RR Générique

olls-Royce today shared details of its next generation of engine designs, which could be ready within ten years, featuring technology innovation designed to transform performance.

The company has built a technology leadership position with its Trent family of engines, the latest of which, the Trent XWB, is the world's most efficient engine flying today. Trent engines will continue in service for decades to come with 2,500 in service and more than 2,500 on order.

Rolls-Royce is continually innovating and, as part of that ongoing process, is looking to build on the success of the Trent family of engines with two new generation engine designs.

The first design, Advance, will offer at least 20 per cent better fuel burn and CO2 emissions than the first generation of Trent engine and could be ready from the end of this decade.

The second, UltraFan™, a geared design with a variable pitch fan system, is based on technology that could be ready for service from 2025 and will offer at least 25 per cent improvement in fuel burn and emissions against the same baseline.

Colin Smith, Rolls-Royce Director - Engineering and Technology, said: "These new designs are the result of implementing our ongoing technology programmes. They are designed to deliver what our airframe and airline customers tell us they need: even better fuel efficiency, reliability and environmental performance."

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President - Civil Large Engines, said: "As innovators, we can never stand still, even when we have the leadership position. Our horizons extend into the coming decades and we have amassed a range of new technologies to meet the needs of our customers. I am confident that our engine design strategy will ensure we power the future of global aviation."

Both engine designs are the result of the ongoing research and development investment, of approximately £1bn a year, which Rolls-Royce makes across its aerospace and non-aerospace businesses.

The designs will feature architecture and technology improvements, all currently at an advanced stage of development, that include:

A new engine core architecture - to deliver maximum fuel burn efficiency and low emissions.
A CTi Fan System - carbon/titanium fan blades and a composite casing that reduce weight by up to 1,500lb per aircraft, the equivalent of carrying seven more passengers at no cost
Advanced ceramic matrix composites - heat resistant components that operate more effectively in high turbine temperatures.
A geared design, called UltraFan™, which will deliver efficient power for high-thrust, high-bypass ratio engines of the future.

In addition, Rolls-Royce has developed and tested technologies to support the Open Rotor engine concept and is positioned to mature them should there be clear market demand for such a product.

The ambitious plan centers on an evolution of its successful three-shaft architecture but depends heavily on a broad swathe of scalable technology which will position Rolls for new applications in the widebody market as well as, potentially, future narrowbody designs.

The roadmap also sees the U.K. engine maker formally introducing composite fan blade, casing and geared turbofan technology for the first time, as well as keeping the door ajar for potential open rotor derivatives.

The first engine, dubbed the Advance, will be tested in initial demonstrator form in 2015 based on a re-cored XWB. Although no specific application has either been identified or announced, Rolls says the new engine could enter service from 2020 onwards. The Advance was the basis for the company’s bid for the Boeing 777X for which General Electric’s GE9X was ultimately selected after an engine competition in 2013. Advance is outlined with a bypass ratio in excess of 11:1 and an overall pressure ratio of more than 60:1 and will have a fuel burn level at least 20% better than the current Trent 700.

Advance also forms the basis for a more ambitious engine dubbed the UltraFan which Rolls first revealed in concept form in early 2012 as part of a NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation study with Lockheed Martin. The engine could be ready for service from 2025 and is targeted at an improvement in fuel burn “at least” 25% better than the Trent 700. The UltraFan will incorporate a geared fan drive system that drives a variable pitch fan system and is outlined with a 15:1 bypass ratio and overall pressure ratio of 70:1.

Ses activités seraient réparties en France, au Royaume-Uni et en Allemagne, avec un site de production dans un pays compétitif.