Do the centurion dynamo cores have any purpose, or are they just clutter items?

Used for crafting deadric items using the atronach forge beneth winterhold college. You come across it during that questline.

What kind of Deadric things can you craft there?

I'll be heading back in to a dungeon I just cleared to gut that dynamo core out of the centy I toppled then...

Outside the game, they will prove useful for crafting rotating parts on meshes once we get NifSkope and modeling capabilities ready, by gutting out the already-setup animation controllers in the central core.