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Cover Story Inspecting the compressor before its first test run at MTU. key to the efficient operation of a geared turbofan,” he adds. The first run is slated for end-2007. After further ground tests, the geared turbofan is expected to fly in 2008. The flight tests will involve a retrofitted A340 and a B747. The tests aim to demonstrate the production maturity of the concept and convince aircraft manufacturers and airlines of the desirability of the innovative engine. Sharp increases in fuel prices may prove another argument in favor of the new fuelthrifty technology. MTU and Pratt & Whitney are moreover developing a new commercial high-pressure compressor. This is a somewhat unusual project, the interface between the partners running midway through the compressor: MTU is responsible for the first four stages and Pratt & Whitney for stages five to eight. “Split production of that type works only in a good and trusted spirit of cooperation,” Winkler says. The advantage afforded by the new approach is that either partner can leverage its respec- tive traditional expertise: “The new high-pressure compressor is part of the fourth engine generation and a consistent upgrade of its predecessors.” MTU upgraded its compressor test stand for the particular test requirements. The eight-stage, highly efficient compressor has an extremely high, 17:1 compression ratio. Its blisk construction and positively coupled rotor disks make it extremely light- Light-weight and efficient: the high-pressure compressor features blisk construction and a novel interlocking rotor disk arrangement. weight. The latest sibling of the MTU compressor family might prove a capable centerpiece for the next engine generation. It is a versatile candidate that apart from its use in the geared turbofan might find applications also in conventional turbofans. Already, it has successfully completed its first trials: this spring, the compressor went to a test cell at MTU’s Munich facility, where it was tested in terms of efficiency, robustness and structural mechanics. MTU is responsible for the entire testing of the component and has its test cell specifically upgraded for it. Higher input powers make the test cell especially capable. More test lanes and higher scanning rates permit detailed measurements to be made. A new feature is that it enables non-contact vibration monitoring to be conducted of all rotor blades of the eight stages. “The geared turbofan demonstrator and high-pressure compressor put us in a technically outstanding position,” notes Dr. Anton Binder, senior vice president commercial programs at MTU. They might prove a solid basis for a successor to the V2500. Through the International Aero Engines (IAE) consortium, MTU has a stake in the popular engine for A320 family aircraft. Which way to go is The next generation in the making: the new highpressure compressor blisk under manufacture. still unclear, considering that as an alternative to an entirely new technology like the geared turbofan, IAE might elect to come out with an optimized conventional engine in the form of an advanced turbofan. Concludes Binder: “MTU is ideally positioned for either technology. When sometime in the next couple of years the decision is made to launch one or the other of the next-generation single-aisle engines, it will find us ready for it.” The single-aisles, or narrowbodies, like the A320 or B737 families have everything going for them. Their market share is prognosticated at over 40 percent. Small wonder the engine manufacturers want a part of the action and have started work on the engine to come. For additional information, contact Dr. Christian Winkler +49 89 1489-8663 For interesting multimedia services associated with this article, go to: http://www.mtu.de/107NGSAE 6 REPORT REPORT 7
Technology + Science Delicate coatings for powerful protection Dr. Thomas Uihlein’s collection of typical damage patterns make engineers shudder. The assortment includes compressor blades with blunt corners and torn edges. Some are razor-sharp, others obviously scuffed. Some By Manfred Ruopp Air isn’t just pure air. It is laden with, for instance, sand, dust, ice and salt. Engines dislike such foreign erosive substances. Erosion necessitates shorter maintenance intervals and curtails component lives. All of which costs commercial and military engine operators a mint. But help is on the way: MTU Aero Engines is developing a novel coating system to beat any prior system of the kind. of the blades come from an engine flown by relief organizations, mostly in Afghan desert regions. Notes Uihlein: “That engine hasn’t lasted there longer than a hundred service hours, if that many.” The 51-year-old MTU engineer has for years been grappling with the fact that air after all is a sharp-edged matter. It carries natural contaminations like sand or other particles that make engines wear faster than you’d An MTU worker charges a coating facility. expect. It’s not only takeoffs and landings on sandy runways that hurt the powerplants; the salt crystals and dust particles encountered during intercontinental high-altitude flights above the oceans also are chewing away on components to shorten their lives. Uihlein: “Erosion damage, if ever so slight, will still raise fuel consumption one or two percent.” Alternatively, early replacement of the engine components affected will cost the operators dearly, too. The best technical approach to protect the components is to keep wear down to a minimum to begin with, and this is what Uihlein is after. In 2002, he assembled an interdisciplinary team to develop special protective coatings for sensitive engine blades. Three years later, the team was honored with an MTU Award to testify to its successful work: the ERCoat nt coating system is indeed solving the problem effectively. Ice and snow can seriously injure an engine’s compressor blades. They are optimally protected, therefore, to benefit life cycle costs. Electric arc in a PVD facility at MTU’s Munich location. ERCoat nt builds on the physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique MTU has been successfully practicing for about 30 years. In this approach, metal vapor is produced in a vacuum, using an arc, and the particles carried in the vapor are made to condense on a substrate opposite it to form a thin film. The multilayer ERCoat nt coating dramatically enhanced the action of the conventional PVD technology. The multiple nanolayers of the coating marry the hardness of ceramic layers with the high ductility of metallic layers. This is achieved by neatly chaining a plurality of metallic and ceramic layers one over the other. Each layer is extremely thin within the nanostructure (10 -9 meter) range. Totally, the resultant protective coating adds no more than five to 50μm in thickness, or the five to 50 millionths of a meter (10 -6 meters). This structural principle gives the coating high and lasting strength to withstand the Sand and dust are critical companions in many flight missions. They are affecting not only the compressors but also the turbines of an engine. To the left, a worn compressor blade; to the right, one in its virgin state. impact of solids in the air. Its ductility, too, is enormous. Ductility denotes a material’s ability to change its form without suffering material separations. It is a very desirable property in engine components subject to high rotational speeds and accompanying vibrations. Uihlein knows another advantage his method provides: “We can coat selectively to suit the location of the part in the engine and its material.” Consideration is also given to the prevailing temperatures in the engine. “Presently, we’re achieving high-temperature ranges of more than 550 degrees centigrade, and we’re shooting for 650 degrees centigrade next.” Now that the first experimental engines have tested successfully, work is underway on the regulatory approval for the production use of the MTU innovation; development work is expected to conclude later this year. Regarding the prospects, the engineer observes: “In the military arena, for one, practically all engines are eligible for getting the ERCoat nt coating. In commercial aviation, the short-haul transports will get it first. But for the others, too, the advantages afforded by our technology are impossible to ignore.” Especially so as the innovative MTU product will facilitate customers’ acceptance of the advanced technology, for most engines will lend themselves to retrofitting with ERCoat nt . For additional information, contact Dr. Thomas Uihlein +49 89 1489-3812 This article is available online at: http://www.mtu.de/107ERCoatE 8 REPORT REPORT 9
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