Pratt & Whitney Canada is using lessons learned from its smallest jet engines to set the engine design and production process for its first 10,000lb-thrust (44kN) engine.
Detailed design work is now under way for the company's 8,830lb-thrust PW810 turbofan, selected by Cessna for the Citation Columbus. The engine is to be built using manufacturing processes the company put in place for the PW600-series engines now powering the Cessna Mustang, Eclipse 500 and Embraer Phenom 100. The Columbus is set for service entry in 2014.
Competing with P&WC so far in the 10,000lb-thrust engine market are Rolls-Royce with the RB232, selected by Dassault for the Falcon SMS, Honeywell with the HTF10000, a scaled-up version of the successful HTF7000 series engines, and CFM with its "Silvercrest" engine, which has recently completed core tests.
P&WC's edge came as a result of having to meet the short lead times and steep ramp up rates that were expected for an onslaught of very light jets in the early 2000s. The company retooled its build process, putting in place a production, preparation and planning programme borrowed from fellow UTC company, Carrier, says John Saabas, PW&C executive vice-president.
Rather than design the engine first, the new process called for simulating the engine's final assembly process and making changes to the engine design to "maximise flows".
The analysis also considered parts logistics needed to build one engine every 4h, the required production rate. Ultimately, the design yielded 50% fewer parts to meet the broader set of constraints, says Saabas. P&WC is now following the same process for the PW810, with detailed design work under way in parallel with production process simulations.
R-R continues to be quiet on RB232 status, but has forecasted $40 billion in demand for engines to power super-mid-size jets over the next two decades. Snecma says it has completed its planned four-month core test of the Silvercrest, and is now quantifying the data. The performance, in terms of pressure ratio, efficiency and thrust during 80h of run time and take-off speeds of 20,000rpm were "all what we expected or better", says Francois Planaud, vice-president and general manager of the commercial engines division. Engineers continue to perform a piece-part inspection on the interior of the engine, says Planaud, as marketing efforts continue in search of a launch customer.
Source: Flight International
