Oct. 17, 2016

It’s Electric! NASA Glenn Engineers Test Next Revolution Aircraft

Electric cars are nothing new, they’re more efficient, produce less noise and emit less carbon into the atmosphere; which is exactly why engineers from NASA Glenn Research Center are taking this technology to the skies.

Engineers conduct the first test of an electric aircraft engine in NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) at Plum Brook Station.

Credits: NASA

“As large airline companies compete to reduce emissions, fuel burn, noise and maintenance costs, it is expected that more of their aircraft systems will shift to using electrical power,” said Dr. Rodger Dyson, NASA Glenn Hybrid Gas Electric Propulsion technical lead.

Using Plum Brook Station’s newest facility – NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) – these engineers design, develop and test systems for the next revolution in aviation -- electric aircraft.

During NEAT’s first test in September, Dyson’s team used 600 volts of electricity and successfully tested an electrical power system that could realistically power a small, one or two person aircraft.

Once complete, NEAT will be a world-class, reconfigurable testbed that will be used to assemble and test the power systems for large passenger airplanes with over 20 Megawatts of power.

“What we’re hoping to learn now is how to make it more efficient and light-weight,” said Dyson. “Next year we’re going to upgrade the size of these motors -- we’ll use the same technology to test the higher-power stuff next.”

By increasing efficiency and reducing weight, the technology developed here can eventually be applied to larger, commercial aircraft, potentially resulting in reduced flying costs for airline companies and travelers.

NEAT’s future is bright, and Glenn’s engineers are hopeful it will spark a change in the airline industry.

“We look forward to making a difference in aviation,” said Dyson.

Deborah Lockhart

NASA Glenn Research Center

Last Updated: Oct. 19, 2016 Editor: Kelly Heidman

Dec. 7, 2016

NASA Runs First-Ever Test of New Jet Engine Tech

Car, truck, train and aircraft manufacturers have made great strides in recent years to reduce fuel consumption, resulting in consumer savings and lower emissions. With NASA’s help, the aircraft industry is striving to increase fuel efficiency even more.

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:02 PMComment [1]: How expensive is the electric/fuel efficient movement?

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:04 PMComment [2]: Small scale airplanes are more probable but could this movement go commercial

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:09 PMComment [3]: This sounds a lot easier said than done; it would be difficult to just upsize the engines to make this possible

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:10 PMComment [4]: Positive aspects of fuel efficient movement

The "double bubble" D8 Series is one aircraft design concept that uses boundary layer ingestion.

Credits: NASA/MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences

One way to do that is to create new aircraft engine designs. Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are testing a new fan and inlet design, commonly called a propulsor, which could increase fuel efficiency by four to eight percent more than the advanced engine designs airlines are beginning to use.

On today’s jet aircraft, the engines are typically located away from the aircraft’s body to avoid ingesting the layer of slower flowing air that develops along the aircraft’s surfaces, called boundary layer. Aerospace engineers believe they can reduce fuel burn by embedding an aircraft’s engines into these surfaces and ingesting the boundary layer air flow to propel the aircraft through its mission.

It sounds like a simple design change, but it’s actually quite challenging. Boundary layer air flow is highly distorted, and that distortion affects the way the fan performs and operates. These new designs require a stronger fan.

To address these challenges, NASA Glenn is testing a new propulsor in its 8’ x 6’ Wind Tunnel. Designed by United Technologies Research Center with research conducted by Virginia Polytechnic and State University, the rugged boundary layer ingesting (BLI) inlet-fan combination is the first of its kind ever to be tested.

“Studies backed by more detailed analyses have shown that boundary layer ingesting propulsors have the potential to significantly improve aircraft fuel efficiency,” said David Arend, a BLI propulsion expert at NASA Glenn. “If this new design and its enabling technologies can be made to work, the BLI propulsor will produce the required thrust with less propulsive power input. Additional aircraft drag and weight reduction benefits have also been identified.”

The highly experimental tests required years of preparation. Many industry, NASA and academic experts contributed to the design and analysis of the propulsor. NASA Glenn engineers also

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:11 PMComment [5]: Statistics to consider related to fuel efficiency

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:13 PMComment [6]: The boundary layer; does the boundary layer exist in a piston-type structure

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 3:15 PMComment [7]: Important detail to consider in design process

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:05 PMComment [8]: If the tests are conclusively positive, could this be possiti

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:10 PMComment [9]: Eliminating drag and increasing lift

modified the wind tunnel to accept a larger model, a boundary layer control system and a way to power the experiment.

“We have generated a unique test capability that doesn’t exist anywhere in the country for testing boundary layer ingesting propulsors,” said Jim Heidmann, manager of NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technologies project.

Throughout testing, the team will change the wind speed and vary the boundary layer thickness and fan operation to see how these changes affect the propulsor’s performance, operability and structure. Results of the tests will be applicable to multiple cutting-edge aircraft designs being pursued by NASA as well as by its academic and private industry partners.

