Story ID: 
Turbomeca Sees Growth in Service Sector
By: Thierry Dubois
Caption: Engine manufacturer feels impact of weaker civil helicopter demand but is proceeding with a 3,000-shp engine program.
Word Count: 715
Turbomeca is progressing on a number of new engine and demonstrator programs, while simultaneously reinforcing its customer support network, but sales of engines have slowed.

In 2014, Bordes, France-based Turbomeca, a Safran company, delivered 850 new engines, a 13-percent drop. CEO Olivier Andriès told AIN he attributes the slide to weaker demand for Airbus Helicopters civil products. The repair business, by contrast, grew by 17 percent to 1,750 engines total, resulting in steady revenue overall, according to Andriès.

The 1,100-shp Arrano 1A, a mockup of which is prominent on Turbomeca's booth (2620), is set to power the Airbus Helicopters X4 medium twin. “Three prototype engines have been running on the ground and 10 will be involved in testing by the end of 2016,” Andriès said. Engineers are confident about the level of performance that the trials are revealing, he added.

The 500-shp-class Arrius 2R, a version of the Arrius designed for the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X, has been flying on the new light single since November. Engine certification is planned for late this year, just before the 505’s entry into service in early 2016. “We are preparing a tough ramp-up, targeting 200 engines per year,” Andriès said. Final assembly of the production Arrius 2Rs will take place at Turbomeca’s site in Grand Prairie, Texas.

For the upgraded EC135T3, the 660-shp Arrius 2B2 Plus features a new Fadec, which allows for an increase in the turbine outlet temperature resulting in greater power output. New air intakes, lateral as opposed to frontal, reduce so-called installation losses (when the engine receives a less-than-optimal airflow). As a result, a relatively minor set of changes boosts power by 6 percent in hot and high conditions, a major improvement for some operators. A retrofit is available for EC135T2 customers, comprising a Fadec software update and small hardware modifications that do not involve the turbomachinery.

On the Russian Helicopters Ka-62 and Avicopter AC352 medium twin programs, Andriès predicted first flights in the middle of the year, powered respectively by the 1,680-shp Ardiden 3G and 1,800-shp Ardiden 3C.

The in-development Airbus Helicopters EC225e is flying with the Makila 2B. “It provides up to 7 percent more power in one-engine-inoperative conditions,” Andriès said. The combustor has a new design for increased temperature, and the high-pressure turbine blades are thus made with a new material. Separately, the compressor will be better protected against erosion, and this particular improvement will be retrofittable.

Airbus’s surprise termination of the AS365N3e Dauphin upgrade has impacted the dedicated Arriel 2N engine program. Turbomeca is thus looking for other applications. The 1,000-shp-class Arriel 2N was certified in December 2014 but Andriès downplayed the need for compensation for the cancelation, hinting at negotiations on a wider scale. Airbus is carrying on with the military version, the AS565MBe Panther, the first delivery of which is planned for 2017.

A 3,000-shp demonstrator engine will start partial testing this year. Turbomeca engineers will begin with the compressor and add the hot section next year. In the same engine category, Turbomeca took over Rolls-Royce’s share in the RTM322 program in 2013. “We are gearing up to be in a position to launch a turboshaft program for a 22,000-lb-plus helicopter that would enter into service in the 2020s,” Andriès explained.

Another demonstration program in the 800-shp class has been completed but no short-term application is in sight. In the 1,000-shp class, a third demonstration program is in its final phase. It previously laid the foundation for the Arrano, Andriès said.

In the longer term, a promising avenue to cutting fuel consumption is optimizing airflow in the compressor. “Progress is quite asymptotic, though,” Andriès said. Hybridization, such as combining various sources of power, may help, too.

In customer support, the current number of Turbomeca-certified maintenance centers–36–will double by the end of 2016. One reason for expanding such partnerships is that the number of small operators is set to increase sharply, due to the entry into service of the Bell 505. Andriès claimed to have made significant progress in repairs, as the turnaround time has been halved to 50 days in the past three years for the Arrius and Arriel families.