KELLER C

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

\

17.6.1904 Berlin/D - 20.1.1984 Küsnacht/CH

\

Curt Keller graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich in 1927. He then joined Escher & Wyss in Zurich and there took over as chief engineer in 1929 its hydraulic laboratory. In 1934 he gained the PhD title from ETH for a thesis On the theory and performance of axial flow fans, which was later published also in the USA and in Japan. Keller was awarded for his works the Honorary Award from the ASME Gas Turbine Power Division in 1957 and was elected a Fellow ASME in 1966.

\

Keller's PhD thesis laid the theoretical and practical bases for compressors with airfoil-shaped blades which led to high efficiencies of the multi-staged modern gas turbine and jet engines. An important achievement for the design of these machines was the development of scientific model tests based on the laws of similitude. From 1934 to 1940, Keller developed in the Escher & Wyss hydraulic laboratory the socalled aerodynamic test method for caloric and hydraulic machinery. It was demonstrated that air can be used instead of water or steam to solve practical problems. The Ackeret-Keller AK-Turbine was developed in 1935 together with Jakob Ackeret (1898-1981) as a novel gas turbine working in a closed cycle. Keller then improved this design to an international standard.

\

_{Anonymous (1946). Curt Keller in the Georgian Room at the 1945 Annual Meeting. Mechanical Engineering 68(1): 65. P}

_{Anonymous (1983). Curt Keller. The Swiss and Liechtenstein Who's who: 427. Orell-Füessli: Zürich.}

_{Dudli, N. (2006). Kurt Huldreich Keller. Zivilstandsamt: Bischoffzell.}

_{Keller, C. (1934). Axialgebläse vom Standpunkt der Tragflügeltheorie. Dissertation 801. ETH: Zürich.}

_{Keller, C., Salzmann, F. (1936). Luft-Modellversuche an Drosselklappen für Druckleitungen von hydraulischen Anlagen. Schweizerische Bauzeitung 107(13): 133-136.}

_{Keller, C. (1937). Aerodynamische Versuchsanlagen für hydraulische Maschinen. Schweizerische Bauzeitung 110(17): 203-209.}

_{Keller, C. (1943). Aerodynamik und Maschinenbau. Schweizerische Bauzeitung 121(14): 171- 174; 121(15): 190-191.}

_{Keller, C. (1958). Werdegang der aerodynamischen Wärmekraftanlagen. ZAMP 9: 47-52. Keller, C. (1958). Über den Ursprung und die Entwicklung der geschlossenen Gasturbine: Heissluftturbine. ETH: Zürich.}