Jan Wittry NASA Glenn Research Center Last Updated: Dec. 9, 2016 Editor: Kelly Heidman

Oct. 6, 2016

NASA Takes Next Step in Green Aviation X-planes Plans

Lockheed Martin's hybrid wing body concept. Credits: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:12 PMComment [10]: Consider wind tunnel experiment from previous research assessment

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:13 PMComment [11]: Wind tunnel experimentation being one of the more reliable ways to determine efficiency and structure quality

Aurora Flight Sciences’ D8 “Double Bubble” concept.

Credits: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation Today, at the 39th meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization, 191 countries reached a global climate deal to reduce carbon emissions from aviation. At the same time, NASA is working to create new experimental aircraft that will demonstrate new “green aviation” technology intended to dramatically reduce fuel use, emissions and noise – with the goal of cutting emissions from the nation’s commercial aircraft fleet by more than 50 percent, while also reducing perceived noise levels near airports to one-half the level of the quietest aircraft flying today.

To that end, NASA recently awarded six-month contracts to four companies, who will each define the technical approach, schedule, and cost for one or more large-scale, subsonic X-plane concepts. These concepts are in support of NASA’s ultra-efficient subsonic transport research goals.

Dzyne Technologies’ regional jet-sized blended wing body concept.

Credits: DZYNE Technologies / Brendan Kennelly

The companies are Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation of Manassas, VA; Dzyne Technologies Incorporated of Fairfax, VA; Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Ft. Worth, TX; and The Boeing Company of Hazelwood, MO.

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:17 PMComment [12]: Motivation for the clean fuel movement

Boeing’s truss-braced wing concept.

Credits: The Boeing Company “Engaging these contractors now to gather this information will help us move forward efficiently and expeditiously when we’re ready to commit to building the X-planes themselves,” said Ed Waggoner, NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program director.

Boeing’s blended wing body concept.

Credits: The Boeing Company

Each company is to detail their specific X-plane system requirements for a piloted experimental aircraft capable of sustained, two to three hours of powered high subsonic flight, as well as conducting at least two research flight sorties per week over the course of a year-long program.

The requested information is to be built around a plan that would see the selected experimental aircraft eventually flying no later than 2021.

NASA’s return to flying large-scale X-plane technology demonstrators – a staple of its aeronautical research heritage – is part of New Aviation Horizons, an ambitious 10-year accelerated research plan developed and announced by NASA earlier this year.

The five X-plane concepts envisioned for possible further development and the contractor responsible for providing NASA with the required information include:

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:18 PMComment [13]: Guidelines for experimentation; x-plane system requirements

● Aurora Flight Sciences for the D8 “Double Bubble,” a twin-aisle, largely composite airliner in which the fuselage is shaped to provide lift – enabling smaller wings – and the jet engines are mounted atop the rear tail area, which takes advantage of the air flow over the aircraft to both improve engine efficiency and reduce noise in the cabin and on the ground below.

● Dzyne Technologies for a smaller regional jet-sized aircraft that features a blended wing body (BWB) design in which the lines of a traditional tube and wing airliner are shaped to become one continuous line in which the seam between the wing and fuselage is nearly indistinguishable. As an aerodynamic shape, this configuration increases lift and reduces drag.

● Lockheed Martin for its Hybrid Wing Body, which includes features of the BWB on the forward part of the fuselage but has a more conventional looking T-shaped tail, with its jet engines mounted on the side of the hull but above the blended wing. Increased lift, reduced drag and quieter operations are all potential benefits.

● Boeing for both its BWB concept – versions of which the company has flight tested with its subscale X-48 program in partnership with NASA – and a Truss-Braced Wing concept, which features a very long, aerodynamically efficient wing that is held up on each side by a set of trusses connecting the fuselage to the wing. Otherwise the aircraft appears more conventional than the other X-plane concepts under consideration.

Preliminary design work already has begun on a half-scale X-plane called the Quiet Supersonic Technology, or QueSST, a piloted supersonic aircraft that generates a soft thump, rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.

Work also is underway on the X-57 Maxwell, a general aviation-sized electric research airplane. Maxwell will fly for the first time in early 2018 and demonstrate battery powered, distributed electric propulsion. Transport-sized electric aircraft could reduce energy use by more than 60 percent and harmful emissions by more than 90 percent. This was the first project to get an X-plane number designation in a decade.

NASA’s other green aviation initiatives include reducing airline emissions and flight delays. Working in partnership with airlines and air traffic controllers at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, NASA is beginning the first-of-a-kind demonstration of new technologies that coordinate operational schedules for aircraft arrivals, departures, and taxiing.

Jim Banke

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

Last Updated: Feb. 17, 2017 Editor: Lillian Gipson

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:20 PMComment [14]: Double Bubble structure design

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:24 PMComment [15]: Aerodynamic design for dzyne technologies

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:25 PMComment [16]: Lockheed martin hybrid design that mounts on the side of the hull

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:26 PMComment [17]: BWB design to work with NASA

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:27 PMComment [18]: Maxwell is a future design that will be implemented next year; consider for next research assessment

Kaeli Long� 3/3/17 4:28 PMComment [19]: I never really considered how flight delays would waste fuel or be inefficient.