Rolls-Royce pioneers win German Innovation Award

Close
Home
Media
Press releases
Rolls-Royce pioneers win German Innovation Award

25 April 2018

An artist’s impression of the probe (picture copyright Schoelly)

Rolls-Royce’s pioneering use of endoscopic medical technology to keep turbine blades working for longer has won the German Aviation Innovation Competition in the category ‘Cross Innovation’. The winners have been announced at Berlin Airshow ILA 2018.

Working with SCHÖLLY FIBEROPTIC and Fraunhofer Institute for Production and Construction, the company has found a way to send a probe into aero engines to clean minute cooling holes within the blades.

Modern high-pressure turbine blades are operated at temperatures far above the melting point of the materials used. In order to be able to withstand this reliably over millions of flight hours, they are cooled by air flowing out through microscopic ducts. This creates an air film (of around 700C) around the blades that prevents direct contact with the hot
combustion gases which can reach 1,700C.

An artist’s impression of the probe

If the cooling holes are blocked by impurities in the air stream, the blades can lose performance. Regular inspection and cleaning of the cooling ducts of the turbine blades on installed engines reduces maintenance costs by avoiding unplanned engine changes, and improves fuel efficiency.

The project is also part of the Rolls-Royce IntelligentEngine vision, with plans to incorporate digital technology into the product to make it even more efficient. This vision is based on a belief that the worlds of product and service have become so closely connected that they are now inseparable. The coming together of product and service, supercharged by digital technology, offers Rolls-Royce a wealth of opportunities to improve the way it provides power to its customers.

(from left to right) Marcus Franz (SCHOELLY FIBREOPTIC); Matthias Dudeck (Rolls-Royce Deutschland); Christian Mohnke (Fraunhofer Institute for Production and Construction); Alastair McIntosh (Head of Technology Programmes, Civil Aerospace, Director Engineering & Technology, Rolls-Royce Deutschland)

Dr. Ulrich Wenger, Rolls-Royce Germany, Head of Capability and Technology, said: "We continue to use technology to create innovative solutions for our customers and it is wonderful to see this work recognised by these awards."

Created with the support of the Fraunhofer Institute, the miniaturized and flexible probe is inserted directly into the engine through fuel injector entrances and is precisely directed to the turbine blade. A special cleaning head delivers a water jet at a pressure of up to 500 bar - approximately four times the pressure of a conventional high-pressure cleaner - onto the turbine blades while precisely maintaining the selected position. Up to 360 air cooling holes can be cleaned at the same time.

The early concept phase was conducted as part of the LuFo (Luftfahrtforschungsprogramm) aeronautical research programme and then, under the leadership of Rolls-Royce, the tool was developed together with the research partners Fraunhofer Institute and SCHÖLLY FIBEROPTIC.

The team is now looking to automate the probe by pre-programming the endoscopic path of the high-pressure head using 3D data. In addition, this cleaning may in future be predicted through Engine Health Monitoring Systems. This data can be incorporated into new analysis models so that the entire
engine fleet can learn from these patterns.

The winning team consisted of Rolls-Royce Germany: Matthias Dudeck, Materials Engineer; Joachim Rautenberg, IPT Engineer; Alexander Lux, Service Engineer and Stephan Rostock, Service Engineer. At SCHÖLLY FIBEROPTIC Marcus Franz, Visual Inspection, coordinated with Christian Mohnke expert for production technologies at Fraunhofer Institute.

For high-res images please see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rolls-royceplc

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

  1. Rolls-Royce pioneers cutting-edge technologies that deliver the cleanest, safest and most competitive solutions to meet our planet’s vital power needs.
  2. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
  3. Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £82.7 billion at the end of June 2017.
  4. In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
  5. Rolls-Royce employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
  6. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.

Contacts

How can we help you?

Contact a member of our press team

More about:

Rolls-Royce develops and delivers complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.







© Rolls-Royce plc . All rights reserved.

Follow Us
Stay in Touch

Sign up to get the latest news

Contact us

Vulnerability Reporting