The losing finalist in the three-way battle to power Boeing's 7E7 Dreamliner will simply take the technology to Toulouse to improve the performance of a future enhanced version of the Airbus A330. That's the opinion of Bob Leduc, Pratt & Whitney's president of commercial engines.
Speaking at Asian Aerospace yesterday morning, Leduc seemed confident that P&W's solution – the PW-EXX – will be selected by Boeing as one of two engine options on the Dreamliner.
P&W estimates sales of the 7E7 at a slightly lower level than Boeing: 1,900 over 20 years as opposed to Boeing's projected figures of 2,000-2,500. However, Leduc concedes P&W also underestimated sales of the Airbus A380 at this stage in the programme. "We never thought that Emirates would order so many," he explained.
"We are fully committed to the PW-EXX and the 7E7. We have already proved the concepts we are incorporating in our engines like the PW4000, the PW6000 and the GP7000."
Section
Essentially, the engine's high-pressure section is based on the 112in (2.8m) fan PW4000 and its low-pressure section on the GP7000. The 55,000-72,000lb (245-320kN) thrust PW-EXX, together with the advanced 7E7 airframe concept, will offer airlines a 15% fuel burn improvement over today's engines.
It will have a better than 10:1 bypass ratio and overall pressure ratio of more than 50:1. Greatly improved aerodynamic efficiency allows the engine to have a small core, yet achieve outstanding performance with lower jet velocities to manage the noise footprint.
The engine's TALON X combustor more than meets today's emissions standards and those proposed for the coming decades.
The PW-EXX's basic architecture is for a single-stage aerodynamically efficient 108in fan, a four-stage low-pressure compressor, a 10-stage high-pressure compressor, two-stage high-pressure turbine and six-stage low-pressure turbine.
This design is aimed at the base/short range versions of the 7E7. But the PW-EXX will also handle the potential follow-on stretch airframe by making minor changes to the design, while keeping the same basic architecture.
P&W says the development programme for the PW-EXX will ensure a mature, ETOPS-ready engine from the first day of service.
Source: Flight Daily News
