U.E.C.- Russian aircraft engines

Backman wrote:They probably wouldn't test an engine upside down would they ? Its pointing the right direction for this

It's definitely pointing in the right direction

That flat nozzle is for a civilian supersonic airliner program, this was stated on Paralay.

x_54_u43 wrote:That flat nozzle is for a civilian supersonic airliner program, this was stated on Paralay.

I just seen that on Twitter too.  Not sure if I believe it. If its true then engine wise , Russia is a decade ahead on sst engines. It's gotta be BS

PapaDragon wrote:
Place your bets, gentlemen...

There is a version that this is the engine for Light Supersonic Business Aircraft (LSDS/Legkiy Sverhzvukovoi Delovoi Samolet)

^Yes. I was just going to post those pics on the civil aviation thread. Maybe Garry can just move it though. What does it say on the card underneath ?

Model of the nozzle of a Light Supersonic Business Aircraft

UEC has improved the quality engine blades for long-range aviation engines. 

The United Engine Corporation of Rostec has started production at the Samara enterprise "UEC-Kuznetsov" at a new production site, which is equipped with modern Russian automated ion-plasma spraying units and vacuum furnaces. The equipment will improve the quality of the protective coatings of the blades of the NK-25 and NK-32-02 engines for long-range aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The new software-controlled equipment sprays and processes the heat-resistant coatings of the most loaded elements of the "hot" part of the engine - the turbine blades of the first and second stages of the NK-25 engines used on the Tu-95MS aircraft, as well as the NK-32 engines of the 02 series for the Tu-160 missile carriers. Each unit is equipped with 24 "landing" places for placing blades, equipped with automatic safety control systems and trouble-free operation.

"The new equipment allows you to apply heat and corrosion-resistant coatings to the engine blades, which increase the service life of the parts. Additional software control increases the productivity of the spraying process, guarantees the stability of production and quality control of the coating. Thanks to the digitalization of the process, continuous automatic quality control of work is ensured" said Alexey Sobolev, Deputy General Director and Managing Director of PJSC UEC-Kuznetsov.

The products processed by ion-plasma sputtering are subjected to diffusion annealing in vacuum furnaces, also equipped with software control. The furnaces are equipped with autonomous cooling systems and can perform work around the clock, and the location of the equipment on one site significantly reduces the production time.

Novikombank finances production of new domestic PD-14 aircraft engines developed by UEC. 

Novikombank, the parent bank of Rostec State Corporation, has signed an agreement with JSC UEC-Perm Motors, an enterprise of the United Engine Corporation (UEC) of Rostec, for the amount of RUB 5 billion. The purpose of the financing is mass production of new domestic PD-14 aircraft engines.

As part of the international industrial exhibition Innoprom-2021, which is being held in Yekaterinburg, Novikombank signed a number of strategically important agreements to support key projects of the Russian industry. Among them — an agreement on the organization of financing with the enterprise of the United Engine Corporation "UEC-Perm Motors".

The new PD-14 engine was created in cooperation with the United Engine Corporation. This is the first one from the beginning 1990s This is a fully Russian turbofan engine for civil aviation, which was developed for the promising Russian airliner MS-21-310. It belongs to the most popular segment of passenger aircraft − short-and medium-haul narrow-body airliners. The MC-21 aircraft with the PD-14 engine has already made several flights.

"Novikombank supports strategically important projects for the Russian aircraft industry at all stages: from development to the launch of mass production. The creation of the PD-14 engine allowed our country to achieve technological leadership in the engine industry, and we are proud to be a financial partner of the United Engine Corporation. By developing unique financing mechanisms for each project, the bank helps Russian enterprises achieve their goals, " said Igor Dubonosov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Novikombank.

Novikombank is a strategic partner of the United Engine Corporation. The partnership program of Novikombank and UEC provides for the organization of financing of a number of significant civil projects of the corporation. Among them: programs for PD-14 aircraft engines, VK-2500 helicopter engines, gas turbine power and gas pumping units.

