Rolls-Royce Designing Energy-Efficient Propeller Engine
Propeller planes aren’t exactly known as the pinnacle of aircraft luxury, but a new propeller engine currently being designed by Rolls-Royce makes up in efficiency what it lacks in comfort. The company claims that the engine could save an airline three million dollars and 10,000 tons of CO2 per year if it is introduced on 100-200 seater planes.
The Rolls-Royce design uses two sets of propellers that rotate in opposite directions near the engine’s rear. This effectively reduces the energy wasted when propellers twist the air instead of pushing it backwards. Additionally, the open rotor engines don’t have a casing around the propeller, thus reducing weight and drag.
Open-rotor designs are normally very noisy, but Rolls-Royce both increased the number of blades on the plane’s rotors and made the blades thinner than usual. This resulted in rotors that turn at a slower speed while still maintaining a high efficiency— all with reduced noise.
Other companies working on similar open-rotor designs include General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Snecma.
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That’s clearly not a picture of a dual-propeller open-rotor engine. Why bother with a picture that illustrates exactly what RR is NOT making?
That’s clearly not a picture of a dual-propeller open-rotor engine. Why bother with a picture that illustrates exactly what RR is NOT making?
Boeing already did work on this in the 80s with the Ultra High Bypass fanjet, also know as the 7J7. But the project was dropped because of public opinion that prop planes were old technology, even though the plane would have greatly improved efficiency.
Boeing already did work on this in the 80s with the Ultra High Bypass fanjet, also know as the 7J7. But the project was dropped because of public opinion that prop planes were old technology, even though the plane would have greatly improved efficiency.
Too little! Too late! Here, in the end-times of the “Cheap Oil Era” as GM and Chrysler sink into the sunset, V-8 engines, heavy sheetmetal bodies and all, and battery cars from China are coming soon, the bullet train plans on paper, and fission fires being set to fuel them all, the aviation boys look to retro designs to save a modest ‘%’ in running costs for a habit declared indulgent by conservative Asian executives, who ‘fly around’ their factories on very reliable software from India. (good bye to you too Microsoft, may you rest in Hell for your crimes against the American intellect!) A turbo-prop engine will get you nothing! look to the small craft bio-diesel piston engine out of Mexico for higher fuel efficiency, and fuel efficiency is all that will count, as the dollar falls from glory, the Yuan picks up power, and America goes broke!
Too little! Too late! Here, in the end-times of the “Cheap Oil Era” as GM and Chrysler sink into the sunset, V-8 engines, heavy sheetmetal bodies and all, and battery cars from China are coming soon, the bullet train plans on paper, and fission fires being set to fuel them all, the aviation boys look to retro designs to save a modest ‘%’ in running costs for a habit declared indulgent by conservative Asian executives, who ‘fly around’ their factories on very reliable software from India. (good bye to you too Microsoft, may you rest in Hell for your crimes against the American intellect!) A turbo-prop engine will get you nothing! look to the small craft bio-diesel piston engine out of Mexico for higher fuel efficiency, and fuel efficiency is all that will count, as the dollar falls from glory, the Yuan picks up power, and America goes broke!