Geared Turbofan enters ground
testing.
Pratt & Whitney announced on 13 November that its Geared
Turbofan demonstrator engine had successfully completed its first ground
test, ahead of schedule, at the company's advanced test facility in
West Palm Beach, Florida. The full-scale demonstrator engine
successfully started and ran, marking the beginning of a ground test
programme that will run through May 2008.
The Geared Turbofan engine is part of Pratt & Whitney's
technology readiness programme for the next generation of commercial
aircraft. The company is actively testing key components on 15 test rigs
around the world, and flight The ground testing on Pratt &
Whitney's 747 flying test bed is scheduled to begin in mid-2008.
The Geared Turbofan programme--in which MTU has a 15%
stake--targets double-digit improvements in fuel burn with significant
reductions in engine noise, environmental emissions and operating costs.
In a Geared Turbofan engine, a state-of-the-art fan drive gear system
allows the engine's fan to operate at a speed different from that
of the low-pressure compressor and turbine, resulting in greater fuel
efficiency and a slower fan speed which results in less noise. Earlier,
the company announced that the Geared Turbofan engine had been selected
by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to power the new proposed Mitsubishi
Regional Jet. It will also power the Bombardier C-Series regional
aircraft, should that programme be launched.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
COPYRIGHT 2007 Aerospace Media
Publishing Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.