The Russian airliner MS-21-310s with new PD-14 engines developed and manufactured by the United Engine Corporation will be presented in the flight program and static display at the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS-2021) from July 20 to 25 in Zhukovsky, Moscow region.

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Could the izd.30 power the LSDS?

Russian tech firm launches work on sixth-generation engine for combat aircraft

At the moment, Russia is developing fifth-generation engines, which are item 30 for the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter and the Item RF for the prospective aviation complex for long-range aviation

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Russia’s United Engine Corporation (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) is launching R&D work on the sixth-generation engine for combat aircraft, United Engine Corporation Deputy CEO for Strategy Mikhail Remizov told TASS on Friday.

"Now work is starting in several promising areas: the technologies of the sixth-generation engine, a combined powerplant, and the more electric engine technology. The R&D effort on the sixth-generation demonstrator engine technology has been included in the long-term work schedule of the United Engine Corporation and our applications for state program financing," he said.

A government decision and state financing will be required for the work on developing the sixth-generation engine, the deputy chief executive said.

Russia is currently developing fifth-generation engines: Item 30 for the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter and the Item RF for the prospective aviation complex for long-range aviation (PAK DA).


https://tass.com/defense/1314577

VK-1600 

Gas generator of the PD-8 engine

VK-650V

Model of a hybrid engine for aviation

UEC creates new competitive aircraft engines based on the digital twin concept


UEC has already implemented projects to create a digital twin of the TV7-117ST and AI-222-25 aircraft engines. Digital twin technologies ensured the successful completion of the first stage of testing of the prototype gas generator of the new PD-8 aircraft engine and processing of the results. A project has already been launched to create a digital twin of the marine engine and gearbox as part of the unit. A universal digital platform for creating digital twins of gas turbine engines is also being developed.

"The total number of requirements for the digital twin technology of a gas turbine engine can reach several thousand. They are confirmed using hundreds of calculation models of different levels of detail. It is the concept of a digital twin that allows us to provide a systematic approach to engine development, as well as connect various levels of components and the power plant as a whole, and find optimal combinations of node parameters from a wide range of possible variants of their execution," says Alexander Nikulin, Project manager of UEC High - Performance Computing and Digital Product Doubles.

United Engine Corporation is implementing the project "High-performance Computing and digital Product Twins" to integrate various approaches to creating elements of the digital twin of gas turbine engines at its enterprises.

"The use of digital twin technology allows you to manage the life cycle of a gas turbine engine, conduct "virtual tests". As a result, we can reduce the engine development time, adjust the operation at all stages and significantly reduce costs, up to 30%," said Kirill Vinogradov, Deputy Head of OKB - 1 for Design and Research Work at UEC-Saturn.

With this approach, the virtual engine prototype completely repeats the behavior of a physical gas turbine engine, including all internal processes, operating conditions, technical condition, and operating time of a particular instance. The digital twin of the engine should contain data on the main stages of the life cycle: design, production, testing, operation, and also be located in a single information space for collective distributed work of specialists. The level of accuracy and compliance of the mathematical models used with real physical objects is extremely important.

The methodology for managing the life cycle of a gas turbine engine based on digital twin technology was discussed in detail in the presentation of the United Engine Corporation at MAKS-2021.

https://aviation21.ru/odk-sozdayot-novye-konkurentnye-aviadvigateli-na-osnove-koncepcii-cifrovogo-dvojnika/

Model of a hybrid engine for aviation

Looks like a four engine tiltrotor design with four electric motors driving propellers that can be rotated... and that would be interesting because as you can see they are small and light enough that they might have articulated arms to have them face forward for a normal takeoff or angled up at 45 degrees for a rolling take off or pointing directly up for a vertical take off... pointing slightly backwards to fly backwards like a helicopter... but might even be articulated to yaw in angle left and right for insane flying ability...

Rostec will create a united engine repair center in the Leningrad region. 

