Новости General Electric Co.

Разработчики устранили просчет в конструкции крупнейшего авиадвигателя

GE9X
GE Aviation
Американская компания GE Aviation устранила просчет в конструкции двигателя GE9X, крупнейшей в мире авиационной силовой установки. Как пишет Flightglobal, исправленная версия двигателя в настоящее время проходит финальные испытания, которые планируется завершить до конца ноября текущего года. После этого американский авиастроительный концерн Boeing сможет приступить к летным испытаниям перспективного пассажирского самолета Boeing 777X, крупнейшего в мире двухдвигательного лайнера.
Недочеты в конструкции GE9X были обнаружены во время испытаний в начале 2018 года. Специалисты выяснили, что плечи рычагов, приводящих в движение поворотные лопатки статора компрессора, во время работы двигателя испытывают нагрузки, превосходящие расчетные. Тогда конструкторы заявили, что обнаруженный просчет можно будет относительно просто устранить. Летом текущего года специалисты компании GE Aviation объявили, что из-за работ по устранению недочетов в конструкции статора сертификационные испытания GE9X вероятнее всего будут отложены на осень.
Теперь руководитель проекта GE9X Тед Инглинг объявил, что теперь недочет полностью устранен. При этом характеристики двигателя не изменились. В рамках финального этапа проверок силовые установки GE9X, в частности, проходят ресурсные испытания, в том числе работой на предельных режимах.
Разработка GE9X ведется с 2012 года. Диаметр вентилятора этого двигателя составляет 3,4 метра, а диаметр его воздухозаборника — 4,5 метра. Для сравнения, диаметр GE9X всего на 20 сантиметров меньше диаметра фюзеляжа лайнера Boeing 767 и на 76 сантиметров больше диаметра фюзеляжа лайнера Boeing 737. Новая силовая установка может развивать тягу до 470 килоньютонов. GE9X имеет крайне высокую степень двухконтурности — 10:1. Этот показатель позволяет двигателю поддерживать высокую мощность, потребляя существенно меньше топлива по сравнению с другими двигателями.
Новый двигатель будет устанавливаться на пассажирские лайнеры Boeing 777X, самые большие в мире двухдвигательные пассажирские самолеты. Длина лайнеров в зависимости от версии составит 69,8 или 76,7 метра, а размах крыла — 71,8 метра. Самолет получит складное крыло, благодаря которому сможет помещаться в стандартном авиационном ангаре. Размах сложенного крыла B777X составит 64,8 метра. Максимальная взлетная масса лайнера составит 351,5 тонны. Самолет сможет выполнять полеты на расстояние до 16,1 тысячи километров.
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ANALYSIS: GE wraps up GE9X trials as 777X flight tests near

• 18 NOVEMBER, 2019
• SOURCE: FLIGHTGLOBAL.COM

GE Aviation wants the industry to know it has fixed a GE9X problem that delayed first flight of the Boeing 777X.
The Ohio-based engine maker is now performing two final tests, which it expects will be completed before the end of November, clearing the way for 777X flight tests to begin.
In addition, GE Aviation is highlighting GEnx durability improvements and potential new business opportunities, including a possible GEnx-powered 767 variant being studied by Boeing.
“It is solved. It is fixed, and it’s fixed robustly,” GE Aviation’s GE9X programme manager, Ted Ingling, says of the GE9X stator vane problem that delayed the 777X’s flight-test programme. “It is better to have found it in the factory than find it in the field.”
“We fixed the assembly to make it more durable,” adds Ingling, “The performance and the operational characteristics of the engine did not change.”
The 105,000lb-thrust (467kN) GE9X is the only power option for both 777X variants – the 777-8 and larger 777-9.
GE Aviation is now completing certification testing on two engines. One is undergoing an “endurance test”, which examines engine performance when operated for extended periods at “redline temperatures and redline speed of rotors”, says Ingling.
The other engine is being subjected to a “vibration endurance” test, during which engineers run it with rotor imbalances. That test will help determine the engine’s ability to withstand such conditions and help establish procedures pilots will use to respond to issues.
“We expect to be done with that testing this month,” Ingling says. “When that’s done, Boeing can start its flight tests.”

GE Aviation flight tested the GE9X on the wing of its 747 flying testbed
GE Aviation
GE Aviation had halted certification testing after discovering a problem with stator vanes at the front end of the GE9X’s high-pressure compressor. The engine maker’s chief executive, David Joyce, disclosed the issue in June at the Paris air show.
The vanes, which sit between rotor blades, pivot on a bearing to keep the engine at peak performance. A “durability issue” in the second-stage vane was causing exhaust gas temperatures outside an expected range and premature component deterioration, Joyce said.
As GE studied the problem, Boeing continued to perform ground tests of the engines on its 777X test airframes.
The issue eventually forced Boeing to delay the 777-9’s first flight from 2019 to its current expectation of early 2020.
“It’s a lesson learned for us,” Ingling says. “The unfortunate part of this learning was that it came late in the game.”
The problem forced GE Aviation to recall from Boeing four GE9X “compliance engines” – those used for 777X test flights. Two of those engines are already back on the wings of a test aircraft, Ingling says.
Meanwhile, GE Aviation is performing “maturation” testing on one engine – work that involves subjecting it to extreme operating conditions, such as “airborne dusting”. Those tests will help engineers understand how the powerplant will perform over time when operated in extreme conditions, Ingling says.

