Safran Helicopter Engines remains on track to certify four new engine programs this year: the Arrano 1A for the Airbus H160, Aneto 1k for the Leonardo AW189, Ardiden 1U for India’s light utility helicopter (LUH) program, and WZ16 for the Avicopter (China) AC352.
“Our ambition is to be the preferred helicopter engine supplier,” said Bruno Ballenger, executive vice president of programs for Safran Helicopter Engines. “We have 37 percent market share, a gain of four percent from 2017,” he said. The company plans to hold deliveries steady at 820 engines or more in 2019, comparable to 2018 results, he added.
Ballenger said the company is moving into new areas including the development of a new turboprop engine (Tech TP) in cooperation with the European Union’s (EU) Clean Sky 2 joint undertaking and working with Bell on its Nexus urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle. Ballenger said the powerplant for the latter would probably be based either on the company’s existing Arriel or Arrius engines but “optimized” for the vehicle.
According to Ballenger, using existing engine architecture would enable Safran to meet Bell’s “schedule target and conduct a flight demonstration as soon as possible.” He said testing on the Aneto 1K engine is largely complete and that endurance testing on the engine would start before the end of the month.
With regard to the Tech TP program, he said that Safran was discussing, but had yet to select an airframe that will serve as a flying testbed.
Safran Helicopter Engines remains on track to certify four new engine programs this year: the Arrano 1A for the Airbus H160, the Aneto 1k for the Leonardo AW189, the Ardiden 1U for India’s light utility helicopter (LUH) program, and the WZ16 for the Avicopter (China) AC352. “Our ambition is to be the preferred helicopter engine supplier,” said Bruno Ballenger, executive vice president of programs for Safran Helicopter Engines. “We have 37 percent market share, a gain of four percent from 2017,” he said. The company plans to hold deliveries steady at 820 engines or more in 2019, comparable to 2018 results, he added.
Ballenger said the company is moving into new areas including the development of a new turboprop engine (Tech TP) in cooperation with the European Union’s (EU) Clean Sky 2 joint undertaking and working with Bell on its Nexus urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle. Ballenger said the powerplant for the latter would probably be based either on the company’s existing Arriel or Arrius engines but “optimized” for the vehicle. He said using existing engine architecture would enable Safran to meet Bell’s “schedule target and conduct a flight demonstration as soon as possible.” Ballenger said testing on the Aneto 1K engine is largely complete and that endurance testing on the engine would start before the end of the month. With regard to the Tech TP program, he said that Safran was discussing, but had yet to select an airframe that will serve as a flying testbed.
Safran made the first ground run of its Tech TP turboprop technology demonstrator engine on June 12 at its facility in Tarnos, France. The Tech TP is based on the Ardiden 3 turboshaft and developed as part of the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Tech TP aims to validate new technologies to deliver an engine that is 15 percent more fuel efficient and has lower CO2 emissions than current engines while producing between 1,700 and 2,000 shp. It builds on the design of the already EASA-certified Ardiden 3C and 3G engines, which have completed over 10,000 hours of testing. The 3G powers the Russian Kamov Ka-62 while the 3C/WZ16 powers the Chinese Avicopter AC352. More than 250 Ardiden 1 engines are already in service and have flown more than 200,000 hours in Indian airframes including the HAL Dhruv, Light Combat Helicopter, and Light Utility Helicopter.
The Tech TP will validate engine performance. Testing will include integrating the gas generator, nacelle, air intake, and propeller. It will also be used to evaluate the case for more electric technologies, including the accessory gearbox and propeller-controller components. Tech TP is slated to eventually be matured to the new “European Turboprop Engine.” The new engine will offer “increased performance, competitive operating costs, and low environmental footprint,” according to Didier Nicoud, Safran Helicopter Engines executive vice president for engineering.
The components Improve engine thermal efficiency and yield a fuel burn that is up to 15 percent lower than comparable in-service engines, Safran said. The gyratory combustion chamber uses fuel injectors manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques (3D printing). The Arrano 1A was designed to be more easily serviced, and maintenance time required is half of that of previous generation engines according to Safran. The company offers operators complimentary services with the engine, including its electronic engine logbook (BOOST) and health monitoring.
Arrano program director Cyrille Ressejac-Duparc said the new engine “features low operational and support costs, easy maintenance, and a lower environmental footprint. After a test campaign of 10,000 hours, including 2,000 in flight, we are now ready to support H160 entry-into-service.” The Arrano first flew on the H160 in 2016.