Sep 18, 2014 ASDNews Source : Rolls Royce

Flight tests have validated a new engine upgrade for Rolls-Royce AE 1107C engines powering V-22 aircraft, maximizing "hot and high" capability up to 6,000 feet of altitude and 95°F.

The enhanced capability is part of a series of upgrades that will boost engine power 17 percent for the aircraft, as Rolls-Royce continues to add innovations to the proven AE 1107C engine. The flight tests were conducted in a Bell Boeing V-22 test aircraft, and completed this summer in the western United States.

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Roaring Business: A US airman inspects the turboprop engines on a C-130H transport. Rolls-Royce believes its Series 3.5 engine enhancement could expand the life of the aging C-130H to 2040. (US Air Force)

Feb. 17, 2014 - By AARON MEHTA – Defense news

WASHINGTON — With few new-engine opportunities available in the US, Rolls-Royce is focusing on maintaining and improving its C-130 engine base through the rest of the decade.

The company took a major step in that direction last week, when it announced a decadelong agreement with Lockheed Martin, the producer of the popular cargo plane, to deliver 588 engines for the C-130J Super Hercules.

The nearly $1 billion agreement covers procurement of new AE 2100 turboprop engines through 2018 for all customers, including the US Air Force.

Each Super Hercules requires four AE 2100 engines, so the 588 purchased could represent up to 147 new planes built during this time period. However, that number could be lower, as contracts often include spare engines. The purchase is roughly split in half between US planes and international customers.

The purchase is part of a larger agreement that secures Rolls-Royce and the AE 2100 as the engine of choice for the C-130J through 2025.

“This agreement is a very important step in providing our customers the most affordable airlifter in the world,” George Shultz, Lockheed’s vice president and general manager for C-130 programs, said in a company statement.

Tom Hartmann, Rolls’ senior vice president for customer business, said the British-based company hopes for another engine block purchase after the conclusion of this order to cover the remaining years of the agreement.

The deal ensures Rolls will dominate the engine field for the C-130J, which is expected to remain popular around the globe over the next decade. Lockheed, in turn, locks in low engine prices.

The US National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, signed into law by President Barack Obama in December, contained language authorizing a multiyear buy of C-130J aircraft for the Air Force; funding for that group was included in the appropriations bill passed last month. This contract would cover the 78 planes included in that multiyear agreement.

Hartmann declined to go into detail on the AE 2100’s cost per unit, but noted that the engines covered in the multiyear agreement are cheaper than those that would be sold internationally, a direct result of buying them in bulk.

There are more than 300 C-130J models in service in 15 countries, according to company figures. The J model is the most modernized version.

Meanwhile, Rolls continues to move forward with its Series 3.5 engine enhancement program for the T56 engines used in older C-130 models.

In the Series 3.5 engine enhancement, Rolls retrofits parts from newer engines into the Series 3 T56 engine casing, replacing aging and inefficient components. These include compressor seals from Rolls’ Series 4 engine and uncooled turbine blades from the Rolls AE-1107C design. The retrofit can occur during regular maintenance of the older engines.

Rolls estimates the engine upgrades will extend the life of the C-130H fleet to 2040, and an Air Force study has found it could save the service as much as $2 billion.

Hal Chrisman, vice president with services firm ICF International, said he sees a potential market for upgrades to the T56, which also powers the P-3 Orion maritime patrol plane flown by the US Navy. According to ICF figures, there are 1,363 planes that use the T56, although that number will drop over the next decade.

“Overall, the fleet of C-130s and P-3s stays relatively flat over the next five years,” Chrisman said. “You’re getting deliveries of C-130Js, but starting to lose the older B through H models, However, the fleet of T56-powered aircraft drops by about 250 over the next eight to 10 years, or at about -2.4 percent annually. If you look at it, some of these are kind of getting long in the tooth.”

As part of the fiscal 2014 appropriations bill passed in January, the Air Force was given $15.7 million toward exploring the 3.5 program. Hartmann estimates that the money will be enough to outfit “a handful” of older C-130 models, perhaps four to six, with the enhanced engines.

Those kits could be delivered to the Air Force in 2015. While the service will have the final decision on which aircraft get the first upgrades, the Air National Guard would make sense, given its reliance on the older C-130H.

Getting in as a program of record was a huge step forward, according to Hartmann, who noted that “every battle is a tough battle when you’re looking to add something.