GE Aviation tests GE9X turbofans in a "test cell' at its facility in Peebles, Ohio
GE Aviation
With firm orders for some 340 777X on Boeing’s books, the aircraft has not yet proved a massive seller. GE Aviation has put its backlog of GE9X engines at about 700.
Boeing has broadly seen a dip in widebody orders, including orders from carriers based in China, a country now embroiled with the USA in trade tensions. Earlier this month Boeing cited slow demand from China as among the reasons why it is cutting 787 production from 14 aircraft per month to 12.
Boeing also said in August that it had temporarily shelved development of the 777-8.
“There is clearly some pent-up demand that won’t get filled until some geopolitical things get resolved between the US and China,” says Ingling. “We look at this over the long haul and are very excited about the capability of the aircraft and the engine.”
Boeing executives and industry analysts have predicted a surge in 777X orders in the next decade as models currently in service edge towards retirement.
NEW GENX PLATFORMS
GE Aviation is also using Dubai to call attention to the commercial success of its GEnx, the 747-8’s sole engine option and one of two 787 engine choices. The company recently delivered its 2,000th GEnx to Boeing, a milestone coming 15 years after GE Aviation launched the engine.
Some 60 airlines operate GEnx turbofans, and the model has logged some 26 million hours and 4.5 million flight cycles. The engine entered service on the 747-8 in 2011 and in 2012 on the fast-selling 787.
The engines have not been issue free. GE Aviation has developed an upgrade to improve durability issues particularly affecting engines operating in high and sandy environments.
“We have had a couple of bumps in the road,” says GEnx programme manager Jim Leister. But, he says, the company learned from airlines’ service experience and developed durability improvements. GE Aviation is also running a GEnx through tests to simulate 2,000 “hot and sandy” engine cycles, he says.
Meanwhile, GE Aviation is eyeing other potential GEnx platforms, having proposed a variant to power the Sino-Russian CRAIC CR929, a widebody that developers expect to fly around 2025.
The engine is also reportedly the choice to power a potential new freighter derivative of the 767, known as the 767-X. Boeing is reportedly reviewing the business case for that aircraft, which would enter service around 2025.
“I can confirm we are talking about it as a normal strategy review,” Leister says of the 767-X’s engines. “We talk with Boeing on different applications.”

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GE ships first engines for F-15EX fighter
By Craig Hoyle16 September 2020

GE Aviation has delivered its first F110-129 engines for integration with Boeing’s F-15EX fighter, ahead of the new model’s flight debut next year.

Announcing the development on 16 September, GE said its relationship with Boeing on the project dates back to 2014, when the propulsion supplier “began investing resources and made a long-term commitment to become qualified on the F-15EX”.


Source: GE Aviation
GE’s first contract covers provision of 19 F110-129 engines
The US Air Force (USAF) in June awarded Boeing a contract to produce a first batch of eight interceptors, without disclosing its engine selection. GE confirms that during the same month it received a Lot 1 contract from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center to supply 19 F110-129s, plus modernised engine monitoring system computers.

Shawn Warren, GE Aviation’s vice-president and general manager of large combat and mobility engines, says the company’s F110 production line is “fully operational and ready to serve the F-15EX programme”.

“We’re proud to deliver these engines to Boeing and do our part to ensure the air force’s rapid fielding requirements are met to maintain fighter aircraft capacity,” Warren adds.


Source: Boeing
US Air Force plans to buy 144 of the new-generation fighter
Due to enter squadron service from 2023, the F-15EX is intended to allow the USAF to rapidly re-equip squadrons currently flying aged F-15C/Ds. It intends to acquire up to 144 examples, but could eventually increase this to as many as 200.

GE notes that F110s have powered all the F-15s delivered since 2012, including aircraft for export operators Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

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GE to perform GE9X sand-ingestion tests in 2021

GE Aviation in 2021 will kick off a GE9X test programme intended to validate the powerplant's durability when operating in sandy, dusty conditions.

www.flightglobal.com

GE to perform GE9X sand-ingestion tests in 2021
By Jon Hemmerdinger3 October 2020
GE Aviation in 2021 will kick off a GE9X test programme intended to validate the powerplant’s durability when operating in sandy, dusty conditions.
The tests will let GE evaluate the 105,000lb-thrust (467kN) GE9X’s design and technologies intended to help the powerplant tolerate such extreme operations.
“One of our biggest focus points has been on sand ingestion,” says GE9X programme leader Karl Sheldon. “The test next year is where we purposefully allow the engine to ingest sand.”
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“The intent of the test is to validate the technology that we put in there, in a full-up operating condition,” he adds.

Source: GE Aviation
A GE9X on the wing of the company’s 747 flying test bed.
Just days ago, on 28 September, GE received Federal Aviation Administration Type 33 airworthiness certification for the GE9X, which powers Boeing’s 777X. The regulatory clearance followed a certification project launched in 2017.
Boeing expects to deliver its first 777X– a 777-9 variant – in 2022.
Sheldon provides few details about technologies intended to make the GE9X more durable to sand. However, he says the technologies involve “how we manage secondary” air flow. The flow design ensures “dust and sand particles do not clog up the secondary-flow passages”.
GE has also equipped the GE9X with durable ceramic-matrix composite (CMC) materials. The engine has CMCs on its inner and outer combustor liners, and the stage-one and stage-two nozzles and stage-one shroud in its high-pressure turbine.

Source: Boeing
GE9X turbofans power Boeing’s 777-9 (seen above), which Boeing is moving through certification.
Meanwhile, GE is working with Boeing to achieve GE9X “extended operations” (ETOPS) certification – an FAA Part 25 aircraft airworthiness standard. That effort will involve logging another 2,000 cycles on an engine that has already logged 1,000, for 3,000 cycles total.
Each cycle lasts less than 1h and involves spooling the engine up and bringing it back to idle.
GE will perform ETOPS certification work using the same engine it recently ran through initial maintenance inspection (IMI) tests — part of the Part 33 certification.
The IMI tests, which GE completed in early September, involved creating an “unbalance” in the rotor.
“We purposefully put weights in the rotor that drive it to be unbalanced,” Sheldon says. The team then ran the powerplant through 1,000 cycles.

