Klimow WK-1
The Klimow WK-1 was a Soviet turbojet engine . It was the first Soviet jet engine to be mass- produced. The letters of the name are the initials of the designer Vladimir Klimov .
development
It was a further development of the Klimow RD-45 and, like this one, was based on the British Rolls-Royce Nene engine , but achieved about 30 percent more thrust than the original model without increasing the external dimensions.
It is a single-shaft engine with a single-stage radial compressor that had two inlets. The combustion air was fed through nine individual combustion chambers to the single-stage turbine. The aviation license was granted in December 1948. It was used in the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis . A variant WK-1A with a modified gearbox and better durability replaced the original engine in series production and was used in the samples of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 , the Ilyushin Il-28 and the Tupolev Tu-14used. A version with an afterburner, called WK-1F (Forsasch), was manufactured from 1951 and was used in later versions of the MiG-17 (F, PF and R). However, it was also used in other aircraft. The engine was also manufactured in Poland , Czechoslovakia and China . Production continued there until 1958. A total of over 20,000 units were manufactured.
The Klimow WK-5 was a further development of the WK-1 with increased turbine inlet temperature and stronger thrust. This engine was approved in 1952 and the WK-5F variant was also equipped with an afterburner. However, it did not find widespread use. The engine delivered a thrust of 30.4 kN, with an afterburner 37.3 kN.
After their use as aircraft engines ended, a number of WK-1 engines were used for other purposes, such as ice defrosting devices for airfield drying or turbo extinguishers .
Since the engine was based on the Rolls-Royce Nene and it had been mass-produced without a license agreement, Rolls-Royce later tried to sue for £ 207 million in royalties, but was unsuccessful.
Technical data (WK-1A)
- Length: 2640 mm
- Diameter: 1270 mm
- Weight: 872 kg
- Starting thrust 26.5 kN (WK-1F with afterburner: 33.16 kN)
- Specific fuel consumption: 109.1 kg / (kN h)
- Turbine speed: 11,560 min-1
