NASA, GE Aerospace Hybrid Engine System Marks Successful Test
To the untrained eye, the plane’s engine installed outside a Cincinnati facility in December might have looked like off-the-shelf hardware. But NASA and GE Aerospace researchers watching the unit fire up for a demonstration knew what they were looking at: a hybrid engine operating at a level that could potentially power an airliner.
This is something new in the world of aviation and the result of years of research and development.
NASA, GE Aerospace and other organizations working on hybrid engine development have tested components in the past: power system controls, electric motors, etc. The demonstration at GE Aerospace’s Peebles Test Operation in Ohio represented the first test of an integrated system.
“The turbines already exist. The compressors already exist. But there are no hybrid-electric engines flying today. And that’s what we’ve seen,” said Anthony Nerone, who served as director of the agency’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland during development of the test engine.
The test involved a modified Passport engine from GE Aerospace, capable of extracting energy from some of its operations and inserting that extra power into other parts.
The hybrid engine is the result of research conducted by GE Aerospace and NASA under a cost-shared HyTEC contract. It runs on jet fuel and is assisted by electric motors, a concept that seems simple in a world where hybrid cars are common. Yet the execution was complex, requiring researchers to invent, adapt and integrate parts into a system capable of delivering the power required for a single-aisle aircraft safely and reliably.
As a result, the demonstration – known as the Energy Extraction Test – was one of the most complex GE Aerospace has ever staged.
“They had to incorporate equipment that they never needed for previous tests like this,” said Laura Evans, Glenn’s interim HyTEC project manager.
Despite the complexity, the team witnessed a successful demonstration. This is not a balancing test or preliminary exercise, but a rack-mounted engine doing many of the things it would need to do if installed in an aircraft.
This test comes at a time when U.S. aviation is increasingly looking for power systems that can do more while saving money on fuel. This is a trend that NASA was well ahead of. Hybrid aircraft engine technology began emerging from Glenn about 20 years ago, when it seemed almost impossible to achieve, Nerone said.
“Now,” he said. “When you attend a conference, hybrid technology is everywhere. »
And NASA and GE now have real data on how the technology can be applied to flight.
From this beginning, NASA moved to HyTEC and its contract with GE Aerospace.
HyTEC’s goal is to advance the technology that will produce a hybrid engine that consumes up to 10% less fuel compared to current best-in-class engines. NASA’s overall goal is to leverage its resources to bring technology to market more quickly, meeting industry needs.
The work is far from finished. NASA and GE Aerospace are analyzing data from the demonstration and previous work and moving toward a compact engine test this decade.
Nevertheless, the demonstration was an opportunity to see the integration of a technology closer than ever to its practical application.
“We are getting closer to the result of work that has been in progress for a long time,” Nerone said.
