How Do Turboprop Engines Work?

Edgar Alacan established a private jet company Jets.com in 2008. With his entrepreneurial skills, Edgar Alacan increased the company’s annual sales to $40 million. The company offers many private jet charter flights to its customers, including turboprop jets.

A turboprop engine is a turbine engine that powers the propeller of an aircraft. An intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and propelling nozzle make up a turboprop. The compressor compresses the air that enters the intake. As the air passes through the compressor, which has a series of compressing stages, it gives more energy and compression to the air. The fuel mixes with compressed air in the combustor, where the combination combusts.

The hot combustion gases expand through the turbine stages at the exhaust point, creating electricity. A portion of the turbine’s output powers the compressor and electric generator. After then, the gases are expelled from the turbine. Unlike a turbojet or turbofan, the engine’s exhaust gases do not deliver enough energy to generate substantial thrust since the propeller consumes practically all of the engine’s output.

The turbine contains a set of airfoil-shaped blades comparable to the compressor blades. The turbine blades absorb energy from the hot, high-speed air passing over them, spinning the compressor turbine in a circle and rotating the engine shaft linked to it.

The air enters the engine’s power turbines after going through the compressor turbine. These power turbines have airfoil-shaped blades and rotate similarly to compressor turbines. This front-engine shaft connects to the propeller, giving power to the propeller to spin.