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Разработка «керамического» вертолетного двигателя завершится в 2020 году

По программе FATE испытания прошли два прототипа нового газотурбинного двигателя

nplus1.ru

Разработка «керамического» вертолетного двигателя завершится в 2020 году

GE Aviation
FATE
Армия США и американская компания GE Aviation до конца 2020 года завершат разработку проекта FATE (Future Affordable Turbine Engine, доступный газотурбинный двигатель будущего), предполагающего создание относительно экономичного и дешевого в производстве газотурбинного двигателя для вертолетной техники. Как сообщает Flightglobal, в рамках проекта GE Aviation уже провела испытания двух прототипов нового двигателя, в конструкции которых широко используются керамические матричные композиты.
Программа FATE стартовала в 2011 году. Силовые установки, разработанные по проекту, планируется ставить на разные типы вертолетной техники. По оценке GE Aviation, использование керамики в конструкции перспективных двигателей позволит удешевить их производство за счет упрощения производственного цикла и снизить стоимость эксплуатации благодаря большему ресурсу керамических композитов по сравнению с традиционными материалами.
Программа предполагает создание газотурбинных двигателей мощностью от пяти до десяти тысяч лошадиных сил. От существующих двигательных установок перспективные двигатели должны отличаться на 35 процентов меньшим потреблением топлива, на 20 процентов большим сроком службы и на 45 процентов меньшими стоимостью производства и обслуживания. Силовые установки проекта FATE будут выпускаться в нескольких вариантах. По утверждению GE Aviation, испытания подтвердили эти требования. В общей сложности в рамках испытаний двигатели отработали 130 часов.
В первую очередь силовые установки проекта FATE рассматриваются в качестве замены двигателей T700 вертолетов AH-64 Apache и UH-60 Black Hawk. Двигатели T700 в нескольких десятках версий выпускаются с 1973 года и имеют мощность от 6,1 до 7,4 киловатт.
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US Army’s Future Affordable Turbine Engine effort to finish by end of 2020

The US Army's Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) programme, an effort to come up with engine performance enhancing technologies, is nearing completion and should be wrapped up by the end of 2020.

www.flightglobal.com

US Army’s Future Affordable Turbine Engine effort to finish by end of 2020
The US Army’s Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) programme, an effort to come up with performance enhancing technologies, is nearing completion and should be wrapped up by the end of 2020.
GE Aviation, which funded the effort with the US Army, has successfully tested two unnamed engines as part of the programme, the company said on 13 October.

Source: GE Aviation
GE Aviation T901 mock-up used for fit check in AH-64
The programme is intended to develop and demonstrate a group of enhancing technologies that can be built onto existing or next-generation turbines that are in the power range of 5,000hp (3,730kW) to 10,000hp.
The initiative’s enhancement goals include a 35% reduction in specific fuel consumption, an 80% improvement in power-to-weight ratio, 20% improvement in design life and 45% reduction in production and maintenance costs relative to currently fielded legacy engines, says GE.
“We’re pleased with the results from engine and component testing, which completed all primary objectives,” says Harry Nahatis, vice-president of GE Aviation’s rotorcraft and turboprops programmes.
The company says it successfully tested the technologies on two engines. “GE has also completed several component tests, including the inlet particle separator, compressor, combustor and turbine,” it adds. “The full engine test programme completed over 130h of testing and captured more than 2,200 steady-state data points.”
Some of the technologies are already finding their way onto US Army turboshaft engines, including GE’s T901-900, which is to replace the powerplants on the US Army’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters and Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters as part of the Improved Turbine Engine programme. The new T901 is to be 50% more powerful – at 3,000shp – 25% more fuel efficient, and provide a 20% longer design life over the T700 that currently powers the UH-60 and AH-64.
The 7,500hp GE T408 engine that powers the US Marine Corps’ Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion may also benefit from the technologies, the company says. The T408 is also a contender for powering the US Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. As part of a separate effort, GE has developed and is flight demonstrating a variant of the T408 on the Boeing CH-47 Chinook.

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Tests Of GE XA100 Adaptive Combat Engine Exceed Performance Targets | Aviation Week Network

GE Aviation has completed initial test runs of the first full-scale XA100 three-stream adaptive combat engine, marking the start of a new chapter in U.S. military turbine engine development and paving the way for a new generation of variable cycle powerplants for sixth generation fighters.