“We’re cautiously optimistic” about getting further funding, likely a small increase, in the fiscal 2015 budget, he said.

“I think the budget situation will make modifications like this more attractive,” Chrisman said. “With the current [US federal] budget constraints, it’s a whole lot cheaper to upgrade airplanes than buy new ones. The success of a lot of these things depends on the support they get in Congress.”

While the Air Force may be the first customer, Hartmann said Rolls has recently talked to “quite a number” of potential international partners.

27.08.2013 Rostec.ru

UEC experts will produce an entire family of engines based on the new technology

The Lyulka Design Bureau, which is a subsidiary of Saturn of the United Engine Corporation, has developed, manufactured and tested a prototype of a resonator pulsed detonation engine with two-stage combustion of a kerosene-air mixture.

The average measured engine thrust was about 100 kg, and it was able to operate continuously for more than 10 minutes. UEC plans to manufacture and test a full-size pulsed detonation engine by the end of 2013.

According to Aleksandr Tarasov, Chief Designer of the Lyulka Design Bureau, the testing simulated operating conditions that are typical for turbojet and ramjet engines. Measured values of thrust and specific fuel consumption were 30–50 percent better than conventional jet engines. The new engine as well as traction control were turned on and off multiple times during testing.

The Lyulka Design Bureau intends to produce an entire family of pulse detonation aircraft engines based on data obtained during these tests and on a circuit design analysis. In particular, it intends to create engines with a short service life for unmanned aircraft and missiles as well as aircraft engines that can achieve supersonic cruising speeds.

In the future, engines are intended to be created for space-rocket systems and combined propulsion aircraft that are able to fly in both the atmosphere and space.

According to the design bureau, the new engines will increase thrust-to-weight ration by a factor of 1.5–2 times. In addition, the use of such powerplants can increase the range or weight of air-launched weapons by 30–50%. At the same time, the specific weight of the new engines will be 1.5–2 times less than that of conventional jet propulsion engines.

It was reported in March 2011 that Russia was working to create a pulse detonation engine. Ilya Fedorov, Managing Director of Research and Production at Saturn, reported this development at the time. The Lyulka Design Bureau is a subsidiary of Saturn. Fedorov did not specify what exact type of detonation engine was being developed.

Currently there are three types of pulsejet engines: valved, valveless and pulse detonation. These types of powerplants work by periodically supplying fuel and an oxidizing agent into the combustion chamber where the fuel mixture is ignited and the combustion gases rush out of the nozzle to form jet thrust. The difference between pulsejet and conventional jet engines is in the ignition of the fuel mixture, where the combustion wave moves faster than the speed of sound.

The Swedish engineer Martin Wiberg invented the first pulsejet engine in the late nineteenth century. A pulsejet engine is easy and cheap to manufacture, but due to how the fuel is ignited it is not dependable. The new type of engine was used in mass production for the first time on the German V-1 flying bomb during World War II. These weapons were equipped with the Argus As-014 pulsejet engine, which was made by Argus-Werken.

Currently, several major defense contractors in the world are engaged in research in the field of high-performance pulsejet engines. In particular, France-based SNECMA and American-based GeneralElectric and Pratt & Whitney are working on the technology. In 2012, the Research Laboratory of the U.S. Navy announced its intention to develop a rotating detonation engine, which will replace conventional gas turbine propulsion on ships.

Rotating detonation differs from pulse detonation in that the fuel mixture inside the chamber is continuously being detonated ─ the combustion wave moves through the annular cylinder in which fuel mixture is continuously being added.

LONDON, April 23 (UPI)

British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is selling its interest in the RTM322 engine program for powering Apache, Merlin and NH helicopters.

The sale of its 50 percent interest will be to Turbomeca of France, a member of the Safran group, Rolls-Royce said.

Turbomeca is progressively buying Rolls-Royce shares and will eventually hold sole interest in the program. The deal is worth a total of about $382.5 million in cash.

The sale is expected to be complete before the end of this year, subject to closing conditions.

"Turbomeca will assume full responsibility for the design, production and support of the RTM322 engine, which powers the Apache, EH101 Merlin and NH90 helicopters," Rolls-Royce said. "Rolls-Royce will provide full assistance to Turbomeca during the multi-year transition period to ensure all RTM322 customers continue to receive effective support."

The RRTM Adour engine program which powers the Hawk and Jaguar aircraft, is unaffected by this agreement.