Rolls-Royce tests the world’s largest jet engine at maximum power (photo)

Rolls-Royce has announced that its huge UltraFan jet engine demonstrator is successfully running on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Moreover, tests have shown that all of their current civil engines are also compatible with this fuel, reports New Atlas.

Billed as the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine, the UltraFan features a 3.56 meter diameter fan and produces 64 MW of power. In static tests it generates up to 38 tons of thrust, but the technology can be scaled up to 50 tons of thrust for narrow- or wide-body aircraft.

UltraFan is distinguished by a special turbofan with a gearbox and a fan system where the blades change their angle of inclination. Thanks to this, the engine operates optimally at different speeds and each stage of flight can be optimized.

The use of carbon composites for the blades can significantly reduce the weight of the engine compared to analogues that are made of titanium alloys. This also results in a 10% increase in efficiency compared to the previous Trent XWB model.

Some of the technologies developed for UltraFan may be implemented in other engines produced by the company. All of these engines (Trent, BR and Pearl) are certified and compatible with clean aviation fuel.

International standards allow mixing of no more than 50% clean aviation fuel with 50% conventional jet fuel. Despite this, Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner, powered by Trent 1000 engines, is scheduled to make the world’s first transatlantic flight using only sustainable aviation fuel.

It is hoped that such test flights and static demonstrations, in which technical obstacles have been overcome, can change the situation.

Earlier, the Samson Sky Switchblade, a three-wheeled compact aircraft that is called a “home aircraft,” made its first flight. See how the miracle machine flew.

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