aviationweek.com

Tests Of GE XA100 Adaptive Combat Engine Exceed Performance Targets​

Guy Norris May 13, 2021
XA100
Credit: GE Aviation

GE Aviation has completed initial test runs of the first full-scale XA100 three-stream adaptive combat engine, marking the start of a new chapter in U.S. military turbine engine development and paving the way for a new generation of variable cycle powerplants for sixth generation fighters.
Developed by GE’s Edison Works advanced programs unit, the XA100 is one of two experimental adaptive demonstrators contracted under the U.S. Air Force’s Life Cycle Management Center’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). The other engine, the XA101, is under development by Pratt & Whitney.
In addition to proving out the adaptive concept at full scale, both demonstrators are also designed as a 45,000 lb. thrust class engine to meet potential growth requirements for the conventional take-off and landing variants of Lockheed Martin’s F-35. For now, however, the focus is on evaluating the performance and operability of a morphing propulsion system that offers a step change in combat capability through the dynamic modulation of a third stream of air.
Engine tests mark the culmination of AETP which was launched in 2016 to develop three-stream demonstrators for full scale development from earlier research efforts. These included the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Adaptive Engine Technology Demonstration (AETD) and Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) programs which proved the basics of practical variable cycle propulsion.
Results from test runs of the first XA100—which began in GE’s high-altitude test cell in Evendale, Ohio, on Dec. 22 and continued through late March—have exceeded expectations according to David Tweedie, GE Edison Works’ general manager for Advanced Combat Engines.
“We hit all of our primary test objectives,” Tweedie said. “The engine behaved right along with our pre-test predictions and was very consistent with the program goals. We were able to demonstrate the two different modes of the engine and the ability to seamlessly transition between those two modes.”
Designed to run separately to the conventional core air and lower pressure bypass flows, the additional third stream can be redirected to provide increased thrust during combat or better fuel efficiency during cruise conditions. The AETP goals aimed to improve thrust and fuel efficiency by 10% and 25% respectively compared to a 2015 state-of-the-art fighter engine. “Not only are we meeting that, we’re actually exceeding that pretty much everywhere in the flight envelope—and in a few places—up to 20% [more thrust],” Tweedie said. “We are very happy with where we are from thrust in terms of over-delivering versus the program requirement.”
“When you translate that to what it means to the platform, it’s 30% more range or 50% more loiter time depending on how you want to utilize that fuel burn improvement. It’s a significant increase in acceleration and combat capability with the increased thrust,” he said.
Another crucial parameter for the test program is the effectiveness of using heat exchangers in the third stream for thermal management—a growing challenge, particularly for low-observable, advanced combat aircraft with power-hungry sensors, systems and weapons. “We see a significant increase in capability there [with] up to two times mission systems growth enabled by the [improved] thermal management,” Tweedie said.
As well as overall performance, testing also focused on the operability of the power management system and its ability to automatically transition between modes. The system manages this as a function of the power setting on the engine. “As you get to a point where throttle demand would indicate you want to be in the higher thrust mode, that’s when the engine kicks over,” Tweedie said. “The vision here is the pilot won’t even know what mode they’re in. It should be completely transparent to them and it’s simply scheduled into the engine.”
GE’s altitude test site, which was built in the 1960s to support development of the GE4 for the U.S. civil supersonic program, has been used to clear the initial XA100 performance characteristics. “We’ve been able, within the limits of our facility, to work at multiple points of the flight envelope to get data. This has not been just sea level static testing of this engine—which is why we have the confidence we have,” Tweedie said.
Assembly of the second XA100 prototype is “well underway,” according to GE. This will be tested at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. “AEDC has the capabilities that we don’t have on site, which is why the second engine is scheduled to go there and finish out building the matrix to the points we weren’t able to hit,” Tweedie added.
Changes to the second engine will be limited to instrumentation, software and controls. However, the engine hardware, which includes parts made from high-temperature tolerant ceramic matrix composites (including rotating components in the low-pressure turbine) and polymer matrix composites, will be identical to the first engine.

Guy Norris
Guy is a Senior Editor for Aviation Week, based in Colorado Springs. Before joining Aviation Week in 2007, Guy was with Flight International, first as technical editor based in the U.K. and most recently as U.S. West Coast editor. Before joining Flight, he was London correspondent for Interavia, part of Jane's Information Group.

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Американцы завершили испытания первого прототипа адаптивного авиадвигателя

Американцы завершили испытания первого прототипа адаптивного авиадвигателя​

XA100 на испытательном стенде
GE Aviation
Американская компания GE Aviation завершила испытания первого прототипа перспективного адаптивного авиационного реактивного двигателя XA100, разработка которого ведется с 2007 года по заказу ВВС США. Как пишет Flightglobal, стендовые испытания силовой установки проводились с декабря 2020 года. В ходе проверок силовая установка продемонстрировала характеристики, соответствующие математическим прогнозам, полученным на этапе проектирования.
В отличие от современных турбореактивных двигателей, устанавливаемых на некоторые боевые самолеты, адаптивный двигатель XA100 получил три контура: внутренний, состоящий из газогенератора и сопловой части, и два внешних.
При полете на дозвуковой скорости третий воздушный контур будет открыт, и двигатель будет работать практически как турбовентиляторная силовая установка с большой степенью двухконтурности. В таком режиме силовая установка будет иметь несколько бо́льшую тягу и существенно меньшее потребление топлива. При полете на сверхзвуковой скорости третий контур будет закрываться полностью, а объем воздуха, проходящего через второй контур, будет немного уменьшаться.
В конструкции XA100 используются керамические матричные композиты, полимерные матричные композиты и детали, произведенные с применением аддитивных технологий.
Адаптивный двигатель в первую очередь планируется использовать на истребителе F-35 Lightning II. Предполагается, что замена стандартной силовой установки F135 на XA100 позволит увеличить продолжительность полета F-35 на 50 процентов, дальность полета — на 35 процентов, а тягу — на 10 процентов. При этом расход топлива в полете уменьшится на 25 процентов.
Подробности о стендовых испытаниях силовой установки GE Aviation не раскрывает. В настоящее время компания занимается сборкой второго прототипа двигателя, проверки которого начнутся ближе к концу 2021 года.
Помимо GE Aviation разработкой адаптивного двигателя занимается американская компания Pratt & Whitney. Ее силовая установка получила обозначение XA101. Первые образцы двигателей XA100 и XA101 смогут развивать тягу до 200 килоньютон. Для сравнения, максимальная тяга двигателя F135 истребителя F-35 составляет 125 килоньютон и 191 килоньютон в режиме форсажа.
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CFM Unveils ‘Open Fan’ Demonstrator Plan For Next-Gen Engine | Aviation Week Network

CFM Unveils ‘Open Fan’ Demonstrator Plan For Next-Gen Engine​

Guy Norris June 14, 2021
The Open Fan demonstrator will also be a puller, or tractor, configuration with a single stage of rotating blades and a second nonrotating stage of active, variable-pitch stators.
Credit: CFM

