Exploration ·
Follow a parcel of air through a jet engine — squeezed, burned, expanded, thrown out of the back — with the cycle worked out live at every step, then see why airliner fans keep growing and why a car's turbocharger is a little gas turbine.
Tool ·
How jet engines work and what their numbers mean: an animated cutaway of turbojet, turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft, ramjet and afterburning engines with numbered stations; ideal and real Brayton cycle analysis at any Mach and altitude — thrust, TSFC, efficiencies, T–s and P–v diagrams and trade studies; compressor stages, draggable velocity triangles and a compressor map with surge margin; approximate figures for real engine families; and fuel, run time and start-up for model turbojets.
Tool ·
Match a turbo to an engine: pressure ratio and corrected air flow (lb/min and kg/s) at every rpm plotted on an illustrative compressor map — or your own surge and choke lines — with surge and choke margins, compressor-outlet and intake temperatures and estimated power; the turbine side from the power balance (back-pressure, drive ratio, wastegate flow and size, A/R and twin-scroll notes); injectors and fuel pump for the power; and the intercooler.
Tool ·
List what must run in an outage — fridge, well and sump pumps, furnace, AC and heat pump by tonnage, EV charger, lights, tools — with running watts and starting surge from the code letter or locked-rotor amps (and soft starters); find the start order with the lowest peak, the generator size after derating for altitude, heat and fuel, fuel per hour and runtime from your tank, leg balance, and what NEC 702 asks of the transfer switch.
Tool ·
Size a stand-alone solar system from a list of what you run — cabin, van, boat or tiny house — and your location's month-by-month sunshine (Open-Meteo, or your own peak sun hours): the PV array for the worst month or the year, how to string the modules (cold Voc under the controller's limit, NEC 690.7; 1.25 × Isc, 690.8), MPPT or PWM, the LiFePO4 or lead-acid bank in series and parallel, the inverter, a month-by-month balance with generator hours, and a single-line diagram.