Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan demonstrator Engine Assembly Complete
Pratt & Whitney has completed assembly of a full-scale Geared Turbofan engine at the company’s Engine Center in Middletown, Conn. and shipped it to the company’s Advanced Test Facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. The engine will begin ground testing early next month.
Next Generation Product Family, Pratt & Whitney. “To date our 15 technology rigs have demonstrated that the Geared Turbofan engine components are operating at or above our expectations. This demonstrator engine will validate performance at the full engine level and demonstrate the game-changing characteristics of the Geared Turbofan engine.”
The Geared Turbofan engine targets double digit improvements in fuel burn with significant reductions in engine noise, environmental emissions and operating costs. Ground testing of the Geared Turbofan demonstrator engine will continue through May 2008 and flight testing will begin in mid-2008 on the Pratt & Whitney 747 flying test bed.
On Oct. 9, 2007, Pratt & Whitney announced that the Geared Turbofan engine was selected by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to power the new proposed Mitsubishi Regional Jet. The sole-source agreement is the first airframe application for the Geared Turbofan engine, which is scheduled to enter service in 2012-2013.
In a Geared Turbofan engine, a state-of-the-art gear system allows the engine’s fan to perate independent of the low-pressure compressor and turbine, resulting in greater fuel efficiency and a slower fan speed for less noise. The Geared Turbofan engine builds on more than 20 years of development with technology improvements in every major module.