CFM International joint venture partners GE Aviation and Safran have launched an aggressive technology development program to pave the way for a new generation of fuel-efficient unducted—or open fan—engines to enter service around the mid-2030s.
Also known as an open rotor engine, the open fan concept increases bypass ratio by eliminating the fan duct and offers double-digit efficiency gains due to a lower fan pressure ratio. The new engine will be developed as part of a suite of disruptive technologies under CFM’s newly unveiled Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) program.
Targeting a 20% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to current engines, RISE is aimed at the next generation of single-aisle airliners. The open fan program forms the foundation for a potential successor to CFM’s conventional direct-drive Leap-1 turbofan and offers the most realistic development opportunity yet for unducted fan technology since tests of the concept began in the 1980s.
Although the Leap introduced a 15% fuel-burn and emissions improvement over the CFM56 in the late 2010s, the engine-maker acknowledges that fundamental architectural changes will be required to keep next generation powerplants on track to meet internationally agreed targets of halving CO2 emissions by 2050. While much of industry’s research focus is on electric and hybrid-electric systems for smaller aircraft, the power needs of larger aircraft will require continued improvements to gas turbine-based engines—of which the open fan is one.
The switch to a puller versus the dual contra-rotating pusher open-rotor configuration of previous designs will enable flight-testing on existing testbed aircraft and allows for mechanically simpler integration on a potentially wider variety of future airliner concepts. Credit: CFM
As part of the launch of RISE, GE and Safran have also announced an agreement to extend their 50-50 partnership through to the middle of this century. Originally founded to develop the CFM56 in 1974, the joint venture was extended to 2040 when the partnership was renewed in 2008 in the build-up to development of the Leap.
“Through the RISE technology demonstration program, we are reinventing the future of flight, bringing an advanced suite of revolutionary technologies to market that will take the next generation of single-aisle aircraft to a new level of fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. We fully embrace the sustainability imperative,” said John Slattery, GE Aviation president and CEO.
“Our industry is in the midst of the most challenging times we have ever faced,” said Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran. “We have to act now to accelerate our efforts to reduce our impact on the environment. Through the extension of our CFM partnership to 2050, we are today reaffirming our commitment to work together as technology leaders to help our industry meet the urgent climate challenges.”
As part of the wider focus on sustainability, RISE will also include the development and testing of multiple new combustor designs to ensure future compatibility with sustainable aviation fuels and liquid hydrogen. The demonstrator open fan engines will also be configured with motor-generators to enable them to be adapted to hybrid-electric operation.
“In pursuit of this carbon reduction we think the time is right,” said Arjan Hegeman, general manager of GE Aviation’s advanced technology operation. “The open fan architecture eliminates the whole structure that sits around the fan, so you take a lot of weight out. You take a lot of drag out and you get the ultimate propulsive efficiency. It’s impossible to get any better.”
RISE builds on earlier unducted fan development work by GE and Safran. In the U.S., NASA, GE and the FAA collaborated between 2009 and 2012 on wind tunnel tests of an open rotor with blades developed using modern computer-based design methods. The blades were derivatives of the design used in GE’s GE36 unducted fan—one of two open rotor concepts (along with the Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX propfan)—that were successfully flight tested in the late 1980s.
The wind-tunnel tests, which were conducted as part of the FAA’s CLEEN (Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise) program, showed a cumulative 15-17 EPNdB noise margin to Chapter 4 (projected to full scale), and hinted at a potential step-change in efficiency. Results from the program suggested a modern open rotor propulsion system could achieve a 26% fuel burn reduction relative to a CFM56-7B-powered narrowbody aircraft.
More recently Safran led a counter-rotating open rotor (CROR) project that was conducted under the €200 million ($240 million) SAGE 2 (sustainable and green engine) project within Europe’s Clean Sky aeronautics research program. Although this effort, which was based on the core of the M88 combat engine, ended with ground tests in 2017, Safran and GE-owned Avio Aero have proposed a follow-on demonstrator program under Clean Aviation—a successor program to Clean Sky under the European Union’s broader Horizon Europe research and innovation framework to 2027.
Assuming Clean Aviation contracts are awarded, the RISE initiative will therefore be supported in part by European government research funding. “Involvement in various research programs backed by government investment is crucial to ensuring the full maturation of the disruptive technologies required to meet industry sustainability goals,” according to CFM. “Safran Aircraft Engines and Avio Aero are among the main companies shaping how we could participate in the Clean Aviation European research program that will run from 2022 to 2028 and that includes ground and flight demonstrations.”
Unlike SAGE 2, which focused principally on system integration and propulsive efficiency, the RISE open fan will include a new compact core to boost thermodynamic efficiency, as well as new low-emission combustors and motor-generators for hybrid-electric systems.
The RISE design will also be a puller, or tractor, configuration with a single stage of rotating blades versus the dual contra-rotating fan stages of the CROR, GE36 and 578-DX—all of which were pushers. The switch to a puller enables flight testing on some existing testbed aircraft without the need for major airframe modification and allows for mechanically simpler integration.
The engine will incorporate a second non-rotating stage of active variable-pitch stators that will act as flow recovery vanes. The design increases overall fan pressure ratio while simultaneously reducing rotor loading, thus enabling higher maximum flight Mach number. This configuration incorporates a compact high-pressure core, high-speed booster compressor and a high-speed, low-pressure-shaft-driven front gearbox.
“We simplified the architecture compared to the GE36 and CROR,” said Delphine Dijoud, executive manager of the RISE program for Safran. “So, you have just one rotating stage, and after that you have guide vanes which are stators. Both stages have pitch control so you can have variable pitch and reverse capability.” The design eliminates the contra-rotating stage and associated rotating frames. “So it’s better in terms of weight and reliability,” she added.
Meeting the challenges of airframe integration and noise—two key issues with unducted fans—is also becoming easier, said Hegeman. “Over the decades we have been fine-tuning the technologies and our engineering tools to get the acoustics where they need to be. We have also been able to shrink the fan from 16 ft. dia. in this thrust class back in the 1980s to 12-13 ft. dia. today. That’s not much bigger than today’s outside diameter of a nacelle, which makes it very installable on narrowbody-type airframes. So we can hit the acoustics requirements in our thrust class while gaining double-digit performance improvements.”
Hegeman added that the decision to demonstrate the puller configuration does not preclude the development of viable pusher open fans. “If there is an airframer that says, ‘We like the performance, but for our installation and airframe integration purposes it would be better to be a pusher,’ then we just make it a pusher. It doesn’t change the validity of an open fan or electrification. Maybe there are some details that will need to be different, and executed differently, but they are all within the realm of the demonstrator.”

