GT 101 - Preliminary Design

Preliminary Design

Müller's first detailed design was a simple modification to a traditional jet engine, the core engine being based on the Heinkel HeS 011. In this design a separate turbine and power take-off shaft was bolted onto the exhaust of the engine core, the hot gases of the engine powering the turbine, and thus the tank. Since the engine core was entirely separate from the power take-off, torque was available immediately because the core could be left running at full speed while generating small amounts of power, the unneeded gases being "dumped". This design had a serious problem, however; when the load was removed, during gear shifts for instance, the power turbine was unloaded and could race out of control. Either the power turbine had to be braked during these periods, or the gas flow from the engine core had to be dumped.

Another problem was that the Heereswaffenamt was seriously concerned about the quality of the fuels they could find. Unlike the aviation role where it was expected the fuel would be highly refined, it was considered likely the Army would end up with lower-quality fuels that could expected to contain all sorts of heavy contaminants. This led to the possibility that the fuel would not have time to mix properly in a traditional design, leading to poor combustion. They were particularly interested in having the fuel injectors rotate along with the engine core, which could be expected to lead to much better mixing, with the additional benefit of reducing hot spots on the turbine's stators. Unfortunately Müller's design did not appear to be able to be adapted to use these injectors, and the design was eventually rejected on 12 August.