Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 15, 2008 - (Page 100) FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 GE Launches eCore Initiative General Electric is launching an advanced “eCore” engine-technology strategy aimed at countering Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan but, along with CFMI partner Snecma, is backing away from its plan to make an open rotor development decision in 2011. The eCore initiative, announced July 12, builds on the LEAP56 program and will leverage GEnx technology for a platform from which CFM International will develop a successor to the CFM56-5/-7s, and from which GE will have the basis for new engines for both regional and business jets. The eCore concept will therefore compete head-on with Pratt’s newly named PurePower common core initiative across the board, but without necessarily progressing to an open rotor. The effort therefore represents new technology for the lower end of the commercial market. In previous years, the industry has lavished attention mainly on wide-body engine applications. This policy resulted in products such as the Engine Alliance’s GP7200 and General Electric’s GE90, including its GEnx variants for the Boeing 787 and 747-8. “Think about a world in which it’s time to turn the focus on narrowbody and regional [aircraft], just as we did with widebodies,” says newly installed GE Aviation president and CEO David Joyce. “We’re talking about underpinning, foundational technology that will deliver the efficiencies we need in these marketplaces.” Under the original LEAP56-base development timescale, CFMI said it would make a decision on a future architecture around 2011, depending on the outcome of core and low-pressure-spool development tests, as well as market studies. The fact that CFMI does not now want to be tied to a date is linked directly to the emergence of the eCore strategy, says Joyce. “I don’t need the declaration of an architecture. What I need is a core that delivers a 16% reduction in fuel burn,” he asserts. GE says the eCore fuel-efficiency program “is designed to outpace competitive engine designs by offering aircraft operators up to 16% fuel efficiency over today’s best engines.” This is based on a conventional turbofan configuration, though appears to be more aggressively aimed at fuel-consumption reductions than the LEAP56. Compared with the CFM56 Tech Insertion configuration, LEAP56 was targeting 10-15% lower specific fuel consumption, 15% lower maintenance costs, 25% longer initial on-wing life, a 10-15 dB. reduction in noise, and a 60% reduction in oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions. In a bullish mood, GE says the eCore “raises the bar further for future aircraft with 150 [or fewer] passengers. The fuel-efficiency targets for eCore exceed competitive engine offers announced to date, including the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G [formerly the GTF], by at least 3%.” The first eCore tests will begin in mid-2009 using an architecture that is “a fraction” of the size of the current CFM56, says GE. Full tests of the first eCore-based turbofan sized for the CFM56-5/-7 market are set for 2012, one year after CFMI originally planned to make its pivotal open rotor decision. The new schedule means the conventional option, which is clearly more suited to existing airframe designs, will be available first. The initial eCore turbofan could be certificated as early as 2016. A full open rotor engine based on the eCore could be avail- GE Aviation’s David Joyce. Sikorsky Counts the Hours–100,000 for S-92 Despite its very military-looking appearance, the Sikorsky S-92 prototype displayed statically this week is also representing its 67 mostly civil-operated brethren which have been delivered since late 2004 and have just—so the manufacturer announced this week—topped their 100,000th flying hour. Eleven of the S-92s currently in service fly an estimated 130-170 hours per month; 13 have more than 3,500 flight hours to date. Operational availability for the S-92 fleet averaged 91% in 2007. “The marketplace is driving the need for the S-92 helicopter in the offshore oil segment in particular,” said Marc Poland, Sikorsky vice president, commercial programs. “The challenging conditions that exist today require a tough and reliable aircraft to fill that need, and the S-92 helicopter has proven itself to be precisely that kind of aircraft.” Used in a variety of roles, including offshore oil, executive and head of state transport as well as search and rescue, the S-92 is the first helicopter in the world certified to the latest U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and European Joint Airworthiness safety standards. It features a Rotor Ice Protection System (RIPS), which allows the aircraft to operate in known icing conditions. RIPS has been certified by both North American and European aviation authorities and is available on S-92 military variants as well as on com—Paul Jackson mercial aircraft. The H-92 military variant is on show here. able by around 2020, adds GE. Initial eCore applications are widely expected to be in the regional jet market where GE has already begun studies of a replacement for the CF34, as well as possibly the business aircraft sector in the 10,000-lb-thrust area. The eCore concept also, therefore, over-arches GE’s recently announced NG34 technology program aimed at developing a next-generation CF34 regional jet engine family by around 2015. Overall targets for NG34 include a 10-15% lower cost of ownership, a 15-20% reduction in fuel burn compared with current engines, and a reduction in NOx emissions of 50-60% relative to the latest CAEP/6 standards. Noiselevel reductions of up to 15 dB. below Stage 4 will also be targeted. Near-term eCore tests include composite fan-case containment, fan aerodynamic and bird-strike tests, as well as TAPS (twin annular pre-swirl) combustor and high-pressure-compressor rig tests. High- and low-pressure (HP/LP) turbine component tests are also underway, as are tests on the Snecma resin-transfer-molding fan blade and the ceramic-matrix-composite HP turbine nozzles. The new core will have a 15% higher loaded single-HP turbine stage and an eight-stage HP compressor; it will also have a higher bypass ratio of around 9:1, versus 5:1 on the current engines, as well as an ultra-high-pressure ratio core of more than 15:1 against the 11:1 of today’s HP spools. “We’re going to roll up the pressure ratio big time. It could be as high as 20:1 if we’re talking about a two-stage turbine,” says Joyce. —Guy Norris, Aviation Week & Space Technology 100 July 15, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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