Guy Norris
Guy is a Senior Editor for Aviation Week, based in Colorado Springs. Before joining Aviation Week in 2007, Guy was with Flight International, first as technical editor based in the U.K. and most recently as U.S. West Coast editor. Before joining Flight, he was London correspondent for Interavia, part of Jane's Information Group.

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GE’s Slattery Calls Hydrogen Power the ‘Real Nirvana’ | AIN

Airlines believe in the “noble cause” of reducing carbon emissions, said GE Aviation CEO John Slattery.

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GE’s Slattery Calls Hydrogen Power the ‘Real Nirvana’​

by Cathy Buyck
- June 24, 2021, 4:42 PM


GE Aviation CEO John Slattery (Photo: GE Aviation)
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The boss of GE Aviation expressed confidence that everybody across the air transport business, including airlines, believes in the “noble cause” of reducing CO2 emissions, not least because customers increasingly want it. Passengers eventually will want to know each of their flights’ carbon footprint, either out of environmental concerns or to know how much tax they will need to pay on their carbon production, John Slattery asserted during a Eurocontrol Straight Talk session on Thursday. “Collectively the industry will get there,” he said, stressing GE Aviation is playing its role to achieve the industry’s challenge to halve carbon emissions by 2050.
Slattery pointed to the recently announced Rise (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) development program of its engine joint venture with Safran, CFM International, which aims for a 20 percent improvement in fuel burn and CO2 emissions compared with today’s CFM Leap family. “This will the single largest leap in fuel burn reduction ever seen,” he said. “If you would apply this to the narrowbody fleet, it would be equivalent to removing more than 17 million cars from the roads.”
The CFM Rise hybrid electric advanced open fan demonstrator would run on either 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or liquid hydrogen. “Hundred percent SAF will result in an 80 percent reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions, while green hydrogen would reduce CO2 by 100 percent. Hydrogen will get us to the nirvana of flight with zero carbon emissions,” he said.
Slattery, who joined GE Aviation as CEO last September 1, acknowledged it will require a lot of work to industrialize a hydrogen-burning engine but that a clear technology path exists. “The actual physics are very doable,” he said. However, he cautioned that making hydrogen, like SAF, viable will require the support of policymakers and regulators.
SAF is “clearly a first step” to a meaningful reduction of carbon emissions, he said, adding that the industry is working with regulators to define standards for a 100 percent use of SAF, or double the blend now allowed. Current engines would require only minor modifications to run on 100 percent SAF, he noted, describing the availability of SAF as “the big issue.”


“If [Lufthansa group CEO] Carsten Spohr or [Air France-KLM group CEO] Ben Smith were to fly the Lufthansa or Air France-KLM fleet on SAF, they would burn the world’s available SAF in one day,” he noted.
The Covid-19 crisis and the Boeing 737 Max grounding had a “very meaningful” effect on GE Aviation’s business, Slattery said, while stressing he sees a clear improvement in the sector with a rise in new aircraft and engine orders and travel demand. “We are seeing a lot of momentum and we are preparing for that run,” he said.

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GE Aviation’s RISE Meets Some Industry Skepticism​

Jens Flottau September 01, 2021


The RISE research and development program, launched by GE Aviation and Safran, has received mixed industry reactions.
Credit: CFM International

Ever since CFM International—the joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran—presented the details of its RISE program in June, the industry has been wondering what the project is actually about. Is the Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines a concept for an all-new engine or a technology program for the next 15 years, elements of which can be applied to potential upgrades of the Leap engine? Perhaps both? Or is RISE an attempt to take over Boeing’s product strategy?
Reactions by analysts and insiders have been mixed. Some say the two OEMs simply have some catching up to do in certain technologies and have found a nice umbrella for their efforts. But the challenges are not limited to technology: One of the main issues for early adoption of RISE is the strategic question of where to use it.
When it comes to reducing aviation’s environmental footprint, new engines are key. Engine OEMs are therefore the most important players in the transformation of the business. Yet developing an engine typically takes several years longer than developing a new airframe. In an unusual set of circumstances, neither Airbus nor Boeing appears to have an all-new aircraft program on the drawing board. Even the prospects of the two companies launching derivatives of existing families different enough to justify a new powerplant are unclear at this stage. The A320neo and 737 MAX experiences—all the difficulties of the first years—are not necessarily making future reengining programs a more attractive proposition.

