The world’s most powerful flying generator

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We are in partnership with Airbus on the E-Fan X technology demonstrator project, which is an important stepping stone towards hybrid electric commercial aircraft at the scale of today’s single aisle family.

A powerful flying generator

The E-Fan X demonstrator will explore uncharted fields in megawatt-scale propulsion systems and push and mature the technology, performance, safety, and reliability enabling quick progress on the hybrid-electric technology.

The hybrid-electric flying demonstrator involves removing a single engine from an Avro RJ100 aircraft (a 100-seater regional jet) and replacing it with a Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System, consisting of 2MW Electric Propulsion Unit under the wing, powered by a gas turbine (AE2100) driven 2.5MW generator and a battery system. This will be the world’s most powerful flying generator.

In August 2019, our specialist team began conducting ground tests of the Rolls-Royce compact 2.5-megawatt generator at our bespoke facility in Trondheim in Norway. The team are using expertise developed as part of our work in the marine sector on permanent magnet thrusters for hybrid and electric cruise vessels and our work in aerospace to embed generators within engines.

There has also been significant progress made on developing the ground-breaking thermal management system for E-Fan X in Indianapolis including an advanced cooling scheme to control the temperature of the power electronics. This technology has been tested on a full-scale rig specifically developed for E-Fan X and will be key to informing the design of the flight system which will be highly integrated into the aircraft.

Riona Armesmith, Chief Project Engineer, Hybrid Electric Propulsion

"Championing electrification is a key part of Rolls-Royce’s strategy. The E-Fan X project is very ambitious and it has been an incredible global team effort to develop our three core technologies required to fly hybrid electric propulsion systems: the MW class electrical system, advanced thermal management system and the hybrid-electric engine control system. It is a fantastic opportunity to work on E-Fan X and develop hybrid-electric technology that could transform aviation in the future.”

Using the latest technology around the world

We have developed a new hybrid propulsion control system for E-Fan X using the latest model-based software development and configuration management tools.

By working closely with colleagues in Derby, Bristol, and Indianapolis and by applying our expertise in controls and engine health monitoring, we have used the latest tools to model and simulate the behaviour of the electrical machine, gas turbine performance and the overarching control system ahead of full-scale testing.

These developments demonstrate how we are bringing the power of digital to shape everything we do in design, test, production and services as part of our IntelligentEngine philosophy.

The next steps include continued close working with Airbus including planning the testing of our power generation system and electric motor at their new facility in Ottobrunn in Germany which opened in October 2019, before E-Fan X takes off in 2021. This exciting project is co-funded by ATI in the UK and the EU Clean Sky 2 programme.