By 2025, the United Engine Corporation Rostec will create a service center for the repair of aircraft and industrial engines in the Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad Region. Investments in the new production facility will amount to 600 million rubles, and 60 jobs will be created. The total economic effect of the project will be about 1.5 billion rubles.

Source: 

Special flight conditions. 
Red Wings received a special contract for the repair of SSJ 100 engines. 

The volume of the first direct contract between UEC-Saturn and Red Wings for after-sales service of SSJ 100 aircraft engines, according to Kommersant, is estimated at $500 million over 20 years. Information that UEC-Saturn under the new contract will provide "a wide range of services and works for technical support and repair of SaM146 engines" appeared on July 22 as part of MAKS-2021. Previously, a direct contract with airlines could only be concluded by the engine manufacturer-PowerJet (SP UEC and French Safran).

According to Kommersant's sources, Red Wings ' payments to UEC-Saturn will be significantly lower than if the agreement was concluded with PowerJet, and the carrier's expenses will be 1.5-2 times less than those of other SSJ operators.

Moreover, if others pay for one-time repairs (renting engines for this time), then Red Wings will transfer the rate from the flight hour. "In the world of aviation, this scheme is the most effective and popular, and allows minimizing the airline's risks" – Red Wings explained. UEC-Saturn will provide maintenance of Sam146 engines installed on 25 SSJ 100s for 20 years (currently Red Wings has 7 SSJ100).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the UEC, according to Kommersant, negotiated with Safran about the authorization of service maintenance for about a year. "PowerJet has granted permission to conclude a direct contract for the maintenance of the SaM146 engine fleet of PJSC UEC-Saturn and Red Wings Airlines due to the fact that both companies are related to Rostec State Corporation" – the UEC said. They added that about 75% of all work on Sam146 is already being carried out in UEC-Saturn, but the place of repair is determined by PowerJet. "The agreement between UEC-Saturn and Red Wings is exclusive" – the UEC clarified, recognizing that agreements based on payment for flight hours are "more convenient for airlines". UEC itself receives a long-term contract.

You have to pay thousands of dollars a day to rent engines, and other airlines would like the same conditions as Red Wings. 

In particular, this is said in "IrAero", which has 7 SSJ: "We have 14 engines, four of them are leased, as four of our own are under repair. Most of the engines were repaired, some-twice. Repairs usually take two or three months, but one of our engines has not been flying for six months." A source at another airline operating the SSJ 100 confirms that the size of the lease is "embarrassing in scale". Representatives of other SSJ operators – Aeroflot, Rossiya, Yakutia, Yamal and Azimut-did not respond to Kommersant.

Whether the agreement violates competition, the FAS should find out, taking into account the opinion of the parties who agreed and all market participants, believes Andrey Tenishev, Head of the Competition Law Department of the RANEPA (in 2013-2021 he was head of the Anti-cartel Department of the FAS): "In theory, an agreement can be considered permissible if two circumstances are met: if it does not create an opportunity for individuals to eliminate competition, and if the goal is to improve production or stimulate technological progress."

When paying for engine maintenance per flight hour, both sides are interested in increasing flight time, says Alexey Sinitsky, Research and Development Director at Infomost Consulting.

As an example, he cites the common Flight Hour Service scheme, according to which Airbus works with a number of airlines. In the West, the practice of replacement pools with engine rental payments is almost no longer used, says Dmitry Voskresensky, representative of Willis Lease Financial Company in Russia (the largest lessor of Rolls-Royce, General Electric and CFMI engines): "What was the bad thing about the pool? Here in the pool are two companies with a hundred aircraft and three with 20 vessels. It is obvious that the giants will take a larger number of engines with equal pay, which will lead to discrimination against small participants."

According to the expert, the optimal reserve for the SSJ 100 can be considered one engine for six aircraft. The total fleet of sam146s now exceeds 300 units. At the time of creation in 2019, there were 17 engines in the SaM146 replacement pool, and carriers complained about their shortage (for Aeroflot, PowerJet created a separate pool). The UEC did not provide up-to-date data, but assured that no one is currently complaining about the lack of engines in the repair pool.

