1.3 Classifications of Propulsion Systems
1.3.3 Other Power Sources
This third and last group of aircraft engines (identified as others) is subdivided into human- and electric-powered engines.
1.3.3.1 Electric-Powered Aircraft
Anelectric aircraftis an aircraft that runs on electric motors rather than internal combustion engines, with electricity coming from fuel cells, solar cells, ultra capacitors, power beaming, and/or batteries. The advantages of electric aircraft include increased safety due to decreased chance of mechanical failure, such as from volcanic ash, less risk of explosion or fire in the event of a collision, less noise, and no emissions and pollution. The main disadvantage of electric aircraft is decreased range. The range can be increased by adding solar cells to the aircraft’s body to create asolar airplane. However, the plane’s surface area must be large compared to its weight to have a significant impact on range. Electric powered model aircraft have been flown since the 1970s including manned and unmanned Fig. 1.78 Turborocket engine, reproduced with the permission of Rolls-Royce plc, copyright
©Rolls-Royce plc
aerial vehicles. About 60 electrically powered aircrafts have been designed since the 1960s, some are used as military drones..
The 27 lb (12 kg) unmanned AstroFlight Sunrise was the world’s first solar- powered flight flew on 4 November 1974. The improved Sunrise II flew on 27 September 1975 at Nellis AFB.
The world’s first official flight in a manned solar-powered aircraft took place on 29 April 1979 [30]. The aircraft used photovoltaic cells that produced 350 W at 30 V.
The aircraft was capable of powering the motor for 3–5 min, following a 1.5 h charge, enabling it to reach a gliding altitude. The Solar Challenger set an altitude record of 14,300 f. on 7 July 1981 and flew 163 miles from Cormeilles-en-Vexin Airport near Paris across the English Channel to RAF Manston near London. The German Solair 1 employed 2500 wing-mounted solar cells giving an output of 2.2 kW (3 hp) with an aircraft weight of 180 kg (397 lb). The aircraft first flew was on 21 August 1983, while the first flight of Solair II took place 2 years later in Mai 1998 [31].
NASA Pathfinder (Fig. 1.79) and Helios were a series of solar and fuel cell system-powered unmanned aircraft.
In 1990, the solar powered airplane Sunseeker successfully flew across the USA.
It used a small battery charged by solar cells on the wing to drive a propeller for takeoff, and then flew on direct solar power and took advantage of soaring condi- tions when possible.
The Sunseeker II, built in 2002, was updated in 2005–2006 with a more powerful motor, larger wing, lithium battery packs, and updated control electronics. As of December 2008, it was the only manned solar-powered airplane in flying condition and is operated regularly by Solar Flight (Fig.1.80). In 2009, it became the first solar-powered aircraft to cross the Alps.
China’s first solar-powered aircraft “Soaring” was designed and built in 1992.
The body and wings are hand-built predominantly of carbon fiber, Kevlar, and wood.
Fig. 1.79 NASA Pathfinder
Solar Impulse prototype had its first short-hop (350 m) test flight on 3 December 2009 (Fig.1.81). In its present configuration, it has a wingspan of 64 m, weighs 1588 k,g and powered by four 10-horsepower (7 kW) electric motors each turning a propeller. Solar Impulse will capture sunlight using 12,000 photovoltaic cells on its wings and horizontal stabilizer. Power from the solar cells is stored in lithium polymer batteries and used to drive 3.5-m (11 ft) propellers turning at speed of 200–400 rpm. Take-off speed is 19 knots (35 km/h) and cruising speed is 60 knots (111 km/h). The aircraft had its first high flight on 7 April 2010, when it flew to an altitude of 1200 m (3937 ft) in a 1.5 h flight on battery power alone. In July 2010, Solar impulse’s HB-SIA prototype airplane made its first successful night flight attempt at Payerne airport. The aircraft took off July 7 at 06:51 am and reached an altitude of 8700 m (28,543 ft) by the end of the day. It then slowly descent to 1500 m (4921 ft) and flew during the night on the batteries, charged during the day by 12,000 solar cells, which powered the four electric motors. It landed July 8 at 09.00 am (GMT 2) for a flight time of 26 h 9 min setting the longest and highest flight ever made by a solar plane. Later on, it completed successful solar-powered flights from Switzerland to Spain and then Morocco in 2012, and conducted a multi- stage flight across the United States in 2013.
