Volvo Aero (hall 2A, stand B114) has manufactured two 180kg (396lb) 2m (6.5ft) diameter commercial aircraft turbofan engine frame demonstrators that use composites and titanium load-carrying parts for mass reductions over past frame designs.
Developed under the Environmentally Friendly Aero Engines (Vital) European Union research and technology programme, to reduce the weight the frame's aerodynamic fan outlet guide vanes were made of composite and new titanium structure manufacturing methods were used.
Instead of an entirely cast titanium structure, a welded combination of sheet, forged and cast components and laser metal deposition added features were employed for a lighter structure. The fan is a key subsystem as its spin rate relates to engine noise output and the air flow it delivers contributes to the turbofan's cycle pressure, enabling good fuel burn.
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The entire engine is attached to the aircraft through the fan frame's mount lugs. The composites and titanium has enabled the Volvo Aero frame's external section's mass to be reduced by 30%, helping to deliver an overall weight reduction of 20%.
The first of the two demonstrators has been subjected to a fan blade-out test while the second is now on display at the company's stand. Volvo Aero engineering and technology vice-president, Thomas Sätmark says: "It performed wonderfully in the blade-out test. In fact it was bit too strong. There was less damage than we expected. It means we could optimise the structure again for less weight".
Because more efficient engines are expected to have larger bypass ratios, the fan frame must be very large, requiring substantial mass reductions in existing designs to avoid weight penalties with the larger diameters. Vital has being extended by 15 months to conclude in 2010, as its partners had not completed all of the testing required by its original end date of early 2009.
While Volvo Aero's fan frame work for Vital has concluded the company is still involved in the programme working on other engine technologies.
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Source: Flight Daily News
