
Fig.5.2 shows the performance of the TLFC engine and the turbojet engine for varying
combustor exit temperature at the flight altitude H=10 km with the pressure ratio π =20 and
the flight Mach number ∞ M =0.3. When combustor exit temperature is over 2000, the

22
comparative object of TLFC engine is the turbojet engine at the combustor exit temperature of
CET=2000K.
As shown in Figure 5.2, with the increase of combustor exit temperature the specific
impulse both decreases for the TLFC engine and the turbojet engine. The specific thrust of the
TLFC engine and turbojet engines both increases with the increase of the combustor exit
temperature. The thermal efficiency of the turbojet engine increases with the increase of
combustor exit temperature. However, the thermal efficiency of the TLFC engine decreases
with increasing combustor exit temperature. The reason is that more fuel is used to improve
working fluid temperature instead of being used to generate electricity by SOFCs, which is low
efficient. The propulsion efficiency of the TLFC engine increases with the increase of the
combustion exit temperature. Thus the overall efficiency decreases and thrust specific fuel
consumption increases.
The comparative advantage of the TLFC engine over the turbojet engine in specific
impulse and specific thrust weakens with the increase of combustor exit temperature when the
combustor exit temperature is below 2000. The reason is that more fuel is used to improve the
temperature of working fluid with the increase of combustor exit temperature, which means that
the difference narrows in respect of energy conversion path between the TLFC engine and the
turbojet engine. In other words, the TLFC engine has more advantages over the turbojet engine
when the combustor exit temperature is low. In addition, the combustor exit temperature of the
TLFC engine is slightly limited. The specific thrust of the TLFC engine at the combustor exit
temperature of CET=2400 K is nearly 1.5 times as high as the specific thrust of the turbojet
engine at the combustor exit temperature of CET=2000 K. However, the difference of specific
impulse between the turbojet engine and TLFC engine is little.

5.3 FLIGHT MACH NUMBER

Turbojet engine has an advantage in velocity over the turbofan engine, which has great
value for high-speed flight. Thus, the Mach number is studied. Fig. 8 shows performance
between the TLFC engine and the turbojet engine for varying flight Mach at flight altitude
H=10 km with pressure ratio π =20 and combustor exit temperature CET=1700 K. As shown
in Figure 5.3, the specific thrust decreases with the increase of Mach number. The reason is
that the little heat can be added to the combustor. The little propulsion power produces
because the jet velocity is close to the inlet velocity as the Mach number increases as shown in
Figure 5.3. The increase of propulsion efficiency results in the increase of specific impulse.
The thermal efficiency of the TLFC engine increases because of the increase of pressure of the
nozzle inlet. However, the Mach number cannot exceed 0.89 owing to the increase of the
compressor outlet. There is not enough air cooling the SOFCs. The reason for the restriction
23
of the Mach number is similar to the restriction of pressure ratio. Thus, the TLFC engine
performs well at low Mach number.

Figure 5.3 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC engines vs Mach
number.
In Figure 5.3 the specific impulse and specific thrust of the turbojet engine strongly
decrease as the Mach number increases. Therefore, the advantage of the TLFC engine in
specific impulse and specific thrust increases compared with the turbojet engine in Table 9.
When the Mach number is 0.89, the increment for the TLFC engine in specific thrust and
specific impulse over the turbojet engine is 0.52 and 0.21 respectively.

24
5.4 FLIGHT ALTITUDE

Figure 5.4 Performance comparison of turbojet engines and TLFC engines vs flight
altitude.
The increase of fight altitude can lead to a decrease of the environment temperature,
which is beneficial to improve the thermal efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle. However,
the decrease of ambient density causes the specific thrust of aero-engine to decrease. At the
moment, it makes sense that the specific thrust of the TLFC engine is high. Fig. 9 shows
performance between the TLFC engine and the turbojet engine for varying flight altitude at
flight M∞ =0.3 with pressure ratio π =20 and combustor exit temperature CET=1700 K. The

25
curves trend for the TLFC engine is similar to that of the turbojet engine as flight altitude
increases. The specific thrust and specific impulse increase owing to the decrease in ambient
temperature. The advantage of the TLFC engine over the turbojet engine in specific impulse
and specific thrust weakens with the increases of flight altitude. The reason is that the
temperature ratio of the thermal cycles for the TLFC engine and the turbojet engine increases
as flight altitude increases.

26
 CONCLUSION
The performance of the SOFC jet engines fed by propane and decane is similar. The
specific thrust of the engines is nearly regardless of type of fuel, which is about 970–1000
N/(kgs−1). The efficiency and the specific impulse of the engines decrease when the methane
is replaced by propane or decane. The specific impulse fed by hydrogen is higher than that of
the engine fed by methane. The performance of the engine fed by cryogenic liquid hydrogen or
methane is slightly lower than the performance of the engine fed by high pressure gaseous
hydrogen or methane. With the increase of pressure ratio, the performance difference between
the engines fed by hydrogen and the engines fed by hydrocarbons gets bigger. When the
pressure ratio is small, the specific power and efficiency of the engines increase quickly as
pressure ratio increases. At the fuel-air equivalent of 1, the specific impulse and ther-mal
efficiency of the engines are low. But the specific thrust is extremely high. The specific impulse
of the engine fed by methanol is low to 1209s

If the large specific thrust is needed by the engine, the high pressure ratio, high
combustor exit temperature and low Mach number will be needed. If the high specific impulse
is needed by the engine, the high pressure ratio, low combustor exit temperature and low Mach
will be needed.The TLFC engine has advantages in specific impulse, thermal efficiency, overall
efficiency and thrust specific fuel consumption over the conventional turbojet engine, especially
for specific thrust under the most of operating conditions. The increment of the specific thrust
ranges from 27% to 55%. The maximum pressure ration and Mach number are 33 and 0.89
respectively.Some problems are needed to be solved for the TLFC engine in practical
application. The power-weight ratio of SOFCs is little compared to the turbine engine. The
power-weight ratio of SOFCs increases slowly year by year through technological progress.
However, the power-weight ratio of SOFCs at the current technology has met the requirements
of the propulsion system for the long endurance UAV which carries an amount of fuel.
Therefore, it is worth to studying the UAV types powered by the TLFC engine.

REFERENCES

27
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