A new configuration of a rotary engine – the Szorenyi rotary engine – has been developed by the Melbourne-based Rotary Engine Development Agency (REDA). While the stator, or stationary part of the Szorenyi engine is similar to that of a Wankel engine, the geometric shape of the engine rotor is a rhombus, which deforms as it rotates inside the contour of the stator.
Japan officials continue to boost the country’s defenses against threats, exercising the option to add a second Boeing KC-46 Pegasus military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft, based on the Boeing 767 commercial passenger jet, to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s fleet of aircraft.
GKN Aerospace in Trollhättan, Sweden, are developing and manufacturing the first additive-manufactured, or 3D-printed, rocket engine turbines in Europe, officials say. The tier 1 aerospace supplier is harnessing cutting-edge additive manufacturing (AM) technology to produce two full-scale turbines for the Prometheus reusable rocket engine demonstrator on liquid oxygen and methane propellants, while reducing the number of parts from more than 100 to 2 and cutting costs by 90 percent.
Just down the road from SAE International’s headquarters in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, Mark Sokalski has been quietly working out how to maximize piston-driven engine efficiency – with an internal combustion engine mechanism that doesn’t follow the norm.
Continental Aerospace Technologies is partnering with VerdeGo Aero Inc. to develop VerdeGo’s Integrated Distributed Electric Propulsion (IDEP) concept for urban air mobility and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) applications.
The strategy identifies 2025 as a target year to collaborate with communities around the globe and create products focused on environmental performance, emissions and waste reduction, and lower levels of water and energy consumption at work sites.
Engineers at Jetoptera in Edmonds, Washington, and GE Aviation in Evandale, Ohio, are collaborating on a 500 pound-force (lbf) class fluidic propulsion system leveraging a gas generator based on GE Aviation’s H-Series turboprop engine. Jetoptera’s Fluidic Propulsion System is, officials say, both revolutionary and a remarkably simple approach to producing thrust for powerful, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)-capable aircraft.
In part two of a two-part series, Richard Gardner discusses various aerospace propulsion innovations and continued work by aerospace engineers and scientists to advance aircraft engine technologies to increase efficiency and lower emissions.