General Electric T58

T58
Type Turboshaft
National origin United States
Manufacturer GE Aviation
First run April 1955
Major applications Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight
Kaman SH-2 Seasprite
Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
Variants Rolls-Royce Gnome,
Inspection of a T58 engine before installation in a SH-3G Sea King helicopter

The General Electric T58 is an American turboshaft engine developed for helicopter use. First run in 1955, it remained in production until 1984, by which time some 6,300 units had been built. On July 1, 1959, it became the first turbine engine to gain FAA certification for civil helicopter use. The engine was license-built and further developed by de Havilland in the UK as the Gnome, in the West Germany by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz,[1] and also manufactured by Alfa Romeo and the IHI Corporation.

Design and development

Development commenced with a 1953 US Navy requirement for a helicopter turboshaft to weigh under 400 lb (180 kg) while delivering 800 hp (600 kW). The engine General Electric eventually built weighed only 250 lb (110 kg) and delivered 1,050 hp (780 kW) and was soon ordered into production. First flight was on a modified Sikorsky HSS-1 in 1957, and civil certification for the CT58-100 variant was obtained two years later.[2]

A number of unusual features are incorporated into the T58:[3]

1) an all-axial compressor. Most other turboshafts in this power bracket have a centrifugal unit as a final compressor stage. As a result, the blades at the rear of the compressor are very small (less than 0.5in high) and extremely thin.

2) compressor handling at part speed is facilitated by several rows of variable stators at the front part of the unit. This was a fairly novel feature when the engine was first introduced.

3) a single stage power turbine. which delivers power to the rear of engine. The hot exhaust stream is diverted sideways, away from the output shaft, by a skewed jet pipe.

4) the combustor is a straight-through annular design, rather than reverse flow.

The main production version of the engine was the T58-GE-10, developing 1,400 hp (1,044 kW). The most powerful version, the T58-GE-16, produces 1,870 hp (1,390 kW).[4]

Variants

[5]

T58-GE-1
1,290 hp (960 kW)
T58-GE-2
1,325 hp (988 kW)
T58-GE-3
1,290 hp (960 kW)
T58-GE-4
T58-GE-5
1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
T58-GE-6
1,250 hp (930 kW)
T58-GE-8B
1,250 hp (930 kW)
T58-GE-8E
1,350 hp (1,010 kW)
T58-GE-8F
1,350 hp (1,010 kW)
T58-GE-10
1,400 hp (1,000 kW)
T58-GE-14
1,400 hp (1,000 kW) 2-stage power turbine
T58-GE-16
1,870 hp (1,390 kW)
T58-GE-100
1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
T58-GE-402
1,500 hp (1,100 kW)
CT58-100-1
1,050 hp (780 kW)
CT58-110-1
1,350 hp (1,010 kW)
CT58-140-1
1,500 hp (1,100 kW) commercial T58-GE-10
Ishikawajima-Harima CT58-IHI-110-1
1,400 hp (1,000 kW)
Ishikawajima-Harima CT58-IHI-140-1
1,400 hp (1,000 kW)
Ishikawajima-Harima T58-IHI-8B BLC
For Shin Meiwa PS-1 BLC system
Rolls-Royce Gnome
Licensed production and development of the T58 in the United Kingdom.

Applications

Other Applications

Two T58s, converted to turbojets by the removal of the power turbines, were used as the engines on the Maverick TwinJet 1200.[6]

The Carroll Shelby turbine cars entered in the 1968 Indianapolis 500 race were powered by T58s.[7] The cars were found to be using variable inlets to get around the USAC regulations on the maximum allowable inlet size and were disqualified.

Turboshaft engines like the GE T58, Lycoming T53/T55 are also used to power high performance powerboats, such as aport and offshore vee, and catamaran hulls like the Skater "Jet Set" or Mystic Powerboats "My Way", water jet river racers like Unnatural Disaster and hydroplanes. Some of these boats run in excess of 200 mph, despite them being open cockpit pleasure boats.

Survivors

Specifications (T58-GE-8)

Data from [9][10]

General characteristics

  • Type: Free power turbine turboshaft
  • Length: 55 in (1,397 mm)
  • Diameter: 16 in (406 mm)
  • Dry weight: 285 lb (129 kg) without reduction gearbox, 391 lb (177 kg) with reduction gearbox

Components

  • Compressor: 10 stage axial-flow compressor with variable inlet guide vanes + variable incidence stators in first three stages
  • Combustors: Annular combustion chamber with 16 burner nozzles on two manifolds
  • Turbine: 2x gas generator turbine stages + 1x free power turbine stage
  • Fuel type: Aviation kerosene

Performance

See also

Related development

Related lists

References

  1. ↑ Production Briefing. // Aviation Week & Space Technology, June 24, 1963, v. 78, no. 25, p. 79.
  2. ↑ Flying Magazine: 52. March 1960. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958%20-%200077.html
  4. ↑ Archived January 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ http://www.jet-engine.net/miltsspec.html
  6. ↑ MiniJets Website Retrieved 28 June 2011
  7. ↑ 'Rodger Ward's Indy 500 Preview; Will the Turbines Takeover?'
  8. ↑ Engine Collection. NEAM. Retrieved on 2013-08-16.
  9. ↑ "About the General Electric T58 (series) Turbine Engine". Archived from the original on 2011-11-24.
  10. ↑ Taylor, John W.R. FRHistS. ARAeS (1962). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962-63. London: Sampson, Low, Marston & Co Ltd.
  • Gunston, Bill (1986). World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens. p. 65.
  • GE Aviation T58 page and T58 history page
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