High-tech made by MTU The company— MTU Aero Engines is Germany’s leading engine One of the core competences of the company manufacturer and a firmly established player is the maintenance of commercial engines. Its Germany’s number one in the industry. The company, whose roots maintenance segment is the world’s leading reach back to the dawn of aviation, designs, independent provider of commercial engine develops, manufactures, markets and supports maintenance services. In the military arena, commercial and military aircraft engines as MTU is Germany’s industrial lead company for well as stationary industrial gas turbines. Its practically all engines flown by the German predecessor companies provided the engines Armed Forces. European military programs for the first powered airplanes as early as at in which MTU has a leading role include the the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the TP400-D6 for the A400M military transport, company has carved out leading positions in the EJ200 for the Eurofighter/Typhoon, and essential engine technologies. With its com- the MTR390 for the French-German Tiger at- prehensive and well-balanced product portfolio tack helicopter. MTU has content in all thrust and power class- es and in all essential components and sub- MTU Aero Engines’ headquarters are in Munich. systems that make up an engine. It is from here that the German and non- German affiliates and most of the company’s A technology leader worldwide, the company research and development activities are con- is pressing ahead with the development of in- trolled. As a renowned partner, MTU cooper- novative manufacturing and repair techniques ates closely with all of the big engine manu- and plays a pacesetting role in major national facturers. With its partners from industry, uni- and international technology programs. MTU’s versities and research institutes, the company low-pressure turbines and high-pressure com- has for years been developing novel technolo- pressors as well as engine control units rank gies to make engines fuel-thriftier, quieter and among the finest to be found in the global cleaner. The propulsion system of the future marketplace. is the geared turbofan engine which excels by a very high efficiency and low noise levels. The engine is developed jointly with MTU’s partner Pratt & Whitney. 2 Based on the geared turbofan technology, Germany’s leading engine manufacturer has developed its forward-looking Claire (Clean Air Engine) technology program. It aims at reducing fuel consumption and hence carbon dioxide emissions in three stages by up to 30 percent by the year 2035. Furthermore, the perceived noise level will be halved. A com- pelling advantage of Claire is that all of the key technologies to be folded into the project already exist or that at least their feasibility has been demonstrated. With its Claire project, MTU has identified an approach to addressing the challenges facing the aviation industry in the future: The aircraft manufacturers will build thriftier, cleaner and quieter aircraft, and MTU will supply the en- gines to power them. 3 High-tech made by MTU Innovation is the moving force behind MTU In addition to environmental objectives, ACARE Aero Engines and forms one of the company’s also defined precise goals in terms of quality, five strategic pillars. With over 100 patent cost, safety and system efficiency. applications a year, MTU secures its techno- logical leadership position in its core compe- MTU has already developed solutions to tencies in the fields of low-pressure turbines, achieve the ambitious targets for the future: high-pressure compressors, engine control, Under its Claire technology initiative, the com- monitoring and diagnosis units, as well as pany combines key technologies that already high-tech manufacturing and repair techniques. exist or whose feasibility has been demon- strated to build a highly advanced engine that Its technology portfolio includes some 100 will burn 30 percent less fuel, emit less carbon projects that are firmly focused on the com- dioxides and produce half the perceived noise. pany’s objectives and pursued in accordance Plans are to achieve these targets by 2035. with strict product development rules. Close The new concept revolves around the geared meshing with industrial partners, academe turbofan which will be further optimized. and research institutions is the sine qua non of success in the development of new tech- 15 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent less carbon nologies. dioxide are the staged goals the company has set for itself. This roadmap was developed by Tomorrow’s engines call for innovative ideas. MTU experts in partnership with the futurolo- The growing mobility needs of billions of peo- gists of Bauhaus Luftfahrt. The geared turbo- ple, limited raw materials and acerbating eco- fan engine alone already provides a reduction logical problems leave little doubt that new in carbon dioxide emissions by up to 15 per- engine solutions must go beyond existing con- cent. Further improvements will be achieved