2nd post today, what a surprise!

The reason I'm posting again is that I just got an amazing lecture. Its by this guy from the Sterling Group over at the UK. Its a talk on how to make fighter jets fly faster (the Need For Speed is paramount) and cooler (always useful for avoiding heat seeking missiles). Its really interesting.

But what i'm most interested in, and what I will be talking about today, is about the new engine that they are coming up with over at their research lab. Unlike conventional jet engines, which is powered by combustion, the new engine is powered by something that is known as the "Pulsed Detonation". In other words, it is a "Pulsed Detonation Engine (PDE)".

Allow me to give you a bright overview as to what it is. Basically, it is an engine which explodes many, many times a second. Unlike combustion jet engines, which are continuous, the PDE does not have a single, continuous flame coming out of it. Instead, it releases a huge number of thrusts per second. According to the speaker, when the engine is finally completed, it would bring flying to a whole new level.

The reason behind this is that detonation, unlike combustion, is said to be a “supersonic” reaction, meaning that it takes place at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The whole reaction has been measured to take place at Mach 10. Blink and it is completed. This means that the plane would be able to fly much faster than current jets – in my estimate, it should be able to play at Mach 5 easily. That’s twice as fast as jets are today.
But it is not complete yet. As of now, the prototype is only able to fire off pulses at 15 times per second. The goal is to get it up to 50, and more if possible. It would be interesting to see how this turns out in the future.