“Airbus has a 65% market share right now,” a senior aircraft OEM executive says. “That is not sustainable [for Boeing]. Boeing [does] need to build a new single-aisle aircraft or a 757 replacement, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they cannot afford to do that right now.” Airbus will not act until Boeing has played its cards.
“There is an element of the tail wagging the dog,” says Kevin Michaels, managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory. He believes that GE is attempting “to drive the product strategy of Boeing” by simply putting out the story that it will have a revolutionary engine in place by 2035. Another industry source says, however, that “RISE is not necessary to deter a new Boeing product [to enter service before the end of the decade] because right now there isn’t one.” Boeing seems to believe that it does not need one.
Some insiders agree. Bernstein Research analyst Doug Harned thinks that although incremental advances in materials can happen, “even on the Leap” engine, they are “not enough to launch a new aircraft.” Nonetheless, he believes that the MAX will be a “perfectly competitive aircraft for the future.” Harned thinks that Boeing is satisfied with split narrowbody fleets such as that of United Airlines: Its MAX fleet operates transcontinental services and shorter distances, whereas its A321XLR aircraft fly across the Atlantic or into Latin America.
One big hurdle for Boeing in the potential launch of a new aircraft, and a reason for engine OEMs to find an application, is the potential cannibalization of the MAX market by the new product, Harned says.
Agency Partners analyst Sash Tusa disagrees. “Boeing cannot afford to wait until 2035 [to introduce a new aircraft],” he says. “Boeing has not seen a narrowbody market share that low before. It has put a lot of weight in getting into the China market [with the 737 and the 787], but it is looking less and less likely that this will play out. The U.S. market is not big enough to sustain Boeing.”
“GE and Safran don’t believe they can run the Leap core technology for as long as the CFM-56,” Tusa says. The RISE program “suggests that GE and Safran have not been investing enough over the first few years [of Leap],” he adds. “They are now playing catch-up.”
There is also a fair degree of skepticism about RISE in the industry. “The core of it is the normal stuff that anyone would put into any new engine,” one observer says. “It’s a technology program to develop an unducted fan and a gearbox.” He says that engine OEMs have two customers: the aircraft manufacturer and the airline. As much as airlines are aiming at lower fuel burn and sustainable flying, they also want reliability. For the latter point, RISE is a high-risk bet, the executive argues.
Action from Pratt is “the biggest threat for GE,” Tusa says,because of potential further iterations of the geared turbofan (GTF). “Pratt is in the driver’s seat. They did a reasonable job in fixing the GTF, which is clearly the best engine on the A321neo. And Pratt has been working on performance improvement packages for years. All the stuff that GE did on the Leap, they will do now on the GTF.”
Tusa believes that in small increments, performance improvement packages (PIP) can lead to a fuel-burn improvement of up to 7% in the coming years. If Boeing sticks to the MAX, “all they can do is backfeed anything from RISE to improve the Leap.” A new aircraft could provide opportunities for more significant improvements because it could potentially allow CFM to introduce a bigger fan diameter, he argues.
Michaels, of AeroDynamic Advisory, believes there has to be another step between now and a future engine based on the RISE technologies. “We have one more generation of conventional gas turbines ahead of us,” he says. “You cannot take all these [RISE] bets at once. GE has to avoid doing all or nothing.”
Michaels credits Rolls-Royce for having “doubled down on alternative technologies,” since it does not have an engine for any of the current narrowbodies. The company also benefits from a cleverly constructed network of associated universities for research. Its biggest challenge besides finding enough money for a real engine development program, however, may be ensuring that customers have enough confidence to buy a Rolls-Royce product, given its precarious financial position, Michaels says.

Jens Flottau
Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Jens leads Aviation Week’s global commercial coverage. He covers program updates and developments at Airbus, and as a frequent long-haul traveler, he often writes in-depth airline profiles worldwide.

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CFM announces the RISE engine program​

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June 14, 2021, © Leeham News: GE and SAFRAN took to the stage today to announce the extension of their CFM joint venture to 2050 and the CFM technology program RISE.
RISE stands for Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines, and it elevates previous work to new levels and introduces some news.

Figure 1. The RISE Open Rotor engine as presented by CFM. Source: CFM.

Open Rotor revisited​

RISE (Figure 1) takes the GE/Avio developed single Open Rotor concept from Clean Sky project IRON (Figure 2) and marries it with SAFRAN’s open rotor knowledge. The result is a new start for Open Rotor with the market’s largest engine OEM, CFM, behind it.

Figure 2. The Clean Sky IRON project’s GE/Avio Open Rotor engine. Source: Leonardo.
We have presented the base concept, the tractor single Open Rotor with second stage de-swirling vanes here. It was then part of the EU’s Clean Sky 2 program. People in Clean Sky tipped us that this was something new and smart, so we visited the IRON program’s headquarter in Turin last year to discuss the concept.
It keeps the advantages of Open Rotor but simplifies the mechanics to a single rotor from previous projects’ two. In its base, it is not more complicated than a turboprop engine with added variable incidence de-swirling vanes.
What’s new is GE and SAFRAN will fully develop this concept in their CFM joint venture. CFM is our largest engine OEM today, both in terms of delivered engines (over 30,000) and engine deliveries (several thousand CFM 56 and LEAP engines per year).

Hydrogen version​

The development will span some 15 years, with engines ready for prime time by the mid-2030s. The RISE engines will be developed in Jet fuel/SAF and hydrogen burning versions. The latter is the real news in the announcement.
Making a gas turbine run on hydrogen is straightforward (read about it here) and is the shortest and most realistic way to lower air transport emissions of greenhouse gases. It eliminates CO2 emissions and reduces NOx emissions by 80%.
Another technology we have written about is the motor-generator that will be integrated into the new engine core. To call this “hybrid technology” is a bit of a stretch. Previously it was called “an integrated starter-generator,” which is what it is.
It’s an elegant way to combine the engine air starter and the engine-driven aircraft generator into one. Its placement on the core’s main axis can help the engine during revving up and down. This allows the engine’s internal aerodynamics to be further tuned towards efficiency. It can also deliver electricity to the aircraft but so can the generators on the engines of today. They are just placed on the engine’s auxiliary gearbox.

Easier aircraft placement​

The final twist of the engine is an optimization of the rotor towards a smaller diameter. It has two advantages: It eases the installation of the engine on the aircraft. Whereas the large rotor of previous projects prescribed a rear placement, the smaller diameter version now enables more placement alternatives (Figure 3).

Figure 3. The smaller diameter Open Rotor of RISE eases aircraft integration. Source: CFM
The second advantage is the engine is less sensitive to higher speeds. The reduced diameter reduces the engine’s bypass ratio (in technical speak it increases the specific thrust). It puts the RISE engine’s high-speed characteristics closer to high bypass turbofans, which in turn makes the engine suitable for airliners that fly longer routes, up to our typical single-aisle routes.

Conclusion​

So is RISE Open Rotor revisited? Yes, but in a positive way.
The RISE Open Rotor is further tuned for simplicity and reliability, and the bypass ratio is moderated to retain thrust at higher speeds. It also comes in a hydrogen-burning version which is the announcement’s real news.
Hydrogen fueled Fuel Cells feeding electric propulsors might be the ultimate future hydrogen propulsion architecture, as this eliminates the NOx emissions in addition to CO2. But their development for airliners will be long and difficult. Hydrogen-fueled gas turbines are a practical and vital step towards our ambitious 2050 goals for lowered emissions for air transport.