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Ukrainian aircraft engines will be tested in Sverdlovsk region. 

At the site of the Aramilsky Aircraft Repair Plant in the Sverdlovsk region, a station for testing D-36 aircraft engines of all modifications was launched. The station was built as part of the import substitution strategy to perform a full repair cycle of aircraft engines of this type.

The station provides a full cycle of testing of D-36 family aircraft engines, including the stages of conservation and packaging. The station with automated production process control was designed and built by B. I. Tikhomirov Kazan Giproniiaviaprom JSC in 2020. The design was carried out with the expectation of further modernization and testing of more powerful engines — with a thrust of up to 20 tons. In the first half of 2021, certification, commissioning and pilot operation of the facility were carried out.

"Until 2018, we tested our repaired engines at other enterprises, including third-party ones. In order to avoid time and material costs, UEC decided to ensure the commissioning of its own D-36 aircraft engine testing station. In April and May 2021, as part of the pilot operation, we conducted a full test cycle of four engines. Today, the station is fully ready for operation" – said Andrey Krylov, Deputy General Director and Managing Director of AARP.

The economic effect of using the D-36 aircraft engine testing station is more than 8 million rubles for each repaired engine. For the period up to 2024, the volume of repairs of the D-36 will be 10-11 units per year. Thus, when performing a full cycle of engine repairs at our own production facilities, this investment project will pay off by mid-2024.

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Russia wants to create an aircraft engine on hydrogen.

The Russian aircraft engine VK-2500 is planned to be converted to hydrogen fuel within five years, the general director of the Central Institute of Aviation Engine Engineering named after P. I. Baranov (part of the N.E. Zhukovsky Institute), Mikhail Gordin, told RIA Novosti in an interview. 

Previously, hydrogen fuel was used in the domestic aircraft industry only during the Soviet era. In 1988, a flight cycle was performed by a Tu-155 laboratory aircraft with an experimental NK-88 engine that used liquid hydrogen as fuel.

"We also want to convert the VK-2500 engine to hydrogen fuel. This will be a separate project together with the United Engine Corporation, with a cryogenic tank, temperature control systems and liquid hydrogen supply. The process of creating such an engine, according to preliminary estimates, will take about 5 years and will include the entire complex of works and tests" – he said.

Flight tests of the hydrogen-fueled engine as part of the hybrid power plant technology demonstrator can be carried out at the Yak-40LL flying laboratory, Gordin said.

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Russian_Patriot_ wrote:Russia wants to create an aircraft engine on hydrogen.

The Russian aircraft engine VK-2500 is planned to be converted to hydrogen fuel within five years, the general director of the Central Institute of Aviation Engine Engineering named after P. I. Baranov (part of the N.E. Zhukovsky Institute), Mikhail Gordin, told RIA Novosti in an interview. 

Previously, hydrogen fuel was used in the domestic aircraft industry only during the Soviet era. In 1988, a flight cycle was performed by a Tu-155 laboratory aircraft with an experimental NK-88 engine that used liquid hydrogen as fuel.

"We also want to convert the VK-2500 engine to hydrogen fuel. This will be a separate project together with the United Engine Corporation, with a cryogenic tank, temperature control systems and liquid hydrogen supply. The process of creating such an engine, according to preliminary estimates, will take about 5 years and will include the entire complex of works and tests" – he said.

Flight tests of the hydrogen-fueled engine as part of the hybrid power plant technology demonstrator can be carried out at the Yak-40LL flying laboratory, Gordin said.

Source: 

https://ria.ru/20210901/dvigatel-1748107012.html

Is liquid hydrogen more energy dense than kerosene?

