The Pearl engine family—crowning jewel of a transformative sustainability strategy
With corporate roots extending back to 1904, Rolls-Royce is accustomed to exercising long-term vision and executing strategic plans that ensure technological leadership. Flash forward 120 years, and that approach has made the company the world’s leading engine provider in the business aviation market, powering some of today’s largest, fastest, and longest-range business jets. In addition, the group develops and delivers complex power and propulsion systems used for safety-critical applications on land and sea in the defense and energy sectors worldwide.
Now Rolls-Royce is harnessing that technological leadership and focusing its strategic vision to meet the challenges posed by climate change and the pursuit of sustainability, setting a goal calculated to produce transformative results.
“As a leading power systems provider, we have a fundamental role in meeting the environmental and societal opportunities and challenges the world faces,” said Franke Moesta, Senior V-P Strategy and Future Programmes at Rolls-Royce. “Our technology will play a major part in enabling the transition to a low-carbon global economy.”
The transition is underway, as Rolls-Royce executes an aggressive decarbonization strategy that will make the company a net zero carbon enterprise across its entire value chain by 2050, at the latest. Executing the strategy calls for a trident-like, three-pronged action plan:
- Transform corporate operations to achieve a company-wide net zero carbon footprint
- Use technology to decarbonize complex, critical systems at the heart of global society
- Advocate for the enabling environment necessary to drive change
Rolls-Royce’s business and commercial jet engines, which propel a significant portion of global economic activity, will remain the centerpiece of its sustainability efforts. The Pearl engine family, purpose-built for the latest business jets, exemplifies the ongoing transformation, setting new benchmarks for performance and efficiency.
Chosen by manufacturers to power the Bombardier Global 5500/6500 (Pearl 15), the Gulfstream G700/G800 (Pearl 700), and forthcoming Dassault Falcon 10X (Pearl 10X), the new 2-shaft Pearl family was created with a clearly defined mission: “From the beginning our aim was to design an engine family able to deliver a world-class performance while further improving fuel consumption and maintaining a class-leading low-noise and -emissions performance,” said Moesta.
The Pearls also advance the company’s IntelligentEngine vision, an operational world driven by expanding digital capabilities, where product and service become indistinguishable.
“The digital revolution is blurring the boundaries between our physical products and the services we provide,” Moesta continued. “We see a future where our engines are connected, contextually aware, and even comprehending—a future where we design and test engines digitally, service them remotely, and manage them through their digital twin.”
The Pearls’ state-of-the-art engine vibration and health monitoring system (EVHMS) is one example of the future that’s here today. The system incorporates a step-change in “on-wing” engine intelligence to deliver best-in-class engine availability.
“It can provide instant online access to thousands of engine performance and health parameters with unprecedented levels of data quality,” Moesta said.
Rolls-Royce’s technology leadership is built on its global network of research facilities, each a world leader in high-technology propulsion and power, including University Technology Centres and several Advanced Manufacturing Research Centres established with industrial partners and governments. Here, promising technologies are created and rigorously evaluated.
“Developing an exciting new technology is one thing, but we have to be able to show that we can industrialize it effectively, and that it is mature enough to go into service,” Moesta said.
Candidate technology undergoes the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) and MCRL (Manufacturing Capability Readiness Level) path toward entry into service, a journey that “requires unparalleled commitment to technology demonstration and maturity via our numerous demonstrator programs,” said Moesta.
The Dahlewitz site, near Berlin in Germany, is Rolls-Royce’s global Centre of Excellence for Business Aviation Engines. It is the development and assembly site for all Pearl and BR700 engines and home to the engineering and program management teams. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the center is also the support hub for some 9,000 Rolls-Royce engines in service around the world.
The architectures and technologies of Pearl’s Advance2 core, heart of the new 2-shaft family, were matured as they proceeded through the company’s evaluation protocol at Dahlewitz, and the process “worked out perfectly,” Moesta said, noting that Bombardier, Dassault, and Gulfstream had all selected Pearl engines to power their next-generation flagships. “We are clearly offering the best solution in the whole market.”
The Pearl engine program also leveraged learning from the company’s highly successful BR700 & AE engine families, which power aircraft including the Gulfstream G550 and G650; Bombardier Global Express; Cessna Citation X, and Embraer Legacy 600. In fact, the Pearl’s engine core is the most efficient in business aviation today, and it has proved compatibility with 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Pearl engines are by design 100 percent SAF compatible, and under Rolls-Royce’s sustainability initiative, all its production engines will be 100 percent SAF compatible by the end of this year. Additionally, Rolls-Royce has committed to using a 10 percent SAF blend in engine testing at its sites in Dahlewitz, and Derby and Bristol in the UK.
Since its unveiling in 2018, the Pearl family has grown. The Pearl 15, first of the family, powering the Bombardier Global 5500/6500, delivers up to 9 percent more thrust during take-off and a 7 percent improvement in specific fuel consumption over its predecessor, yet is 2 decibels quieter.
The Pearl 700, powering Gulfstream’s flagship products G700 and G800, will enter into service later this year. It combines the proven Advance2 engine core with a brand-new, highly efficient blisked fan (first in a Rolls-Royce civil engine), resulting in 8 percent higher take-off thrust, while offering 5 percent higher efficiency than its predecessor, the BR725.
The forthcoming Pearl 10X, named for Dassault’s in-development Falcon flagship, which it will power, also features the blisked fan and adds 3D-printed combustor tiles, a pioneering technology developed by Rolls-Royce. Manufactured by an advanced Additive Layer Manufacturing process, the combustor tiles deliver significantly lower NOx emissions, while simultaneously improving the durability of the engine by removing hot spots. The technology will doubtless prove its value in the 10X. At more than 18,000 pounds of thrust, it will be the most powerful Rolls-Royce business aircraft engine ever—and the first to power a Falcon Jet.
“The program is running according to our plans, and the results we see so far absolutely confirm the high expectations we had for this engine,” said Dr. Phillip Zeller, Senior Rolls-Royce V-P for Dassault. “The Pearl 10X will deliver a perfect combination of power, environmental performance, and durability.”
The program is slated to mark a major milestone later this year with the commencement of flight tests, using the company’s dedicated Boeing 747 flying testbed.
“Continuous efficiency improvement is a key element of our sustainability strategy,” said Moesta. He predicts the Pearl engine family and its suite of technologies will find a wide range of applications in business aviation, as it powers the way to a sustainable future. He adds: “Rolls-Royce is leading the way in Business Aviation. We have done so over the last 65 years and will continue to do so, powering the way into a sustainable future.”