Turbomeca Palouste
{{short description|1950s French gas generator aircraft engine}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
|name = Palouste |image = File:Rolls Royce-Turbomeca Palouste-001.jpg |caption = Rolls-Royce license-built Palouste }}{{Infobox Aircraft Engine |type= Gas turbine |national origin= France |manufacturer= Turbomeca |first run= |major applications= Sud-Ouest Djinn |number built = |program cost = |unit cost = |developed from = |variants with their own articles = |developed into = }} |
The Turbomeca Palouste is a French gas turbine engine, first run in 1952.Gunston 1989, p.170. Designed purely as a compressed air generator, the Palouste was mainly used as a ground-based aircraft engine starter unit. Other uses included rotor tip propulsion for helicopters.
Design and development
Designed and built by Turbomeca, the Palouste was also built under license in Britain by Blackburn and Rolls-Royce. Originally conceived as an aircraft ground support equipment starter gas generator, it was used also as propulsion for the Sud-Ouest Djinn and other tip-jet powered helicopters.
The Palouste was a very simple unit, its primary purpose being to supply a high flow rate of compressed air to start larger jet engines such as the Rolls-Royce Spey as installed in the Blackburn Buccaneer (this aircraft having no onboard starting system).{{cite journal |title=PROVING THE BUCCANEER |journal=Flight International |date=1 February 1962 |volume= 81 |issue= 2760 |page=168 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1962/1962%20-%200166.html |accessdate=12 March 2019}} Air from the centrifugal compressor was divided between external supply (known as bleed air) and its own combustion chamber.
File:Sea Vixen of 892 NAS on USS Forrestal (CVA-59) c1962.jpg on the {{USS|Forrestal}} in 1962. A Palouste air starter pod is in front.]]
Several British naval aircraft were adapted to carry a Palouste in a wing-mounted air starter pod installation to facilitate engine starting when away from base.{{cite journal |title=Aircraft Ground Power Units.. . |journal=Flight International |date=25 March 1965 |volume= 87 |issue= 2924 |page=456 |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1965/1965%20-%200838.html |accessdate=12 March 2019}}
A novel use of a surplus Palouste engine was its installation in a custom-built motorcycle known as the Boost Palouste. In 1986 this motorcycle broke an official ACU 1/4 mile speed record at {{convert|296|km/h|abbr=on}}. The builder modified the engine to include a primitive afterburner device and noted that pitch changes which occurred during braking and acceleration caused gyroscopic precession handling effects due to the rotating mass of the engine.[http://www.jet-pack.co.uk/content.aspx?guid=d5ad22d3-4de0-4cab-ad6b-4efa101a795f The Boost Palouste - jet-pack.co.uk] Retrieved: 24 July 2009
Variants
;Palouste IV:The gas generator used to power the Sud-Ouest S.O.1221 Djinn and other tip-jet helicopters.
;Palouste 502: (P.102 and P.104) Blackburn / Bristol Siddeley / Rolls-Royce production for air-starter units.
;Autan :A development of the Palouste delivering a higher mass flow of compressed air.{{cite book| last= Bridgman| first= Leonard| title= Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1955-56| year= 1955| publisher= Jane's all the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd.| location= London}}
;Autan 2: 1 x axial + 1 x centrifugal compressor stages
Applications
Specifications (Palouste 4)
File:Aerospatiale SO 1221 Djinn Antrieb Detail.jpg helicopter]]
{{jetspecs|
|ref=Flight :BRITISH POWER UNITS 1953,{{cite journal |title=BRITISH POWER UNITS 1953 |journal=Flight |date=3 September 1953 |volume= LXIV |issue= 2328 |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%201169.html |accessdate=12 March 2019}}{{cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Paul H. |title=Aircraft engines of the World 1957 |year=1957 |publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd. |location=London |edition= 13th |page=62}}
|type=Gas generator
|length={{cvt|1233|mm}}
|diameter={{cvt|478|mm}}
|weight= {{cvt|90|kg}}
|compressor=Single-stage centrifugal flow
|combustion=Annular combustion chamber
|turbine=Two-stage axial flow
|fueltype=Kerosene
|oilsystem=Dry sump, pressure spray at {{cvt|43|psi|kPa|order=flip}}
|power={{cvt|190|hp}} equivalent air horsepower at 33,000 rpm at sea level
|thrust=
|compression=3.8:1
|aircon={{cvt|3.5|kg/s|lb/s}} at 34,000 rpm
|turbinetemp=TIT {{cvt|800|C|K|order=flip}} ; JPT {{cvt|520|C|K|order=flip}} at 34,000 rpm
|fuelcon={{cvt|110|kg/h}}
- Oil consumption: {{cvt|0.2|kg/h}}
|specfuelcon=
|power/weight={{cvt|1|lb/hp|order=flip}}
|thrust/weight=
- Air output: {{cvt|1.1|kg/s|lb/s}} at {{cvt|51|psi|kPa|order=flip}} at 33,000 rpm
}}
See also
{{Aircontent
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|similar engines=
|lists=
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References
{{reflist}}
=Further reading=
- {{cite book|last1=Gunston |first1=Bill |title=World encyclopaedia of aero engines |date=1998 |publisher=Patrick Stephens |location=Sparkford, Nr Yeovil, Somerset, [England]| isbn=978-1852605971 |edition= 4th}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090612082521/http://www.turbomeca.com/public/turbomeca_v2/html/en/turbomeca/turbomeca.php?aid=509 Turbomeca website]
- [http://www.gasturbineworld.co.uk/rollsroycepalouste.html Palouste and Artouste]
{{Turbomeca aeroengines}}