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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0422.PDF
TECHNICAL: PROPULSION tit test ready to go USD hush! Hushkit manufacturer Sound Solution plans to start ground testing its Pratt & Whit ney JT8D noise suppressor next month on a Rohr Industries testbed. The company hopes to begin flying proof-of-concept hardware in October or Novem ber in time for certification and installation late 1991. Sound Solution, the Texas- based subsidiary of maintenance company Dalfort Aviation, says that its JT8D hushkit will im prove the engine's take-off thrust by about 5%, and will reduce effective perceived noise by a total of 22dB between all three axes—sideline, take-off flyover and approach. Sound Solution's hardware supplements a modified mixer introduced already on the JT8D, which accelerates the mixing of the core gases and bypass air flow. The system directs the combined airflow through a nozzle and into an ejector shroud, which is deployed aft during take-off and on approach. The shroud causes cold ter tiary air to be introduced into the rear of the acoustically treated nacelle, almost doubling the ex haust mass flow. "The result is Sound Solution targets 375 Boeing that the exhaust comes out of the back at • a much lower tem perature, pressure and Mach number and that's what gives us the noise reduction," says Ken Wallis, Sound Solution's vice- president of engineering. A further modification to the forward inlet guide vanes on the JT8D, under development by Pratt & Whitney, would provide a further 3dB reduction in for ward-radiated noise on ap proach, and Wallis says that the hiodification might be included in Sound Solution's hushkit. With an estimated 1,100 stage II Boeing 737s flying, Wallis es timates that there is a market of at least 375 aircraft for the system, which could be installed by most large airlines' own Rolls-Royce Canada is to make a major expansion to its aero engine plant in Montreal. The company will receive provincial government assistance to build and equip a $9 million extension to its present engine repair and overhaul plant. Sir Francis Tombs, chairman of Rolls-Royce, says: "This investment, which will be spread over two years, will allow Rolls- Royce Canada to handle today's large-fan engines, such as the Rolls-Royce RB.211 series and the International Aero Engines V2500, and to exploit future opportunities involving even larger engines". The extension complements 737s for conversion maintenance centres. Wallis says: "We haven't being doing any marketing yet, but there are a number of significant airlines that have showed interest". He adds: "We are being asked to look at other engines, but this is the only one that we are play ing with at the moment. We are also being encouraged to apply this system to the DC-9." The lower value of the remaining DC-9s does not make the hushkit as economical as for 737s, how ever. The modification target price is $2.7 million, although that may alter. The system will be certificated on the JT8D-17, and will include lower-thrust versions of the engine, including the -15, -11 and -9 models. • -Royce Canada an $11 million engine test site built by the company in 1986 and which is capable of handling engines producing up to 45,400kg of thrust. Construction of the new plant will begin in April 1990 and the site will be ready for large engine assembly activities by the end of the year. This capability is ex pected to generate 50 new jobs at the company during 1991, with the possibility of more jobs being created as the plant proves itself in the large engine market. Rolls-Royce Canada repairs and overhauls more than 400 corporate, airliner and military powerplants every year, and makes industrial gas turbines. • Aeritalia takes PW4000 share Aeritalia has gained a foothold iVin the Airbus programme with its selection by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) to share in the nacelle production for the PW4000 engine being developed for the A330. The Italian aero space company is now negotiat ing with Airbus for A321 fuselage work. The P&W agreement provides for Aeritalia to share 18% of the PW4000 nacelle programme, designing and developing major components. The higher-thrust engine, which will eventually be sited in the nacelles, will be certified at 30,870kg as against the PW4000's existing 27,240kg. It is anticipated that the new A330 engine will be thrust- certificated in 1992. • CBA-123 engine nacelle complete Embraer has completed the first engine nacelle for the Embraer/FAMA CBA-123 re gional airliner and has shipped the composite component to Garrett in the USA for assembly and flight trials. Garrett will fit the nacelle around a TPF351-20 turboprop, chosen to power the new 19-seat regional airliner, and will mount the assembly on a forward star board pylon on its Boeing 720 engine-testbed aircraft. Flight trials to evaluate the perfor mance envelope wijl start "soon". Embraer chose composite materials for the nacelle for their light weight and greater tol erance to heat and vibration. The Brazilian company hopes to fly the CBA-123 in June. • NEWS IN BRIEF GE IN CZECH TALKS General Electric has started detailed negotiations with the Czechs on industrial co-opera tion, but is refusing to say which engine components the Czechs will build as an offset to the recent CT7-9B deal involving the Let 610. Expansion for Rolls 26 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14-20 February 1990
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