In 2014,Solar Impulse 2was manufactured with more solar cells and powerful motors. In March 2015, it began an attempt to circumnavigate the globe withSolar Impulse 2, departing fromAbu Dhabiin the United Arab Emirates. By 1 June 2015, the plane had traversed Asia. On 3 July 2015, the plane completed the longest leg of its journey, from Japan to Hawaii, but the aircraft’s batteries experienced thermal damage that is expected to take months to repair.
Fig. 1.80 Sunseeker II solar airplane
1.3.3.2 Human-Powered Aircraft (HPA)
Ahuman-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft capable of sustained, controlled flight by human power alone through an act of pedaling, which activates a mech- anism for turning a propeller for thrust (Fig.1.82). HPA inevitably experience assist from thermals or rising air currents. Pure HPA do not use hybrid flows of energy (solar energy, wound rubber band, fuel cell, etc.) for thrust. The first recorded successful HPA flight happened in 1936 through the “Pedaliante”, an aircraft built and designed in Italy. As of 2008, human-powered aircraft have been successfully flown over considerable distances. However, they are primarily constructed as an engineering challenge rather than for any kind of recreational or utilitarian purpose.
1.3.3.2.1 Closure
It is evident from this chapter how mankind’s life is now increasingly dependent on aircrafts. In both civil and war, airplanes have its essential role. Detailed description of commercial jetliners, helicopters, and defense systems are given. Thus fixed and rotary wing aircrafts utilized in both civil and military fields are fully classified.
Fig. 1.81 Solar Impulse airplane
Civilian fixed wing aircrafts are employed both in passengers and freight transpor- tation, search and rescue, agricultural, research, fire fighting, and training activities.
Fixed wing military aircrafts display itself in battle fields as fighter, ground attack, bombers, and rescue, while transport, search and rescue, training as well as firefighting. Reconnaissance and refueling aircrafts fly between conflict areas and air force bases. Rotary wing aircrafts are also extensively seen both in civil and military disciplines. It has the capability to take off/land in unpaved areas. Tourism, search and rescue, firefighting, and police works are some of its civilian activities.
Transport, fighting, bombing, and rescue are some important military applications.
Moreover, various propulsion systems are thoroughly described. Both shaft and reaction engines are classified. Internal combustion engines are one class of shaft engines that has three main groups, namely: Wankel, piston, and turbine types.
Turbine group is again subdivided into turboprop, turboshaft, and propfan engines.
Other shaft engines are either solar- or human-powered type. Reaction engines are the most dominant power plants including ramjet, pulsejet, turbojet, turbofan, turbo ramjet, and turbo rocket engines. Turbofan engines are the mostly employed airbreathing engines in both civil and military fixed wing applications. Turboshaft engines are the present unique power plants used in helicopters. Turboprop engines power most of the heavy transport civil and military aircrafts.
Detailed analyses for all of the above power plants will be given in this book. It is categorized as ram-based engines, turbine-based engines and shaft-based engines.
A complete chapter is devoted for each group.
