Pratt & Whitney Canada president John Saabas says a new turboprop engine being developed by the Montreal-based "small engine" arm of P&W US will exhibit a "step change" in performance over existing engines.
Aimed at the 5,000-8,000shp (3,700-5,960kW) market for the 90- to 100-seat clean-sheet, large-cabin turboprop programmes being contemplated by several airframers, the all-new centreline engine will have a higher pressure ratio compressor system than today's models, boosting thermal efficiency and cutting fuel burn by 20%.
P&WC is working with sister company Hamilton Sundstrand to develop an integrated propulsion system offering that will include a propeller of six or more blades, engine, nacelle and associated components.
Along with a technology demonstrator compressor that will be tested, P&WC is beginning to build more advanced prototypes, with the intention to have a full gas generator built "in the next few years", said Saabas.
He would not say the target pressure ratio, only that it would be a step change beyond the 14:1 ratio of its PT6 and PW100 engines. Saabas says the company will build up a core for the engine next year, but launch of a full engine will "depend on when customers launch".
"The idea is to have a scalable design for different power classes," he said.
Once a launch customer is identified, P&WC, following its usual process, will build eight to 10 test engines and begin a flight-test campaign on the company's Boeing 747SP testbed from its Mirabel facility.
The most recent new engine test campaign for P&WC took place in 1998 with the certification of the Bombardier Q400's PW150 engine on the company's Boeing 720 testbed, an aircraft that is being retired.
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Source: Flight Daily News
