To an untrained eye, the\u00a0aircraft engine sitting outside of a Cincinnati facility in December might have looked like standard hardware. But NASA and GE Aerospace researchers watching the unit fire up for\u00a0a demonstration\u00a0knew what they were looking at: a hybrid engine performing at a level that could potentially power an airliner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0something new in the aviation world, and the result of years of research and development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
NASA, GE Aerospace, and others working toward hybrid engine development had already tested components in the past \u2014 power system controls, electric motors, and more. What the demonstration at GE Aerospace\u2019s Peebles Test Operation site in Ohio represented was the first test of an integrated system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTurbines already exist. Compressors already exist. But there is no hybrid-electric engine flying today. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what we were able to see,\u201d said Anthony Nerone, who served as manager of the agency\u2019s\u00a0Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core<\/a> (HyTEC)\u202fproject at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Glenn Research Center<\/a> in Cleveland\u00a0during the test engine\u2019s development.\u00a0<\/p>\n The test involved a modified GE Aerospace\u2019s Passport engine with the ability to extract energy from some of its operations and insert that supplementary power into other parts.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hybrid engine is result of research from GE Aerospace and NASA under a cost-sharing\u00a0HyTEC\u00a0contract. It runs on jet fuel with\u00a0assistance\u00a0from electric motors, a concept that seems simple in a world where hybrid cars are common. Yet the execution was complex, requiring researchers to invent, adapt, and integrate parts into a system that could deliver the requisite power needed for a single-aisle\u00a0aircraft\u00a0safely and reliably.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, the demonstration\u00a0\u2014 known as a power extraction test\u00a0\u2014\u00a0was one of the most complex GE Aerospace has staged to date.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey had to integrate equipment they\u2019ve never needed for previous tests like this,\u201d said Laura Evans, acting\u00a0HyTEC\u00a0project manager at Glenn.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the complexity, the team\u00a0witnessed\u00a0a successful demonstration. Not a balancing test or a preliminary exercise, but an engine on a mount doing many of the things it would need to do if installed in\u00a0an aircraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n The test comes at a time when U.S. aviation is increasingly looking for power systems that can do more while also saving money on fuel.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a trend NASA was well ahead of. Hybrid\u00a0aircraft\u00a0engine technology began to\u00a0emerge\u00a0from Glenn\u00a0roughly 20\u00a0years ago, when it seemed\u00a0nearly impossible\u00a0to realize, Nerone said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you go to a conference, hybrid technology is everywhere.\u201d <\/p>\n And NASA and GE now have real data for how the technology can be applied to flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n From that early start, NASA transitioned into\u00a0HyTEC\u00a0and its contract with GE Aerospace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n HyTEC\u2019s\u00a0goal is to mature technology that will enable a hybrid engine that burns up to 10% less fuel compared to today\u2019s best-in-class engines. NASA\u2019s overall goal is to\u00a0leverage\u00a0its resources to bring the technology to market faster, meeting industry needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The work is far from over. Both NASA and GE Aerospace are analyzing data from the demonstration and from\u00a0previous\u00a0work and are making progress toward a compact engine test this decade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the demonstration was a chance to see the integration of technology\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0closer than ever to practical application.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting close to the payoff on work that\u2019d been in progress for a long time,\u201d Nerone said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To an untrained eye, the\u00a0aircraft engine sitting outside of a Cincinnati facility in December might have looked like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[12935,12932,12936,137047,12937,137048,85,46,141,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-259749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-advanced-air-vehicles-program","9":"tag-aeronautics","10":"tag-aeronautics-research-mission-directorate","11":"tag-electrified-aircraft-propulsion","12":"tag-glenn-research-center","13":"tag-hybrid-thermally-efficient-core","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}