Aerospace
RTX advances hybrid-electric propulsion for Dash 8 Testing
RTX has completed a crucial milestone in its hybrid-electric flight demonstrator programme, successfully completing a rated power test of the demonstrator’s 1 megawatt (MW) electric motor built by Collins Aerospace.
The 1MW motor will be connected to a highly efficient thermal engine built by Pratt & Whitney as part of a hybrid-electric propulsion system that seeks to provide a 30% improvement in fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions over today’s most sophisticated regional turboprops. Collins and Pratt & Whitney are both RTX business units.
The 1MW motor will provide four times the power and twice the voltage, with half the heat loss and half the weight compared to Collins’ most cutting-edge electric motor generators now in flight. At Collins’ site in Solihull, England, the business is creating the motor, and the Institute for Aerospace Technology at the University of Nottingham is where it is being tested.
The propulsion system and batteries will be integrated on a Dash 8-100 experimental aircraft, with flight testing targeted to begin in 2024. The project is supported by the governments of Canada and Quebec.
Clean Aviation SWITCH Project to Advance Hybrid-Electric(Opens in a new browser tab)
The 1MW motor will also be a part of the Pratt & Whitney GTFTM hybrid-electric powertrain intended for the SWITCH project under the European Union’s Clean Aviation policy, in addition to the hybrid-electric flight demonstrator. The Grid, a $50 million electric power systems lab at Collins’ Rockford, Illinois, plant scheduled to open later this year, will host further testing.