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GE, MagniX Win NASA Grants to Test Electric Propulsion | AIN

GE Aviation and MagniX win contracts to perform ground and flight demonstrations with $253.4 million in grants from NASA.

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GE, MagniX Win NASA Grants to Test Electric Propulsion​

by Gregory Polek
- October 1, 2021, 9:04 AM


NASA sees electrically powered aircraft entering airline fleets by 2035. (Image: NASA)
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NASA has awarded a combined $253.4 million over five years to GE Aviation and Everett, Washington-based MagniX to participate in its Electric Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) program with ground and flight demonstrations of electric aircraft propulsion (EAP) technologies. In a statement released late Thursday, NASA said it seeks to introduce EAP technologies to U.S. aviation fleets no later than 2035, supporting short-range and regional air travel and single-aisle airliners.
Over five years, the companies plan to conduct ground and flight test demonstrations of their EAP technologies and collaborate with other NASA projects on EAP development, flight test instrumentation, and data analysis.
“GE Aviation and MagniX will perform integrated megawatt-class powertrain system ground and flight demonstrations to validate their concepts and project benefits for future EAP aircraft configurations,” said Gaudy Bezos-O’Connor, EPFD project manager at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. “These demonstrations will identify and retire technical barriers and integration risks. It will also help inform the development of standards and regulations for future EAP systems.”
In a statement issued Friday, GE said it expects to conduct ground and flight tests of a megawatt (MW) class hybrid-electric propulsion system by the mid-2020s. It plans to perform flight testing with a modified Saab 340B and GE’s CT7-9B turboshaft engines.
Everett, Washington-based MagniX, which will receive $74.3 million of the NASA award, has concentrated its efforts on providing electric propulsion for new and existing fixed-wing aircraft flying sectors of between 50 and 1,000 miles. The company started flight testing the eBeaver in partnership with Canadian operator Harbour Air in December 2019, and the partners aim to secure a supplemental type certificate sometime in 2022. In addition to the eBeaver and an electrified Grand Caravan dubbed the eCaravan, MagniX provides the propulsion system for the Alice electric aircraft under development by its sister company, Eviation Aircraft.

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GE and Kratos unveil new engine ‘family,’ aimed at cruise missiles, CCA​

However, a Kratos spokesperson said the company is still open to pursuing CCA tranche 2 as a prime, which would seemingly necessitate an internal firewall with the engine "merchant supplier" effort.​

By MICHAEL MARROWon July 22, 2024 at 3:51 PM

The GEK engine concept. (GE Aerospace image)
FARNBOROUGH 2024 — GE Aerospace and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced a new merchant supplier partnership today aiming to provide engines for, among others, the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program — even as Kratos insists it is still open to bidding as a prime for the Air Force’s second CCA round.
Unveiled in a brief memorandum of understanding signing ceremony at the Farnborough air show today, GE Aerospace Defense and Systems President Amy Gowder said the family of “small, affordable” engines in development is starting out at around 800 pounds of thrust and could scale up to “probably just under” 3,000 pounds.
“We’re calling it GEK800, but it is a scalable architecture. So that’s ideally suited for cruise missiles,” Gowder said, adding that it could be scaled up for systems like drones and loitering munitions. “So as we see the requirements firm up, we’ll decide how high to scale or not. Certainly, there’s a lot of requirements that have not been disclosed on CCA due to the classified nature and the timelines there, so we will have more to say as requirements become more publicly disclosed,” she added.

RELATED: Air Force eyes thrust range targets for wingman drones, wants engine development to start in FY25
“The engines are almost complete,” said Kratos CEO Eric DeMarco. “These are real engines, and for competitive reasons, I’m not going to get into exactly where they’re at, but they’re just about ready to go, and we’ve already been in communications with customers. We understand what the first platforms will be, what the first systems will be, and we understand the competitive landscape from pricing and performance.

“We believe ours are better,” he added of the joint venture’s forthcoming “family” of powerplants.
The new partnership could complicate Kratos’s CCA ambitions, as a company executive previously told Breaking Defense that Kratos was aiming to become a prime contractor on the second round of the Air Force’s CCA program. Specifically, if Kratos intends to offer engines as a merchant supplier in partnership with GE, that would likely call for some kind of firewall between its CCA air vehicle and engine efforts — and still, other competitors may be hesitant to give a potential rival a perceived leg up.


When asked about the company’s previously stated prime contractor CCA ambitions, DeMarco then said, “I’m sure that was probably a few months ago. The game field — things change. So they may have changed, they may not have changed. We’ll see how that shakes out.”
DeMarco explained the company has a history of serving as a merchant supplier across programs, meaning that a product should be available to any customer.
“GEK is a merchant supplier of turbofans for a certain class of platform. That’s that part,” he said. “Kratos is a merchant supplier in engines. We’re a merchant supplier in hypersonic vehicles. We’re a merchant supplier in solid rocket motors. Then there’s the drones. We’re a merchant supplier in drones. But [from] time to time, we pick our spot, and we’ll prime when we believe the probability of win is high enough.”
In response to questions from Breaking Defense, a spokesperson for Kratos said the company “continues to look at requirements as they are shared with industry” as it pertains to being a prime contractor for CCA. Additionally, the spokesperson said that since the engine development effort and unmanned systems like CCA are housed in separate divisions of the company, a firewall between the two efforts is “inherent.”
Asked about the lifespan of engines fielded through the new GEK partnership, Gowder replied by pointing to “affordable mass” when reasoning that the two manufacturers don’t require a “big tail of MRO,” or maintenance, repair and overhaul. Air Force officials have previously said that the CCA concept likely means the drones won’t have a long tail of maintenance typical for traditional platforms like large aircraft.
“We need something that can go one-way or two-way, but for limited cycles,” she added. “Clearly as requirements continue to become more and more clear, we’ll narrow in on exactly what that is, what would a maintenance concept be. It’s clearly going to be something that could be in the field, low cost.”

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