Russian Civil Aviation: News #4

A superconductive electric engine

First one to be tested on a plane in the world, at least according to some sources

JohninMK wrote:

flamming_python wrote:A superconductive electric engine

First one to be tested on a plane in the world, at least according to some sources

Those cables in from the truck don't look all that heavy gauge.

Why would they?

The superconducting materials make up the windings of the coils of the motor (or some sort of ceramic-based equivalent), through which the electricity flows whose electrical field interacts with the magnetic field of powered magnets in the motor, to generate the electromotive force that gets the rotor rotating

The cables from the truck providing the power (even if we assume that's what's it's doing) are much thicker than motor windings in any case, and given that the resistance of a round material falls off, at the very least, proportionally with the circumference of its cross-section (in the worst-case scenario of AC power rather than DC); they won't be any sort of bottleneck even when paired with superconducting windings

Plus it will have three jet engines in the rear to provide a stable power supply at idle thrust if needed.

From memory the idea behind the three engines was that all three provided excellent power for easy takeoffs, but meant the two cruise engines could be lower power and therefore also very fuel efficient for long range cruise.

All electric motors for propellers are interesting, but I think even more exciting with helicopters... no need for enormous expensive and heavy gearboxes for coaxial designs... and should be rather more efficient than fossil fuels.... though ironically a small gas turbine APU might be handy for independent engine startups but also for heating the aircraft and wing surfaces.

I am guessing this electric motor would be more efficient if it remains cold.

Clever to test it on such an aircraft... they could stay in the air for very long periods and test all sorts of subsonic speeds with all sorts of onboard test equipment...

Does Russia have a chance to introduce MS 21 to Western markets? Rather, the West will not allow this to happen.

There are always companies in the west who are prepared to think outside the square and will buy aircraft from sources that are not the expected sources....

Especially if it will give them an economic advantage...

The first one went. In series

Rostec State Corporation received permission for serial production of PD-14, the first turbofan engine created in post-Soviet Russia.

PD-14 is the first Russian turbofan engine created in the last thirty years. Will the hope of the Russian aviation industry - the MS-21 medium-range liner - be able to take its place in the world airspace with its help? It is quite possible: in pursuit of the first news follows the second - that PD-14 has finally received the long-awaited certificate of the International Civil Aviation Organization at the UN (ICAO, from the English ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization) of the model of 2020. This means the engine can be operated on international aircraft.

Some experts, not without reason, believe that the PD-14 is a real historical breakthrough for the domestic engine building. This was clearly demonstrated on December 15, when the MC-21 with new engines made its first flight.

More skeptical analysts warn: although the engine is not inferior in theory to foreign counterparts, practice shows that it will still have to be worked on for a year or two. Most likely, both are right - such a situation, in general, is quite common for the sphere of promising developments in the field of aircraft construction.

"Good" for serial production

So, the received certificate of approval of the production organization entitles the UEC-Perm Motors enterprise of the United Engine Corporation (UEC) to serial production of the latest PD-14 aircraft propulsion engines and supply them to customers for installation on MS-21 serial aircraft.

According to the press service of the UEC, the certification took place in two stages. In the course of the first, the commission, which included representatives of the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Aviation Register of the Russian Federation, analyzed the quality management system (QMS) for compliance with the requirements of the Federal Aviation Regulations. At the second stage, the experts were able to assess the technological processes of manufacturing, assembly and testing of engines.

In addition, as part of the certification of production, qualification tests of one of the new PD-14 engines took place, during which its compliance with the technical characteristics stated in the design documentation was confirmed.

“In 2021, it is planned to produce several new PD-14s, which will be used as a reserve during flight tests of the new MC-21-310 aircraft,” said Anatoly Serdyukov, industrial director of the Rostec aviation cluster.

Withstood the test in the West

The PD-14 engine was first certified by the Federal Air Transport Agency in 2018 and at that time was in accordance with ICAO standards. But at the beginning of last year, a new international standard came into effect with modified smoke and non-volatile particle emission standards. This required additional certification.

Measurement of PD-14 emissions was carried out with the involvement of specialists from ZHAW (Higher School of Applied Sciences in Zurich, Switzerland). Their mobile system for measuring emissions of aircraft engines SMARTEMIS has confirmed that the Russian unit meets the requirements of Volume II of Annex 16 of ICAO, and the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has issued a certificate of conformity to the manufacturer, the UEC press service informs.

“The supplement to the Type Certificate of the PD-14 engine is an important stage in the development of the entire Russian aviation industry,” emphasized UEC General Designer Yuri Shmotin. “Now MS-21-310 aircraft with PD-14 engines will be able to operate international flights.” He also added that obtaining the certificate opens up the opportunity for Russia to supply aircraft with domestic engines to the international market.

The biggest victory

Yuri Sytnik, honored pilot of Russia, member of the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation on the development of general aviation, called obtaining permission for serial production of PD-14 the biggest victory of the domestic engine building over the past thirty.

