Advancing our Electrical capabilities in Munich

Hayley Harcourt

Dr Diego Machetti, Electrical Insulation System Expert

Our Electrical teams recently launched two new state-of-the-art laboratories in Munich, Germany, purpose-built to enable technology experiments that will help us de-risk our electromagnetic, thermal and insulation developments for the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market.

Dr Diego Machetti, Electrical Insulation System Expert at Rolls-Royce Electrical is leading the engineering function of the project, together with his colleagues Dr Florian Schulz and David Flores, and spoke to us about the advancements these new capabilities will enable across our Urban Air Mobility (UAM), commuter aircraft and turbogenerator system programmes.

Hayley Harcourt

Component testing helps in the validation of design assumptions as we progress through product development

What can you tell us about the new labs?

Both of our new labs in Munich have been designed with our exact technical requirements in mind. From deciding where the power outlets would be to the kind of equipment we’re using, our team was given the opportunity to shape them to our specifications.

Through our high-voltage laboratory, we’ll be able to operate at voltages higher than 10 kilovolts, significantly lower than most high-voltage labs but with more than enough power to support electrical aircraft and in turn the components and subcomponents we’ll be working with. The tests we’ll carry out here are extremely important for better understanding how our insulation systems will respond in service as we develop novel technologies for AAM.

Our second laboratory is designed for a broader set of material experiments looking at how electromagnetic, thermal and insulation components will perform in the long term and under various stresses such as high temperature, cooling airflow, air pressure, humidity, thermal shocks and more. These tests help to validate our design assumptions as we progress through product development.

Hayley Harcourt

Investigating advanced materials for optimized efficiency and cooling

What benefits will all this bring to our portfolio of products?

One of the most exciting aspects of these labs is that we can test the boundaries between thermal performance and high voltage insulation, enabling us to investigate more advanced materials and optimise the efficiency and cooling of our products.

We have the ability to work with more agility and accuracy at the engineering level. This means we can quickly carry out more iterations of our designs. At the end of the day, the goal is to support the development of our products and bring us closer to high technology readiness levels across each of our programmes.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc
  1. Rolls-Royce develops and delivers complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land. Our products and service packages enable our customers to connect people, societies, cultures and economies together; they meet the growing need for power generation across multiple industries; and enable governments to equip their armed forces with the power to protect.
  2. Rolls-Royce has a presence in 48 countries and customers in more than 150, comprising over 250 commercial large aero engine customers, 160 armed forces and navies and approximately 40,000 active Power Systems customers. We are committed to becoming a net zero company by 2050 and we support our customers to do the same.
  3. Annual underlying revenue was £15.4bn in 2023, underlying operating profit was £1.6bn and free cash flow £1.3bn.
  4. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is publicly traded company (LSE: RR., ADR: RYCEY, LEI: 213800EC7997ZBLZJH69).

www.rolls-royce.com

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