ULTIMATE innovations make Flightpath 2050 targets feasible: Collaborative effort for breakthrough aero engine concepts that help ensuring a 75% reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 2050

The European-funded Horizon 2020 ULTIMATE project (Ultra Low emission Technology Innovations for Mid-century Aircraft Turbine Engines) has developed concepts for highly innovative propulsion and integration technologies for mid-century aero engines. With five experienced research groups and four major European engine manufacturers, ULTIMATE partners have identified breakthrough technologies which address the major loss sources in existing aero engines, thus enabling disruptive efficiency improvements. The project team will for the first time present its results to the broader public at the Farnborough International Airshow, exhibiting detailed scaled mock-ups of the technology concepts.

Farnborough International Airshow
Farnborough (UK), 16-22 July 2018
ULTIMATE: Hall 3, Booth 3582

Gothenburg, 12th June 2018: The Flightpath 2050 target of a 75% reduction in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions is extremely challenging. Even if a continued incremental improvement of state-of-the-art technologies is assumed, they cannot achieve this goal. It has therefore been estimated that an additional 30% reduction must come from radical new aircraft engine innovations. The ULTIMATE consortium has targeted such innovations and identified breakthrough technologies that address the three major loss sources in existing aero engines, which means that energy input is not used optimally. These loss sources are: combustor irreversibility, core exhaust heat and bypass exhaust kinetic energy, accounting together for more than 80% of the overall losses. Complementing the expected efficiency improvements of current technology concepts towards the 75% reduction target, five technologies have been identified within ULTIMATE as high added-value. These five technologies are about: constant volume combustion systems, intercooling, secondary combustion, bottoming cycles and novel propulsor and nacelle designs. The concentration on these technologies finally resulted in eight innovative engine concepts which could have been developed by the ULTIMATE experts.

ULTIMATE engine concept innovations
• Intercooled core with pulsed detonation combustion and counter rotating Boxprop open-rotors for intra-European missions (Chalmers University and GKN Aerospace)
• Intercooled geared turbofan with pulsed detonation combustion for intercontinental missions (Chalmers University and GKN Aerospace)
• Open rotor with a nutating-disc topping cycle (Cranfield University and Rolls-Royce)
• Turbofan with a closed-circuit bottoming cycle (Cranfield University and Rolls-Royce)
• Turbofan with topping and bottoming cycles (Cranfield University and Rolls-Royce)
• Ultra-thin adaptive inlet concept (ISAE and Safran Aircraft Engines)
• Secondary fluid recuperator (SFR) concept (Aristotle University and MTU Aero Engines)
• Composite cycle engine (CCE) (Bauhaus Luftfahrt and MTU Aero Engines)

Concentrated experience matures technologies to TRL 2
“Decades of investment in advanced technology, supported by European programmes such as Clean Sky, have made the ambitious Flightpath 2050 target feasible. To reach the 75 percent reduction target, it is estimated that the last 18 percent will have to come from step-changing technology developed within ULTIMATE”, says Tomas Grönstedt, professor at Chalmers University and coordinator of the project. “Through previous collaborations of the ULTIMATE partners in other aeronautic projects, they have gained the most comprehensive experience in Europe on conception and evaluation of advanced aero engine architectures. In ULTIMATE, we have been using existing tools, knowledge and models in order to optimize and evaluate the five core concepts we identified. We are now on the way to mature these technologies to TRL 2 (Technology Readiness Level).”

Synergetic technologies for the European industry
In order to strengthen European’s global leadership in aero-industry, synergetic breakthrough technologies for every part of the air transport system are needed, including the airframe, propulsion and power. By concentrating on the propulsion system, ULTIMATE could explore potential synergies between its identified technologies. These synergies will eventually deliver ultra-low emissions and reduce engine noise at the same time. Currently, roadmaps are being set up to outline the steps in order to further develop the technologies into products and bring them onto the market. These roadmaps will aim at an integration into the established Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) jointly developed by the aeronautics sector and the European Commission.

ULTIMATE presents 3D concept mock-ups in Farnborough
The ULTIMATE aero engine concepts will be presented in Farnborough. Detailed three-dimensional mock-ups of the innovations will be displayed on a dedicated ULTIMATE booth. “Three years of intense research resulted in highly promising aero engine concepts and we are proud to present the results for the first time in Farnborough”, so Prof. Tomas Grönstedt. The ULTIMATE technologies will be presented in Hall 3, Booth n° 3582.

ULTIMATE partners and project period
The project team, coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology, includes four of the largest engine manufacturers in Europe: GKN Aerospace (Sweden), MTU Aero Engines (Germany), Rolls-Royce (UK), Safran Aircraft Engines (France), and five universities: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Cranfield University (UK) and Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (France), one research institute: Bauhaus Luftfahrt (Germany), and the technology management company Arttic (France). The ULTIMATE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 633436. The Project started on the 1st of September 2015 and is running until the 31st of August 2018.

www.ultimate-aero
https://twitter.com/ULTIMATE_H2020

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Tomas Grönstedt, Project Coordinator
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Phone +46 31 772 14 09
Email tomas.gronstedt@chalmers.se

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This release was published on openPR.