Open Rotor Engine

ROTATOR has developed cutting edge technology which enables the use of electro-mechanical magnetic actuators in the role of pitch control for the blades of future engines and will secure and enhance EU industries’ competitiveness in this area.

The high-level objective of the “More Electric Aircraft” is to replace existing hydraulic systems which present maintenance and servicing challenges with electrical systems as far as is possible with respect to weight, size and tolerance of faults, the goal being to completely remove hydraulic systems from future aircraft.

A major factor in the continued domination of turbofan engines for economic airline propulsion, is the ability to increase bypass ratios. However, increasing fan diameters to go to ever higher bypass ratios increases nacelle weight, aerodynamic drag and duct losses. By eliminating the need for a fan duct, open rotor engines can effectively in-crease bypass ratios, resulting in a significant savings in fuel consumption.

For the highest efficiency, an open rotor engine will have the ability to control the pitch of the blades on at least one of the rotors. The pitch of the blades is the angle relative to the hub onto which those blades are mounted. There are two stages of blades on an open rotor engine where each stage has a hub with a number of blades. The aerodynamic loads on the blades result in high torque requirements for the actuation system. In addition, the actuation sysrtem also needs to be able to synchronise the actuation of all blades.