“Finally, it happened,” he said in an interview with Expert Online. - PD-14 - the head model, a new engine platform, in all respects corresponding to foreign counterparts - Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and others. Until now, our country has made good engines only for military equipment - airplanes and helicopters. And PD-14 is a completely new series of engines, which can be spinned by 14 tons, 16 tons, and 35 tons. This allows us to stand on a par with the leading foreign manufacturers of aircraft engines".

Sytnik is convinced that in five years Russia will take its place among the leaders of aviation engine building. For this, he admitted, it is necessary to remove the "childhood diseases" of new products. “Something will flow, something will not work well. Therefore, you need to quickly - in a year and a half - to cure these sores. "

The strongest side of the new engine is its "hot part", Sytnik explains. It ensures complete combustion of fuel, low noise and minimum emission of non-volatile particles (unburned fuel). In addition, PD-14 has very good temperature characteristics in front of the turbine and behind the turbine. And - what is very important - it is highly economical.

The new engine owes all this to the use of the most modern technologies and materials. “There are no such materials in the US, China or the EU yet,” Sytnik says. - And they came to civil aircraft construction with engines developed for the latest Russian fighters - Su-57, Su-35. "

In Russia, there are no direct competitors to the PD-14 engine today either, believes Pavel Gribov, an expert at the Department of Economic Security of the Faculty of National Security of the Institute of Law and National Security of the RANEPA. Now the main world competitor of PD-14 is, according to him, the American PW-1000G engine manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. It is considered the best in its class in terms of economy, noise levels and emissions.

"Pass" with a margin

Around the world today, aircraft engine developers are concerned about several factors that strongly influence demand. This is an economic effect, reliability and maintainability, physical indicators, as well as environmental friendliness - new standards for air emissions and noise are constantly being introduced into ICAO standards. For all these indicators, the PD-14 “passes” with a margin, and especially the experts focus on the fact that the declared resource of the “newcomer” of 40 thousand flight cycles is a large margin of safety.

According to the expert of the aviation industry, associate professor of the PRUE. GV Plekhanov Alexander Timofeeva, the engine is inferior to foreign competitors only in specific fuel consumption and great weight. As for the rest, the PD-14 is superior, he believes, and notes that the share of foreign components in the PD-14 is only about 4%.

The expert recalls that the PS-90A, released in the late 1980s in the USSR, was a development similar to the PD-14. Now we are mastering the production of the modified PS-90A-3, the thrust of which is higher than that of the PD-14.
“Perhaps it is also worth paying attention to, so that the modified version would serve as a domestic rival to the PD-14,” Timofeev points out.

As for the cons of the new engine, experts explain its main problems with the novelty of the product. Due to the tight timing of the testing process, there may still be insufficient data on the reliability of PD-14 from the point of view of the so-called “MTBF” - the duration of failure-free operation. There are also complaints from future operators who have to service the engine: from their point of view, this unit has an insufficiently successful layout.

Be that as it may, today it seems that there is no alternative to our aviation industry, says RUDN expert Yuri Lebedev. Those engines that are offered for the MC-21 aircraft by foreign companies may come under sanctions at any time, and then the operation of aircraft equipped with these engines will be very seriously limited. In addition, sanctions bans on the supply of imported spare parts can also lead to significant downtime for Russian enterprises and bring them serious losses.

All this, along with really outstanding technical and operational characteristics, opens up very serious prospects for the first Russian turbofan engine PD-14.

https://expert.ru/2021/02/10/pervij-poshel-v-seriyu/

Wow, I had no idea Anchorage airport got shafted so hard, ooofff

Also, that overflight agreement was made in like 50s or something so it's no wonder Russia isn't​ signatory, it was Cold War throttle up

Who knew it would have such profitable outcome

So half of the 53 engines tested were showing signs of this failure mode. That is rather serious and would require half of the An-124 in service
to be grounded.

Is the problem a part that Russia makes or is it a part that Motor Sich made.... it is pretty clear now they know what to look for they can identify and fix it... which suggests to me it might be intentional sabotage as a parting gift from the orcs.

Or they should bring civil air space into it. Russia could threaten to shut down or tax its air space. Ban US carriers. Ban German or EU carriers if they sanction the MS-21

I appreciate what you are saying but Russia makes good money selling Titanium to Boeing and for the overflights.... perhaps rather than ban or cut, they should add a tariff to cover the expenses incurred due to western sanctions in other areas... just enough to make the alternative not a good choice, but enough to earn good money that can go towards subsidizing counters and alternatives for the other sanctions.

Love the butt hurt in that video about Russia daring to use its monopoly control of its own airspace to make money.

After all the shit sanctions the west has pulled on Russia they don't deserve to get budget flight access to Asia.

That video also highlights why Russia is working on the North Sea Route for shipping and also train networks between Asia and Europe... there is money to be made in controlling that trade access.