Technology
Despite being derived from the GE90, the GEnx features a number of weight-saving innovations:
- Fan diameter of 111 in (2.8 m) for the 787-8 and 105 in (2.7 m) for the 747-8.
- Composite fan blades with titanium leading edges.
- Fan case of composite material which reduces weight and thermal expansion.
- Titanium aluminide stage 6 and 7 low pressure turbine blades.
Fuel burn reduction technologies include:
- Fan bypass ratio of 9.6:1, which also helps reduce noise.
- High pressure compressor based on GE90-94B, with 23:1 pressure ratio and only 10 stages. Also, shrouded guide vanes reduce secondary flows.
- Counter-rotating spools for the reaction turbines to reduce load on guide vanes.
- Lean TAPS (twin annular premixed swirler) combustor to reduce environmentally-harmful emissions with improved airflow to prevent back flash.
Among features to reduce maintenance cost and increase engine life are:
- Spools with lower parts count achieved by using blisks in some stages and low blade counts in other stages and by using a low number of stages.
- Internal engine temperatures reduced by using more efficient cooling techniques.
- Debris extraction within the low pressure compressor guards high pressure compressor.
All of these yield a fuel burn said to be 15% better than GE's CF6-80C2 engines for widebody aircraft.
Read more about this topic: General Electric GEnx
Famous quotes containing the word technology:
“The successor to politics will be propaganda. Propaganda, not in the sense of a message or ideology, but as the impact of the whole technology of the times.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Primitive peoples tried to annul death by portraying the human body—we do it by finding substitutes for the human body. Technology instead of mysticism!”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)