On the opening day of this year’s Paris Air Show, RTX announced it had achieved a critical milestone in its hybrid-electric flight demonstrator program, completing a rated power test of the demonstrator’s 1 megawatt (MW) electric motor.
Starting with the turboprops
RTX is working with federal and local Canadian governments on a regional flight demonstrator that would use a one-megawatt electric motor to help power the takeoff and ascent of a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 turboprop. The project will use the 1MW motor from Collins Aerospace (Collins) in combination with a highly efficient thermal engine developed by Pratt & Whitney (P&W). Collins and P&W are both RTX business units.
Photo: PNG Air
The goal is to develop a hybrid-electric propulsion system that delivers a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions compared to today’s most advanced regional turboprops. The 1MW motor will deliver four times the power and twice the voltage with half the heat loss and half the weight compared to Collins’ most advanced electric motor generators flying today. President Power and Controls for Collins, Henry Brooks said today:
“With its industry-leading power density and efficiency, our 1MW motor will help to significantly reduce aircraft carbon emissions by supporting hybrid-electric propulsion architectures on the next generation of commercial platforms.
“As the motor’s development continues apace, each milestone brings us one step closer to hybrid-electric flight and our industry’s shared commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Collins is developing the 1MW motor in the United Kingdom at its Solihull facility and testing it at the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Aerospace Technology. The first low speed engine run happened at a Pratt & Whitney Canada facility in Quebec last December, and testing of the combined hybrid-electric propulsion system, including both the thermal engine and 1MW motor, will continue through 2023.
Photo: De Havilland
Once that’s done, the propulsion system and the batteries will be integrated on a De Havilland Dash 8-100 experimental aircraft, with flight testing expected to begin in 2024. Pratt & Whitney Canada executive director new products and services, Jean Thomassin added:
“Hybrid-electric propulsion technology offers significant potential to optimize aircraft efficiency across a range of future aircraft applications and is a key part of our technology roadmap for supporting more sustainable aviation.
“Aside from leveraging the deep expertise of Pratt & Whitney and Collins engineers within Raytheon Technologies, our project draws from extensive collaborations across Canada’s aerospace ecosystem and around the world.”
The development of the Collins 1MW is not only about the hybrid-electric flight demonstrator as it will also be front and center in another zero-emissions aviation initiative, this time under the auspices of the European Union. In addition to the hybrid-electric flight demonstrator, the 1MW motor will also be a part of the Pratt & Whitney GTF hybrid-electric powertrain planned for the SWITCH project under the European Union’s Clean Aviation initiative.
Future testing for that program will be conducted in the United States at The Grid, a $50 million electric power systems lab at Collins’ Rockford, Illinois, facility scheduled to open later this year.
Pratt & Whitney
- Business Type:
- Engine Maker
- Date Founded:
- 1925-01-01
- CEO:
- Christopher Calio
- Headquarters Location:
- East Hartford, United States
Collins Aerospace
- Stock Code:
- COL
- Business Type:
- Engine Maker
- Date Founded:
- 2008-01-01
- CEO:
- Kelly Ortberg
- Headquarters Location:
- Charlotte, United States
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