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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2212.PDF
FARNBORO TECHNOLOGY Honeywell set to electrify aviation US manufacturer aims to transform aircraft and engine power, with a second-generation A320 a potential application Honeywell will reveal first details at Farnborough of its company-wide research initiative into more-elec tric and, eventually, all-electric concepts for future efficient aircraft and engines. Honeywell Engines and Systems engineering vice-president Peg Bilson says: "It is now a core strategy for us to enable a more-electric air craft." He adds: "The more-electric strategy is broader than just engines, it goes across the whole aircraft because we are seeing significant increases in the power demands in terms of loads per passenger." The overall load is expected to rise from around 0.5kW/passenger to 3kW over the next decade. One of Honeywell's first steps will be the elimination of the acces sory gearbox and replacing it with a shaft-driven generator. Concepts under study for the forthcoming Honeywell next-gen eration business jet engine, the AS903, include permanent mag nets aft of the low-pressure turbine, or a shaft-mounted generator aft of the fan. "It's being driven by signif icant increases in electric loads which are increasing for new pro jects such as Sonic Cruiser, super sonic business jets and QSP [Quiet Supersonic Platform]," Bilson adds. Honeywell's more-electric plan has been boosted by recent testbed demonstrations of a variable- frequency (VF) power generator which developed 225kVA and 271Nm (200ft/lb) torque, or enough for main engine start. A major plank of its strategy is based on improved vapour-cycle technology, whereby the engine- bleed requirements are offloaded to leave more energy for power gener ation. Bilson says: "VF requires a new platform and a fundamental shift in power management, as well as a no-bleed architecture." He sug gests potential applications "within a decade" could include a second- generation Airbus A320 family. Bilson says: "The significant growth that needs to be demon strated is high power invertors in the lOOkW range." He says the VF technology work is a combination of Honeywell and government- funded research. Some is believed to involve the small versatile core being developed under the Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines programme. The work is focused on development of internal starter-generators as part of the intelligent engine area of research. DEBUT Virgin shows A340-600 Virgin Atlantic, launch customer of the Airbus A340-600, has pre sented its first aircraft at the show ahead of its planned ser vice entry on the London Heathrow-New York Kennedy route next week. The 311-seater is the first of 10 of the Rolls- Royce Trent 556-powered aircraft that it will take delivery of through to June 2006. SMITHS DIVISION Smiths Aerospace has launched a new division, Smiths Detection, to market its security- related products. Aviation security, narcotic, chemical and biological detection equipment will be targeted at the military, transport and facilities security markets. The new division will combine the businesses of three Smiths companies Graseby Dynamics, Environmental Technologies Group and Barringer Instruments. Security products at Farnborough include the Sentinel II walk through explosives detection portal and explosive and drug detectors. SENSORS BAE launches Seaspray AESA radar for maritime aircraft and UAVs BAE Systems Avionics has launched its first airborne active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for heli copters, the Seaspray 7000E. Although developed for maritime helicopters, the radar is also suitable for unmanned air vehicles (UAV) and small maritime patrol aircraft, says the company. Seaspray 7000E uses BAE Avionics Systems and Sensors Division-devel oped AESA transmit-receive mod ules (TRM), which are used to build up the AESA. The Edinburgh-based business has also transferred all Seaspray radar processing into soft ware compatible with an open architecture off-the-shelf processor. The scanner is a rotating array of multiple TRMs - the radar scans electronically in elevation and mechanically and electronically in azimuth. The AESA-equipped radar is mul- timode, has a "much smaller" mass and volume and simpler installation than an equivalent mechanically scanned radar, says the company. Seaspray 7000E is designed for air, land and sea surveillance and pro vides small target and long-range detection, target classification, using high-resolution range profiling and an inverse synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) capability, says BAE. Weather, navigation and multiple target track-while-scan modes are also available while BAE is offering high-resolution SAR ground map ping, ground moving target indica tion, air-to-air, electronic support measures integration with high- accuracy angle of arrival informa tion and identification friend or foe integration as optional modes. 12 23-29 JULY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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