Fig. 1.82 Human-powered airplane
Problems
1.1 Complete the following table for aircraft classifications:
Aircraft
Mono-plane transport
Mono-plane military
Bi-plane transport
Bi-plane military
Tri-plane transport
Tri-plane military
Tri-plane military Aircraft
type Aero engine Example
1.2 Complete the following table for aircraft classifications:
Aircraft
Blended wing body (BWB)
Hybrid wing body
(HWB) Sea Amphibian STOL VTOL V/STOL
Aircraft type Aero engine Example
1.3 Complete the following table for aircraft classifications based on its utility:
Aircraft STOVL Agricultural Civilian trainer
Civilian search and rescue
Civilian firefighting
Civilian experimental
Single engine private transport Aircraft
type Aero engine Example
1.4 Complete the following table for civil transport aircrafts:
Aircraft
Twin engine private transport
Executive jet
(corporate) Commuter Regional Short haul
Medium haul
Long haul Aircraft
type Aero engine Example
1.5 Complete the following table:
Aircraft
Tactics bomber
Strategic bomber
Fighter bomber
Ground attack
Maritime
patrol Interceptor
Enhanced TOL Aircraft
type Aero engine Example
1.6 Complete the following table for non-combat military aircrafts:
Aircraft
Military transport
Tanker (refueling)
Military trainer
Military experimental
Military
fire-fighting AWACS Reconnaissance Aircraft type
Aero engine Example
1.7 Complete the following table for fixed/rotary wing aircrafts:
Aircraft
Military UAV
Military glider
NOTAR helicopter
Tip jet helicopter
Ducted fan helicopter
Tail rotor helicopter
Tandem helicopter Aircraft type
Aero-engine Example
1.8 Complete the following table for rotorcrafts:
Aircraft
Coaxial helicopter
Inter-meshing helicopter
Transverse
helicopter Gyrodynes Autogyros
Transport helicopter
Training helicopter Aircraft type
Aero-engine Example
1.9 Complete the following table for helicopters
Aircraft
Construction (aerial cranes)
Inter- meshing helicopter
Search and rescue helicopter
Remote sensing helicopter
Firefighting (helitack)
MEDEVAC air ambulance
Sea helicopter Aircraft type
Aero engine Example
1.10 Complete the following table for helicopters:
Aircraft
Attack helicopter
Trainer helicopter
Transport helicopter
Experimental helicopter
Multi-mission and rescue helicopter
Maritime helicopter
Tactics and operation helicopter Aero engine
Example
1.11 Complete the following table:
Aircraft
Observation helicopter
UAV
helicopter Tiltrotor Coleopter Tiltwing Mono tiltrotor
Mono-tilt-rotor rotary-ring Aero engine
Example
1.12 Classify the following aircraftsgiving the name of a possible installed power plant:
Airbus A300, Antonov An 2 M, AVRO Vulcan B-2, B-52, B 767, B737, B777, BAE 146 Model Series 200, BEECH STARSHIP I, Beriev Be-42, C-17, C-130, Cessna Model 402 C, Dassault Breguet Alpha Jet CH 53, DC-3, DC-10, DeHavilland Canada Dash-8, Embraer EMB-120, Embraer EMB-312 Tucano, F15, F35, Fokker F-27 Friendship MK 200, Gates LEARJET 35A, Lockheed Jetstar, McDonnell Douglas MD-80, Mig-29, Mirag-2000, Prion P-3, Piper Tomahawk II, Saab 340, SIAI Marchetti S-211, SR-71, Su-27, U-2, X-15
1.13 Classifythe shown aircrafts
1.14 Markrightorwrong,then correct wrong statement(s):
• The world’s first certified commercial transport helicopter was S-55 Chick- asaw (H-19) ()
• The world’s first turbine gas-powered engine was Kaman K-225 ()
• MD 902 is one of the highest cruise speed helicopter; 258 km/h ()
• Dhruv helicopter records one of the highest ceiling namely 27,500 ft ()
• PZL SW-4 helicopter has one of the largest ranges namely 990 km ()
• Eurocopter AS 532 is a military transport having a capacity of 20 troops ()
• Agusta AZ 101 G being one of the largest capacity transport helicopters has a capacity of 45 passengers ()
• Small helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles use electric motors as power sources ()
1.15 The shown figure illustrates a model for the engine-powered Wright Brothers flyer.
Write down its type and specifications
1.16 Classify the following enginesgiving the name of a possible powered aircraft:
CF6-50C, CF34-GE-400A, CFM56-3C, F100-PW-100, F101-GE-102, F135, F404-GE-400,
J57-P-10, J60-P-3, J75-P-13B, JT8D-17, JT9D-7 F, Pegasus 11-21, PT6 Twin Pac, PW100, PW2040, PW4090, RB211-524H, RB211-TRENT 768, R-985 WASP JR, R-1340, Spey 506-14 W, Tay 650, TF30-P-6, TF33- PW-102, V2500-A1
1.17 Identify the type of the shown engine, giving three examples for engines and the installed aircrafts
1.18 Give a detailed description of the shown Helios aircraft
1.19 The shown figure illustrates
Kuznetsov NK-12 M Turboprop, powering
Tu-95aircraft. Give details of the engine; number of shafts, power, propel- ler type, possible installations to other aircrafts.
