ORPASV

"Electrohydraulic servovalve development, test and supply for Open Rotor Pitch Actuation System (Engine Demonstrator and Target Engine)"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'IN-LHC (33M€ turnover, 260 persons staff), belongs to Zodiac Aerospace Group. Zodiac Aerospace is quoted on the French Stock Exchange and has focused activities in aerospace industry. IN-LHC’sole facility gathers in Châteaudun, France, all the skills to design, manufacture, test and support EHSV and other complex hydraulic control equipment. This location is the sole one to which we will refer in this proposal, meaning that all studies and manufacturing will be held within European community. IN-LHC core business lies in supports equipment and sub-systems for hydraulic and fuel servo control systems and therefore, the engineering department takes a central position in its strategy. Through SAGE Call 12th project, IN-LHC’s aim is to contribute to European new knowledge and technology development.

IN-LHC has proven experience in the development of different equipment for programs like the Airbus, Falcon or CRJ families for the aircrafts and the CFM56, Arriel and Makila families for the engines. Recent achievements include servovalves for the A380 and A400M, landing gear hydraulic manifolds for Falcon 7X and Superjet 100. In the engine control applications IN-LHC Zodiac Aerospace supplied servovalves not only for French engines like M53, M88 or Makila but also for European cooperations like RTM322 or TP400 and for international programs like Kaveri or SaM 146. In this call context, IN-LHC Zodiac Aerospace can compare the Open Rotor 12th Call project to previous ones developed for brand new aircraft/engines. As a matter of fact, IN-LHC Zodiac Aerospace structure can deal with this kind of demanding development in terms of engineering and industrial means. For this call, IN-LHC’s overall strategy derivates from the dual objective which combines a short path development for the demonstrator SV and a long path development for the target engine. Lastly, a work package is fully dedicated to the test bench project.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The open rotor engine can deliver a step-change reduction in fuel consumption compared to conventional turbofan engines. An EU-funded project is tightly focused on a potential barrier that could prevent this innovative concept from being considered for next-generation airliners: blade pitch control.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

An open rotor engine, consisting of propellers rotating at different speeds, burns less fuel because it can have large diameters without the drag and weight penalties of a large nacelle. Under the Clean Sky initiative, Europe seeks to advance the maturity of the open rotor as a possible successor to the turbofan engine used in today's civil airliners.

Key to its safety and viability is precise control of the pitch on each of its multiple blades. The EU-funded project ORPASV (Electrohydraulic servovalve development, test and supply for open rotor pitch actuation system (engine demonstrator and target engine)) was launched to advance the state of the art in blade pitch control using electrohydraulic actuation.

Specifically, the absence of a casing around the engine's propellers presents a real challenge in terms of certification. To eliminate the risk of blade failures, a control system is being designed that regulates an electrohydraulic servovalve and thereby each blade's pitch.

The electrohydraulic servovalve developed within the ORPASV project will be an essential part of the Sustainable and Green Engines (SAGE) demonstration project, manufacturing and testing an open rotor engine. So far, the servovalve designs have been adapted to the specifications of the demonstrator engine that is scheduled for ground testing at the end of 2015.

In parallel of this development for demonstrator engine, R&T studies will allow to identify and to assess the most suitable technologies to address technical challenges of servovalves to be mounted on target engine.

There is still a long road ahead of next-generation airliners, and absolute confidence will be needed before any change is made in existing architectures. However, ORPASV is paving the way for newly designed servovalves to reach a technology readiness level as high as seven so that it will be selected for further development.