TURBO
An aerospace update from GE in India
Edition - 4
How GE engineers in India are innovating for a sustainable future of flight
GE teams at John F Welch Technology Centre, Bengaluru, are delivering game-changing work in decarbonization of aviation. 10% more efficient than its predecessor, the GE9X is the first engine to be completely digitally enabled.
With deep expertise in physics, digital and engineering, the India team is a core part of GE and French company Safran’s programme called RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines), an effort to dramatically reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Another area that the teams have been doing fundamental research on, is the technology around hybrid electric propulsion as aircraft need many times more power than hybrid electric cars.
How GE Aerospace, Boeing and NASA are collaborating to realise net zero goals by 2050
On one hand, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has the potential to make the biggest impact on reducing aviation emissions to reach net zero goals by 2050. On the other, more fuel-efficient aircraft and engines can reduce consumption of both conventional jet fuel and SAF, also playing a key role. NASA, Boeing, and GE Aerospace are collaborating to accelerate the possibilities at the intersection of both these sides.
This entails developing innovative solutions like hybrid electric propulsion, advocating increased use of SAF and hydrogen, and more. NASA, Boeing, and GE Aerospace have teamed up to tackle hybrid electric commercial flight through the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project.
“Whether we’re going to be burning Jet A, SAF, hydrogen, or if we’re going to have batteries or fuel cells, the electrification of the subsystems and other components within the propulsion system on these aircraft [is] going to be more electric in the future,” says Joseph Connolly, aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Hybrid electric propulsion technologies can help improve engine performance, reducing fuel usage and emissions. Further, hybrid electric technologies are compatible with alternative fuels like SAF or hydrogen, and with advanced engine architectures such as open fan.
“It’s actually an engineer’s delight to have a new landscape of technology development both in the actual hybrid electric system as well as in the adjacencies such as certification, airworthiness, quality, power electronics, and components we haven’t looked at before,” shares Christine Andrews, executive hybrid electric systems leader for GE Aerospace.
GE Research: Envisioning a future where metals self-heal like the human body
GE Research is working on two projects through DARPA’s visionary MINT program aiming to develop batteries and certain metal materials that may last virtually forever. These efforts are aimed at extending the operational life of critical systems and infrastructure.
Introduced last year, DARPA’s MINT program is funding new material innovations that are patterned after how human cells and tissue form in a process known as morphogenesis. “Today, we think of most things as having a finite lifecycle, determined by the rate at which parts wear out. Biological systems extend their lifetime by using complex chemical processes and feedback to keep components from failing, but what if we could arrange the chemical processes in simpler, non-living systems, like batteries, to preclude degradation and extend life? That’s the essence of what we’re creating with the IMMORTAL battery,” says Joseph Shiang, a Principal Scientist in the technical area of Materials Physics & Processes, working in the Ceramics Lab at GE Research.
The second project, reveals Sreekar Karnati, a Lead Engineer at the Corrosion Lab on GE Research's Niskayuna, NY campus, is aimed at developing new ways to prevent metal corrosion. “When someone gets a cut, you might apply an antibiotic ointment to avoid infection and accelerate the healing of that wound. What we’re innovating is more proactive. We’re creating a protective surface layer on aluminum alloys that can self-heal, or regenerate, instead of letting the metal pit and degrade,” Karnati says.
Both projects are in the early phases of material design and exploration.
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