Rolls-Royce Ready to Test World's Largest Aircraft Engine

Rolls-Royce has announced that it has finished building the first demonstrator for its massive UltraFan engine for airplanes. Tests begin soon, with the expectation of a 25 percent increase in efficiency. Aircraft are expected to continue using hydrocarbon fuel for the foreseeable future. There is not yet a clean alternative that can approach the range and endurance of current long-haul aircraft. Therefore, Rolls-Royce will continue to develop the next generation UltraFan engine.

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A First for Narrow and Widebody Aircraft

The blue-blade turbofan will be the first member of an entire family of engines for narrow- and wide-body aircraft, with thrust ranging from 25,000 lbf to about 110,000 lbf. Its 140-inch diameter (3.56 m) fan is about 9 percent larger than the fan on the General Electric GE5X, currently the largest engine in the aircraft class. With a small increase in diameter, the increase will be quite good.

UltraFan uses Rolls-Royce's new robot-controlled 3D composite manufacturing process, which can now produce the complex shapes required for the aerodynamics of the fan blades. Titanium remains the engineers' choice for the leading edges of the blades, while the rest is made of carbon composite. This makes it much lighter than the full titanium fans used in Rolls-Royce's Trent-class engines. This lightweight fan is the main reason why Rolls-Royce is able to produce such a large engine. In smaller versions, it is expected to basically free up weight for extra cargo and passengers.

Rolls-Royce says the UltraFan will use about a quarter less fuel than its first-generation Trent engines, making it cheaper, longer-range and better for the environment. They also aim to burn NOx emissions more efficiently, reducing them by around 40 percent and virtually eliminating particulate emissions. Although initially designed to run on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel, Rolls-Royce is also advancing hybrid electrification and hydrogen ignition towards full decarbonization.