MORE EFFICIENT ENGINES
The way in which engines are continuously being improved has always impressed me. Decades ago, the typical car engine would die long before it hit 100,000 miles. Today, 100,000 miles is just getting started for most cars.
Aviation engine technology is no different. Pratt & Whitney has now produced its new PurePower Geared Turbofan aircraft engine and it is quite impressive. Central to the engine’s success was the development of a special gearing mechanism that allows the fan (the large rotating blades in front of the engine that are responsible for most of the propulsion) to turn at a slower rate while moving larger volumes of air. This is more efficient than a faster spinning fan that moves a smaller amount of air, and it reduces the noise. Peter Coy reports on the excellent results (“The Little Gear that Could” Bloomberg Businessweek . 19/19/15–10/25/15, pp. 36–37):
“ Scheduled to enter commercial service before the end of the year, [PurePower Geared Turbofan aircraft engines] burn 16 percent less fuel than today’s best jet engines, . . . pollute less, . . . have fewer parts, which increases reliability. And they create up to 75 percent less noise on the ground enabling carriers to pay lower noise fees and travel over some residential areas that are no-fly zones for regular planes. ” (p. 36)
