Image Credit: Aero Acoustic lab
Safran successfully tested the first ‘Open Rotor’ demonstrator engine in Istres, southern France.
The Open Rotor demonstrator, developed through Europe’s vast Clean Sky* research program, in which Safran plans to develop a propulsion system meeting aircraft manufacturers’ future needs towards 2030.
As its name indicates, the Open Rotor features a breakthrough architecture, with two counter-rotating, unshrouded fans, allowing it to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 30% compared with current CFM56** engines.
A propfan or open rotor engine is a concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed and performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop. A propfan is typically designed with a large number of short, highly twisted blades, similar to a turbofan’s bypass compressor
An open rotor engine is essentially a turboprop with two rows of blades, or propellers, which can operate efficiently at higher speeds than a conventional turboprop. The blades of a turboprop tend to spin air out, rather than pushing it back. In an open rotor engine, the forward propeller pushes the air backwards, while the rear one sucks it.
Safran celebrates successful start of #OpenRotor demonstrator tests on new open-air test rig in southern Francehttps://t.co/ncSi014CYw pic.twitter.com/2xwzyAkCjv
— Safran (@SAFRAN) October 3, 2017