Rolls-Royce To lead EU’s New Clean Aviation project UNIFIED To Transform And Decarbonise Aviation
The title of this post the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.
These two opening paragraphs add a few details.
Rolls-Royce has been selected by the European Union’s Clean Aviation programme to lead one of 12 groundbreaking new projects aiming to decarbonise aviation. These initiatives, which include new aircraft concepts and innovative propulsion technologies, will receive funding of about €945 million.
The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (CAJU) is the European Union’s leading research and innovation programme for transforming aviation towards a sustainable and climate neutral future.
I asked Google AI about the European Union’s Clean Aviation programme and received this reply.
The European Union’s Clean Aviation programme, part of the Horizon Europe research initiative, is a public-private partnership aimed at developing disruptive, climate-neutral aviation technologies, including hydrogen-powered, hybrid-electric, and ultra-efficient aircraft, to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Launched in 2022, it has a budget of €4.1 billion (€1.7 billion from the EU, €2.4 billion from private partners) and focuses on technologies that will be integrated into a new generation of short- to medium-range aircraft with a target entry into service by 2035. Key goals include a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions and energy efficiency compared to 2020 standards for new aircraft by 2030, with a long-term objective of climate-neutral aviation by 2050.
Note.
- Only someone like Trump would think that the key goals in the last sentence were not worthwhile.
- €4.1 billion in the right place could be a very good start.
- There is a Clean Aviation web site.
The press release says this about the UNIFIED project.
UNIFIED – Ultra Novel and Innovative Fully Integrated Engine Demonstrations
The UNIFIED consortium is led by Rolls-Royce and contains key industrial, academic and research partners across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. Subject to successful completion of grant preparation, the project will enable ground testing of an UltraFan® technology demonstrator at a short to medium range thrust class for future narrowbody aircraft and also enable the preparation of key activities towards future flight test of the UltraFan architecture.
I am not surprised Ultrafan is mentioned.
The Wikipedia entry for the Rolls-Royce Trent has a section about the UltraFan, which starts with these two paragraphs.
The UltraFan is a geared turbofan with a variable pitch fan system that promises at least 25% efficiency improvement. The UltraFan aims for a 15:1 bypass ratio and 70:1 overall pressure ratio.
The Ultrafan keeps the Advance core, but also contains a geared turbofan architecture with variable-pitch fan blades. The fan varies pitch to optimise for each flight phase, eliminating the need for a thrust reverser. Rolls-Royce planned to use carbon composite fan blades instead of its usual hollow titanium blades. The combination was expected to reduce weight by 340 kg (750 lb) per engine.
Note.
- 25 % is a very good efficiency improvement.
- No thrust reverser.
- A saving of 340 kg. in weight per engine.
It should also be noted that October 2028, will see the hundredth anniversary of Henry Royce sketching the R-type engine in the sand on the beach in Sussex.
The R-type was the engine that won the Schneider Trophy outright and enabled Rolls-Royce’s engineers to design the unrivalled Merlin engine that powered Hurricanes, Spitfires, Mosquitos, Mustangs and Lancasters in World War Two.
‘Spirit of Innovation’ Stakes Claim To Be The World’s Fastest All-Electric Vehicle
The title of this post is the same as that of this press release on the Rolls-Royce web site.
This is the first paragraph.
We believe our all-electric ‘Spirit of Innovation’ aircraft is the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft, setting three new world records. We have submitted data to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) – the World Air Sports Federation who control and certify world aeronautical and astronautical records – that at 15:45 (GMT) on 16 November 2021, the aircraft reached a top speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over 3 kilometres, smashing the existing record by 213.04 km/h (132mph). In further runs at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down experimental aircraft testing site, the aircraft achieved 532.1km/h (330 mph) over 15 kilometres – 292.8km/h (182mph) faster than the previous record – and broke the fastest time to climb to 3000 metres by 60 seconds with a time of 202 seconds, according to our data. We hope that the FAI will certify and officially confirm the achievements of the team in the near future.
Rolls-Royce also claim that the maximum speed achieved of 387.4 mph make it the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle.
To put that speed into perspective, it is faster than a Mark V Spitfire, which was powered by a legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. These aircraft were powered by a Merlin 45 engine that generated 1074kW.
By comparison the Spirit of Innovation has a maximum power of just 400 kW.
Why Do It?
This paragraph from the press release gives an explanation.
As well as a stunning technical achievement, the project and world record runs provided important data for our future electric power and propulsion systems for all-electric urban air mobility and hybrid-electric commuter aircraft. The characteristics that ‘air-taxis’ require from batteries, for instance, are very similar to what was developed for the ‘Spirit of Innovation’.
I’ll go with that, as Rolls-Royce seem to be associated with several electric aviation projects.
But I can’t help feeling that there are parallels with the 1930s, when Supermarine and Rolls-Royce teamed up to produce the Supermarine S 6B, that won the Schneider Trophy outright in 1931. It is generally accepted that the knowledge gained at the time helped to design the Spitfire and the Merlin engine.
The Anonymous Widower 