IMPELLER.
all the squeeze, one stage
A single centrifugal stage does all of the compression in the VD-100. The impeller swallows air at the eye, spins it outward at very high tip speed and hands it to the diffuser at several times the pressure it came in with. It is compact and highly loaded on purpose: the whole engine has to fit inside a slim casing.
Backswept blades keep the flow leaving the impeller subsonic and gives the compressor a stable, surge-resistant characteristic.
Key numbers
- Stages
- 1 × centrifugal
- Blades
- Main + splitter, backswept
- Air mass flow
- ≈ 1.8 kg/s
- Construction
- Unshrouded, one piece
- Max speed
- 60,000 rpm
Materials
Ti-6Al-4V
Strength-to-weight at tip speeds where forged aluminium runs out of margin.
Al 2618-T61
Development impellers and rig tests, where lead time beats life.
How it is produced
Designed by Vector Dynamics, produced by qualified manufacturing partners to our drawings.
- 01
1-D design & CFD
Mean-line design first, then 3-D CFD to check efficiency and surge margin before any metal is cut.
- 02
5-axis flank milling
Blades and hub machined from a forged billet in one set-up to hold the blade profile.
- 03
Bore & datum turning
Bore, faces and pilot diameters finished after milling to keep run-out low.
- 04
Tip clearance
The unshrouded impeller runs very close to its casing; every tenth of a millimetre is worth efficiency.
- 05
Balancing
Two-plane dynamic balance, then again as an assembly with the turbine and shaft.
and then we check it
- CMM scan of blade profiles vs. CAD
- Fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI)
- Spin test at 120 % of max speed
supply enquiries welcome.
Want the VD-100?
UAV and target-drone makers, manufacturing partners and investors: talk to us about the VD-100.