Rolls-Royce Begins Production Of World’s Largest Aero-engine, Its Gearbox Can Run 500 Family Cars

Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce begins the production of World’s Largest Aero-engine

The engines 50MW Power Gearbox is powerful enough to run 500 family cars. 

Rolls-Royce has officially started building the world’s largest aero-engine, UltraFan, which will help redefine sustainable air travel for decades to come.

Work on the first module is underway at our dedicated DemoWorks facility in Derby, UK, and the demonstrator engine, which has a fan diameter of 140 inches, will be completed by the end of the year.

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The engine is the basis for a potential new family of UltraFan engines able to power both narrowbody and widebody aircraft. It will deliver a 25% fuel efficiency improvement compared with the first generation of Trent engine.

As engine build starts, other key parts are already coming together for delivery to Derby. Work is underway on UltraFan’s carbon titanium fan system in Bristol, UK, and its 50MW Power Gearbox, which is powerful enough to run 500 family cars, in Dahlewitz, Germany.

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UltraFan is part of Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision – for example each fan blade has a digital twin which stores real-life test data, allowing engineers to predict in-service performance.

When on test at Rolls-Royce’s new £90m Testbed 80 facility, data can be taken from more than 10,000 parameters, detecting the tiniest of vibrations at a rate of up to 200,000 samples per second. Data that helps us understand our engines and further improve them.

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