I know that for example LNG is less energy dense than diesel, although it is more efficient and so to achieve the same torque and speed on say a locomotive you'll end up using considerably less LNG.
You just won't be able to achieve the really high levels of torque in an LNG engine that you could in a diesel engine of the same sort of size.
So for most applications it will make sense to swap in one for the other. But not all.

It sounds like a really bad idea. All sorts of concepts to displace petroleum based fuels from long range aviation are a fail and liquid hydrogen is even more of a fail.
It is expensive to store and handle and it has horrendously low energy density. Much worse than LNG even. Avoid.

Post WW2 someone "invented" a fuel family to replace hydrocarbons. This was the borane family of fuels. It had everything. High density, stable at room temperature, etc.
Just a couple teensy issues. Highly corrosive and toxic.

Just keep using hydrocarbons and don't look back. If they did not exist in nature we would be manufacturing them. Which we can.

UEC has opened the first service center for servicing Yak-130 engines. 

The service center of the United Engine Corporation Rostec is located on the territory of the training base of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It is designed for servicing AI-222-25 engines, which are installed on Yak-130 combat training aircraft. The work of the center will reduce the time spent on maintaining the airworthiness of aircraft.

The Yak-130 aircraft with the AI-222-25 engine are operated by novice pilots, each of whom is required to fly a certain number of hours as part of the training program. Due to this, the power plant systems produce the installed resource several times faster than during normal operation. Therefore, the AI-222-25 needs maintenance more often than other engines, some types of which are much more economical and efficient to organize directly at the place of operation.

In order to solve this problem, the UEC and the Russian Ministry of Defense created a service center. It is equipped with the necessary modern equipment and special technologies. Its tasks include the assessment of the technical condition and maintenance of AI-222-25 engines.

Now the work in the service center is carried out by employees of the Salyut production complex, a manufacturer of an aircraft engine, which is part of the UEC, but after training the center's personnel, all operations will be carried out by specialists of the operating organization directly on the spot.

"The issue of after-sales service of equipment that we supply to customers, both military and civilian, is one of the key issues for us. Maintenance of the engine at the place of its operation became possible thanks to the development of the technology of modular replacement of components. This approach allows for maintenance without transportation to the manufacturer and replacement of components or modules with new or repaired ones. The service center will allow you to speed up the restoration of the AI-222-25 engines by 2-3 times. This increases the efficiency of training pilots of the Russian aerospace forces and, ultimately, the defense capability of our country" – Alexey Gromov, head of the Salyut production complex, said.

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UEC trains military personnel to repair AI-222-25 engines. 

At the Salyut production complex of the Rostec United Engine Corporation, Russian Aerospace Forces servicemen are being trained to restore the AI-222-25 engine for the Yak-130 combat training aircraft.

Engineering and technical specialists are trained, whose duties include routine maintenance of AI-222-25 engines, assessment of their technical condition and military repairs provided for in the operational documentation. In the future, they will have to master the system of modular replacement of power plant components.

The training program includes theoretical and practical classes conducted by employees of the design and production departments of the enterprise. The training program includes classes on studying the design features of engines, troubleshooting, working with operational and technical documentation. The main attention is paid to the modular design of the engine and technologies for replacing modules in operating conditions. The training course will end with a final certification with the presentation of certificates. The acquired competencies will allow us to quickly solve issues related to the commissioning of aircraft.

"The best specialists of the enterprise are involved in the training – experts in their field on working with the AI-222-25 engine, who will not only comprehensively present all the necessary material, but also give exhaustive answers to all the questions of operators" – Alexey Gromov, head of the Salyut production complex of UEC, says – "At this stage, the training is of an introductory nature, but in the future it is planned to conduct a set of training events, including practical replacement of modules on the basis of the service center of UEC JSC, which in the future will allow military personnel to independently work on the modular replacement of engine components."

AI-222-25 – a modern engine for the Yak-130 combat training aircraft, which implements the principle of modular design. This means that in case of failure of one of the power plant units, it can be replaced with a ready-made spare module directly in the military unit.

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