1.20 Compare between the following propfan engines:
• Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX
• General Electric GE36
• Ivchenko-Progress D-27
1.21 Complete the missing data in the following table:
Engine SLS Thrust (lbs)
Max diameter
Length (in)
Weight (lbs)
BPR Applications
TFE731-2 3500 39.4 51 725 2.67 ??
TFE731-20 3650 39.4 51 885 ?? ??
BR710 20,000 52.9 87 3520 ?? ??
AE3007 7580 43.5 106.5 1581 ?? ??
FJ44-1 1900 20.9 41.9 445 ?? ??
FJ44-2 2300 23.7 40.2 448 3.28 ??
JT3-D-7 19,000 52.9 134.4 4300 ?? ??
JT8D-11 15,000 43 120 3310 ?? ??
JT9D-3A 43,500 95.6 128.2 8608 ?? ??
GE4 69,000 90 296.04 13,243 ?? B2707 SST design
Mach 2.7
GE21J11B14 65,000 74.16 282 ?? ?? SCAR study Mach
2.6
Olympus 593 38,000 49 150 6780 ?? Concorde
TBE-M1.6 70,600 ?? ?? 9252 ?? NASA Mach 1.6
study
(continued)
TBE-M2.0 69,000 ?? ?? 9278 ?? NASA Mach 2.0 study
TBE-2.4 65,500 ?? ?? 9587 ?? NASA Mach 2.4
study
Rolls VCE 49,460 ?? ?? ?? ?? HSCT design study
Rolls Tandem
49,460 ?? ?? ?? ?? HSCT design study
References
1. El-Sayed AF (2008) Aircraft propulsion and gas turbine engines. Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton
2.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aircraft
3. Gunston B (1986) Jane’s aerospace dictionary. Jane’s Publishing Company Limited, London 4.http://www.myairship.com/database/index.html
5. Timothy RG (2001) Amazing agricultural aircraft. Enslow Publishers, Berkeley Heights 6. Brian W (1999) Trainer Aircraft Markets (Jane’s Information Group, Special Report) 7. Jim Winchester J (2005) Concept aircraft: prototypes, X-planes, and experimental aircraft
(aviation factfile). Thunder Bay Press, San Diego
8. Morton JK (2001) Flying freighters. Zenith Press, Minneapolis
9. Trani A, Aircraft Classification, Virginia Tech (http://128.173.204.63/courses/cee5614/
cee5614_pub/acft_classifications.pdf)
10. Deighton L (2006) Bomber. HarperCollins, London
11. March PR (2006) Fighter aircraft (top trumps). J H Haynes & Co Ltd, Newbury Park 12.http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/su34/
13.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VTOL_aircraft
14. Musial M (2008) System architecture of small autonomous UAVs. VDM Verlag, Saarbru¨cken 15. Miller J (2001) The X-planes: X-1 to X-45: 3rd edition. Midland Publishing, Milbank 16. Helicopter Flying Handbook (2010) CHAPTER 4 FAA, USA
17. Albert JA, Zuk J (1987) Civil applications of high-speed rotorcraft and powered-lift aircraft configurations, SAE Paper No. 872372
18. Leishman JG (2006) Principles of helicopter aerodynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
19.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocopter_Sarus
20. Hege JB (2006) Wankel rotary engine: a history. McFarland Pub. Co., Jefferson 21. Foa JV (1960) Element of flight propulsion. Wiley, New York
22. Archer RD, Saarlas M (1996) An introduction to aerospace propulsion. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River
23. Billing FS (1993) Research on supersonic combustion. AIAA J Propulsion Power 9 (4):499–514
24. Zucker RD, Biblarz O (2002) Fundamentals of gas dynamics. Wiley, Hoboken 25.http://gofurther.utsi.edu/Projects/PulseDE.htm
26.http://news.google.com/patents/about?id¼vOZsAAAAEBAJ
27. Roskam J, Lan C-TE (1997) Airplane aerodynamics and performance DARcorporation 28. The Jet Engine (1996) Rolls-Royce plc, 5th ed. Reprinted with revisions
29. The Aircraft Gas Turbine Engine and Its Operation (1988) Pratt & Whitney Operating Instructions 200
30.http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/10-best-solar-airplane-concepts/
31. Noth A (2008) History of solar flight. In: Autonomous systems lab. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zu¨rich