Can You Build a Working Ramjet in Your Garage?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project was to evalueate low-speed ramjet technology to see if it is possible to build and run a low-speed ramjet efficently, to get an idea of power to weight ratio, see how much power that would aquate in full scale and determine if that is enough power to power a full scale aircraft. Methods/Materials 1. Ramjet body 2. Thrust testing cart 3. Propane delivery system 4. Air delivery system 5. Fuel ignition system 6. Digital fish scale 7. Propane tank 1. The ramjet body is fabricated. 2. The fuel system parts are purchased and set up. 3. Thrust testing cart is built. 4. Ramjet is thrust tested with 3 different flameholders. Results The 5 Point star flameholder obtained 0.19 Kg. of thrust on the first test, 0.15 Kg. on the second test, 0.35 Kg. on the third test and 0.26 Kg. on the forth test. The 3 Spoke flameholder created 0.17 Kg. of thrust on the first test, 0.13 Kg. on the second test, 0.17 Kg. on the third test and 0.20 Kg. on the forth test. The Drain style flameholder made 0.25 Kg. of thrust on the first test, 0.12 Kg. on the second test, 0.18 Kg. on the third test and 0.15 Kg. on the forth test Conclusions/Discussion We proved our hypothesis we were able to create a working ramjet in our garage. Our data collection proves that our low speed ramjet is inefficient in it#s current state and therefore needs improvement in power to weight ratio. Also our low speed ramjet required a lot more fuel to run full throttle then we planned for.

Awards (1)

• Second Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry S0201

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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