| Summary: | Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn
Malaysia (UTHM) has acquired a Pratt and Whitney PT6A-20 turboprop engine to
be used in its aeronautical engineering technology programme. However, to fully
utilize the engine, a solid familiarity with its current performance and a proper
testing arrangement are important. The main concern on the engine is the age of the
engine and lack of information on its previous performance. Therefore, in this
study, the actual performance of this turboprop engine was evaluated
experimentally. The performance evaluation is also important for the development , ,- ,
of preliminary requirements for the engine test cell. A better performance , ,
investigation and testing can be conducted in an engine test cell. Altogether, a total
of three engine tests were performed by varying engine speed from 55 percent rpm
to 75 percent rpm. Performance data obtained include the engine's torque, propeller
speed, fuel flow rate, and inter-turbine temperature. They were captured by using
data acquisition software from AeroTrain Corp. An averaging was done to the data
in order to study engine shaft horsepower, specific fuel consumption, and thermal
efficiency. From the result of manual calculation, the engine can produce power up
to 34.8 kW while running at 75 percent rpm. The specific fuel consumption is 7.07
kgikW-hr while the thermal efficiency is at 1.19 percent. On the other hand, the
data acquisition system shows that the engine managed to deliver 89.5 kW of power,
3.15 kg/kW-hr of specific fuel consumption and thermal efficiency of 19.5 percent.
It was found that the results of manual calculation were significantly lower than the
one obtained using the software with 88 percent different in shaft horsepower and 77
percent different in specific fuel consumption. Although the current engine
performance is acceptable and satisfactory to be used for aircraft propulsion
education, a safer and more reliable testing arrangement is still needed. Considering
that a proper test facility will be essential to obtain a highly accurate result on the
engine performance, an engine test cell was proposed to be built. The test cell was
proposed to be an indoor test cell and it was planned to accommodate engine testing
on small turboprop engine with power range between 200 to 450 kW.
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