cepts. by the integration of a counter-rotating inte- grated shrouded propfan and a recuperator. Current projections assume that air traffic will keep growing at a rate of four to five percent With Claire, MTU once again lives up to its re- a year, practically doubling within 15 years. putation as a technology leader: MTU’s Claire The industry’s challenges are growing accord- initiative is not about lofty visions but bases MTU technologies are on board also on Boeing’s next- ingly, because tomorrow's aircraft must be on existing and well-tried key technologies. generation wide-body aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner. fuel-thriftier, quieter and cleaner. The European aerospace industry has set specific goals for itself. In 2002, ACARE, the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe, issued its Strategic Research Agenda: By the year 2020, aircraft are to burn 50 per- cent less fuel, emit 50 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) and 80 percent less oxides of nitrogen (NOX). Moreover, the perceived noise level is to be halved. A substantial contribution will have to come from the engines of the next generation (20 percent less CO2, 60 to 80 percent less NOX, and 10 ENPdB less noise). ® The PurePower PW1000G engine is setting new standards worldwide in terms of fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and noise. 4 5 Future commercial engines Pilot concepts describe the engines of future Geared turbofan engine generations. Individual pilot concepts outline The geared turbofan (GTF) is the engine con- potential engine architectures for a certain cept of the future. MTU is partnering with application category believed to satisfy future Pratt & Whitney on demonstrator and develop- market requirements. Pilot concepts specify ment programs for this new engine generation. the general direction technology development Unlike conventional turbofans, where fan and is supposed to take. MTU develops pilot con- low-pressure turbine rotate on a common shaft cepts for all applications forming part of its and at the same speed, the two components strategic product portfolio. In the commercial are decoupled by a gearbox arranged between domain, these are engine concepts for busi- them. Accordingly, the large fan operates at ness and regional jets, short-, medium and a slower and the low-pressure turbine at a long-haul aircraft. faster speed, which improves their respective efficiencies, lowers the noise level and about Advanced turbofan engine halves the number of stages in the turbine. Today, the turbofan engine has found a home Bypass ratios of 12 and beyond become a on practically all jet-propelled aircraft. How- possibility and fuel burn can be considerably ever, the ambitious emission goals of the reduced. ACARE Vision 2020 cannot be fully met with the turbofan concept. Any significant reduction Orders from Mitsubishi, Bombardier and Irkut, in fuel consumption and noise can be achieved who are going to use the geared turbofan en- most effectively using a high bypass ratio. Fur- gine on their emerging regional jets and short- ther developments of turbofan engines are and medium-haul aircraft, have paved the way aimed at increasing the bypass ratio to a little for the successful placement of the product above ten and optimizing individual compo- on the market. In late 2010, Airbus selected nents for better aerodynamic efficiency and the GTF as one of the two engine options for lower weight. its upgraded A320neo. 6 Future developments The propulsive efficiency can be further boost- ed only with a higher bypass ratio. A major step forward is the further development of the GTF into the second-generation GTF. At the same time, alternative solutions are being in- vestigated, such as the counter rotating inte- grated shrouded propfan, or Crisp for short. In this derivative of the geared turbofan, two counter-rotating fan rotors are arranged one behind the other. The shroud is intended to reduce noise emissions. The efficiency of an engine can be optimized by the The technical foundations of this concept had use of downstream recuperators. been laid already back in the mid-1980s, when also its general feasibility had been demon- In addition, it features an intercooler between strated. The low fuel prices at the time, how- the compressors and a recuperator in the ever, prevented the concept from going into exhaust gas stream. Intercooling and recuper- production. ating energy from the exhaust gas stream markedly increase the engine’s thermal effi- Intercooled recuperated engine ciency. In the quest for higher efficiencies advanced thermodynamic cycles are also being investi- Considering that intercooler and recuperator gated. Among others, the recuperated propfan involve weight and cost penalties, the integra- appears to be a promising concept which helps tion of these components poses new techno- further enhance the thermal efficiency of en- logical challenges for the overall system. gines. It is designed to take the last hurdle on the route to 30 percent carbon dioxide reduc- tion.