A distinctive feature of the Advance is the separation of different elements of the gas generator.
The British company Rolls-Royce has started to assemble a turbofan jet engine of new generation Advance.
He writes about this subject portal to Aviation Week.
Testing of the power plant with a new gas generator high pressure is scheduled to begin before the end of this year. Advance will be the first completely new development of the British company, still designed turbofan engines based on the architecture of the RB211, which includes more new powerplants Trent family. The generator will maintain a compression ratio of over 60:1. The bypass ratio of the engine is 11:1. It is assumed that specific fuel consumption the power plant will be 20 percent less than the turbofan jet units such as the Trent 700. The Advance would be only a technology demonstrator. All the achievements obtained in the framework of the project, Rolls-Royce plans to use in future engine UltraFan, which will be installed on passenger planes in 2025.
Advance will be used in case of serial engine Trent XWB-84 that is installed on the Airbus A350, as well as the fan and the low-pressure turbine of the power plant from the Trent 1000, standard for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In this case, the gas generator will be brand new, including a ten-stage high pressure compressor, the intermediate compressor (medium pressure), efficient combustion chamber, insulators of ceramic matrix composites and new type of cooled turbine blades. A distinctive feature of the Advance is the separation of different elements of the gas generator. For example, a high pressure compressor it is driven from a two-stage high pressure turbine, while for the intermediate drive four-stage compressor will meet the medium-pressure turbine. The fan drive will be through gear from the intermediate turbine. This solution will be possible a high degree of compression and the work of each of parts of the power plant in an optimal mode for it.
The engine is also planned to use a fan with blades made of composite materials. The final diameter of the fan is not yet defined. Currently Rolls-Royce is testing the fan from composite materials with a diameter of 3.1 meters. In the near future also will test a compressor for power plant, after which they will be installed in the gas generator. In 2017, the project Advance is scheduled to close. After testing, the experts will analyze the data and will be used in the development of the UltraFan engine, which will be based the project Advance. It is assumed that the gas turbine engine UltraFan will provide a compression ratio of 70:1. The bypass ratio powerplant will be 15:1. The company expects that the specific fuel consumption of engine is promising at least 25 percent less than such figure for the Trent 700. For the latter, he is 560 grams of fuel per hour per kilogram-forces. Hallmark UltraFan will be complete absence of low pressure turbine, although the overall design is to prevent its installation, if customers require additional actuator mounted units.
