More Electric Small Turbofan

The highly competitive aerospace industry demands the continuous improvement of aircraft propulsion engines and timely response to new and changing requirements for them. Turbofan engines are a relatively mature and sophisticated technology. Improving significantly the performance and weight by using conventional designs in mature technologies becomes costly, opposing the market needs for more affordable solutions. The introduction of the More Electric Gas Turbine Engine concept has been proposed as a way to attain significant improvements of the turbofan engine and aircraft in answer to the new and changing requirements. The More Electric Gas Turbine Engine concept as adapted to the specifics of small turbofans is explained. Implications and advantages of the concept for both engine and aircraft are considered. The proposed and the currently employed technologies are compared. An outline of the work completed at Pratt & Whitney Canada on the demonstration of the More Electric Gas Turbine Engine concept and the technologies developed/required is described. The reliability of the More Electric technologies is investigated and the potential certification requirements discussed.