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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 2215.PDF
810 FUGHT International, 16 November '967 SPEYS INTERNATIONAL .. Continued from page 807 was later increased to $230 million (£82.7 million) in December, R-R's share being about $100 million (£36 million). Develop- ment is being undertaken jointly by R-R and Allison; for production, R-R is to supply parts common to existing Spey variants and Allison, which will manufacture under licence, will be responsible for those parts peculiar to the new engine. This constitutes an approximately 50/50 split in manufacturing effort, but with Allison also undertaking assembly, test and delivery. Design of the Corsair Spey as the RB. 168-62 started in June 1966, and following the award of the contract in August the engine was given the USAF designation TF41-A-1. A number of clear-cut requirements had to be met, comprising (1) no greater air mass flow than that of the Pratt & Whitney TF3O-P-6 turbofan installed in USN A-7A aircraft; (2) a high tolerance to inlet flow distortion; (3) installation features of the auxiliaries to suit the USAF A-7D; (4) turbine temperatures and stressing not to exceed those of the RB.168-25R; (5) maximum thrust increase over the TF30 figure; and (6) existing R-R production parts to be used wherever possible. The resulting configuration of the RB.l68-62 moves the by-pass flow split forward into the l->p compressor to give a larger 1-p compressor, followed by a two-stage i-p (intermediate pressure) compressor, all five stages being driven by the two- stage 1-p turbine. The number of h-p compressor stages has been reduced from 12 to 11. These changes result in an increase in mass flow from 2061b/sec in the Spey-25 to 2581b/sec in the Spey-62 and the supercharging effect of the i-p compressor on the h-p compressor boosts the h-p flow to give an 0-77:1 b.p.r., comparable with that of the earlier engine. The thrust is consequently raised to 14,2501b. The new 1-p and i-p compressors are of more modern aero- dynamic design than the previous Spey compressor and do not have inlet guide vanes: instead, the first stage is overhung and the 1-p compressor bearing is supported by the first stage stator vanes. The h-p and 1-p turbine nozzle throat areas have been increased to pass the additional flow and the h-p turbine is of modified aerodynamic design. The chuted exhaust mixer has been replaced by one of annular design. Essentially, how- ever, the majority of components downstream of the com- pressor intermediate case, which are to be manufactured by R-R, remain unaltered. First run of the Spey-62 was at Derby on October 18—two weeks ahead of schedule—and during its second test the engine was run to full thrust. Production deliveries of the Spey-62/ TF41 from Allison are planned for next year, when the A-7D should also enter service. Production Organisation During the early part of the Spey programme, R-R's produc- tion departments underwent a major reorganisation. Work centres were created which were skilled and experienced in the manufacture of specific categories of component, and a chain of command and communication was set up which on the "line" side encouraged individual plants to become divisionally orientated around their groups of components and, on the "staff" side, provided a clearly defined network of functional responsibilities. For the Spey, this has meant that the engine in its various parts, engages each and every one of R-R's numerous produc- tion plants involving nine factory groups throughout Great Britain and close on 43,000 people. Considering only selected major components, Hillington, Glasgow, has responsibility for all compressor blades; all discs, shafts and turbine blades are the responsibility of Nightingale Road, Derby, while fabri- cations are centred on Ukeston, Derby, and Mountsorrel, Leics. Final assembly, test and overhaul are located at Sinfin, Derby, which also has the responsibility for bought-out parts. In parallel with this there is a "bought-out finished parts" organisation through which outside companies supply specialised components and systems to their own design. Examples of these are the components for the Lucas engine fuel system and the Dowty afterburner fuel system. Both these companies are held responsible for their own design and development, and for product support in the field. With the advent of the Spey Phantom programme a peak load has been placed on the production organisation. Hence, although the majority of Spey manufacture has been retained within the company, a proportion (together with many com- ponents from earlier R-R engines) has had to be sub-contracted. The major Spey sub-contractor is Bristol Siddeley, who manu- facture parts of the engine at their Patchway and Ansty works. Sub-contracting further afield, which perforce has had to be undertaken, now engages aerospace companies throughout the world. This move overseas, at first sight expensive, is in fact cheaper and quicker than training and equipping newcomers to aero engine manufacture, with the specialist skills and machine tools required. Overseas companies used by R-R for sub-contract manufac- ture include Rolls-Royce of Canada, MAN Turbo in Germany, Hispano Suiza in France, Fiat and Alfa Romeo in Italy, Flygmotor in Sweden, Fairey and Fabrique Nationale in Belgium, TRW Inc. in America and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. That the spread of companies is so wide is a clear indication of the world-wide shortage of aero engine manufacturing capacity brought about both by the growth of civil air trans- port and the American industry's preoccupation with the needs of the Vietnam war. Speys in Service Since the Spey became operational with BEA in March 1964, the engine has entered civil and military service with 21 other operators in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia and the Middle East. The millionth flying hour was completed in September this year, and operational experience is being accumulated at more than 60,000hr/month—a figure which is steadily rising as more engines enter service. To provide field support for both civil and military Spey operators, R-R has N omenclature R-R RSp.l Spey-I RSp.3 Spey-2 RSp.4 Spey-25 RSp.4 Spey-25 DC A C *> *^CRSp.4 Spey-25 RSp.4 Spey-25 RSp.4 Spey-25 Spey Junior MIc No 505-5 /506-I4 1 506-I4W510-14 5II-5W/5II-I4 \5II-I4W 512-5 512-14 555-15 Take- Miii Thrust (Ib) 9,850 10,410 10,410 11,000 11,400 11,400 11,400 11,960 12,000 9,850 THE CIVIL SPEY off (tea level ISA static) Air Mass Flow (Ib/see) 203 208 208 203 206 206 206 207 207 203 Press Ratio 16.8: 16.9: 16.9: 18.3: 19.1: 19.1: 19.1: 20.7: 20.7: 15.4: By-pass Ratio 1.0: 1.0: 1.0: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 0.7: 1.0: Thrust (Ib) 3,070 3,460 3,400 2,900 2,900 2,900 2.900 3,000 3,000 3,000 FAMILY Typica s.f.c. 0.763 0.764 0.764 0.768 0.768 0.768 0.768 0.775 0.775 0.775 Cruise Alt (") 32,000 25,000 25,000 32,000 32,000 32,000 32.000 32,000 32,000 25,000 TAS (let) 450 440 440 440 440 440440 440 440 440 Compressor L-p Stages 4 4 4 5 5 55 5 5 4 H-p Stages 12 12 12 12 1212 12 1212 12 Length (in) 110 110 110 114.6 114.6 114.6114.6 125 125 110 Basic Dry Weight (Ib) 2,220 2,306 2.325 2,450 2,453 2,4502,469 2,574 2,590 2,182 Note* The designation W in the mark number (second column) refers to the use of water injection to maintain a fiat rating to ISA 4- 20°C. In ail cases the combustion system is cannular, with ten flame-tubes throughout. All engines have two h-p and two I-p turbines. The dimension given in the penultimate column is the overall length, while overall width and height of all the engines are 4hn and 45in respectively; the difference in these two dimensions is due to the presence of and Maries mounted on the casing.
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