Valveless Pulse Jet

Click here to see a short video of my valveless pulsejet engine.(857kb)

A valveless pulsejet is one of the simplest jet engine in the world. This jet was
invented at the sixties, but the development stopped when the turbojet arrived. I've
built my engine after the patent by Lockwood/Hiller (US patent no: 3.462.955).
The engine can be built in many different sizes, as long as the relationships
between the different openings are kept. This engine has no moving parts which
means no wear, this is surely a benefit. It's also possible to run this jet with almost
any oilproduct as long as it's valorized before it's entering the engine (I use a
mixture of diesel and gasoline 50/50). The engine is started on gas (easiest).
Construction is simple and relatively cheep to build. This is some sort of a pulse
jet, and a series of explosions is what which make thrust. I don't know how many
explosions per second, but I guess about 30 to 50. These series of explosions create
an incredible loud and vibrating sound (30Hz to 50Hz). Pore neighbors....
Hope to measure the frequency some time.

The engine is started and powdered by propane feed into the

combustion chamber through this metal tube. At the end of the tube,
it's possible to insert a jet which may atomize liquid fuel.
When propane is used, I use no such jet, then propane flow through
a 4mm hole (M4). The metal tube is connected to the combustion
chamber by a M10 fitting. I've got three different connection
possibilities on the combustion chamber. One is meant to propane,
and the two other is meant to Diesel/gasoline injection.
This works great.
During starts, propane is feed into the combustion chamber and
ignited by a single spark from the spark plug. The explosion created,
make an overpressure which throw out hot air at both ends of the jet
at the speed of sound. While this air is exiting the combustion
chamber, a vacuum is created inside the engine. This vacuum force
the flame which is about to exit the exhaust pipe to return into the combustion
chamber. Meanwhile fresh air has been sucked into the combustion chamber
through the nozzle after the flame was thrown out. This cycle repeats over and over
again until fuel is turned off. This is shown at the figure below.

From the patent, it's easy to construct a valveless pulsejet engine in every size. On
my drawing below, you can see my engine based at the patent. It's a bit different
than the patent (exhaust pipe), but it's just to make it easier to build. My engine is
working very well, though I've not have made any thrust measurements yet. I've
planned to make some augmenters, which is supposed to amplify thrust, and place
them on my engine. According to some, thrust is doubled by using augmenters. I
don't know about this, but it's going to be interesting.
Here are some abbreviations:
• NL = Nozzle Length, lengden på det korteste røret ut fra
forbrenningskammeret.
• NM = Nozzle Mean diameter, gjennomsnitts diameter.
• CL = Combustion chamber Length, lengden til forbrenningskammeret.
 • CM = Combustion chamber Mean diameter, gjennomsnittlig diameter til
forbrenningskammer.
• TL = Tail pipe Length, lengden til rør med bøy.
• TM = Tail pipe Mean diameter, gjennomsnittlig diameter til rør med bøy.

Click
on

image for details.

Propane bottles are sold at almost every gas-station. I bought a 11Kg bottle
(industrial fittings) and paid 925 NOK. Refill is about 330 NOK. The bottle must
be capable of high flow rate to power the engine. I use no regulator, only a
needlevalve (meant for oxygen) to control the flow. The propane is fed directly
into the engine through the main valve at the top of the bottle, the needlevalve, a
hose and metal tube connected to the combustion chamber. I use no checkvalve,
which may prevent fire getting back into the bottle. NB! I have never emptied a
bottle while engine running. Bottle pressure is about 6 bar dependent at the
temperature. Propane only burns if 0.9% to 2% of the mixture is propane and then
rest of the mixture is air, so chances to get a fire back into the bottle is very small.
(If you have got any corrections or disagree, please let me know). On the pictures
below, you can see my bottle and setup. The hose is 10mm inside. (The metal tube
is shown at the top of the document)
This picture show the connection of the metal tube connected to the combustion
chamber

The sparkplug is inserted in a socket which are

milled and welded to the combustion chamber.
Any sparkplug would do. I use a regular "NGK
BP6E S" without resistant. An old coil, removed
from a car, is just perfect to make a spark. I've
built a electronic circuit to power the coil. Remember only one spark is needed to
start the engine, and then you stop the coil.

I have not made a final teststand nor any augmenter to my engine.

The engine is made of 3mm thick 316 L stainless steel. I don't know how to
calculate wall thickness, but 3mm is probably more than enough. I have been
running this engine much hotter than seen on picture (below) without problems.