The GE Brief: September 29, 2020
CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT
A couple decades ago, engineers from GE Aviation canvassed customers to learn what they wanted to see in an ideal jet engine. The engineers turned up a wish list of about 300 items, with one wish firmly at the top: fuel efficiency. That’s no wonder, given that fuel accounts for close to a fifth of an airline’s operating costs. Those engineers got to work — and came up with the GE9X engine. Together, the engine and the plane it was designed for, the Boeing 777X, are 20% more efficient than their predecessors. Efficiency isn’t the only thing this machine has going for it, though. It’s also the most powerful jet engine in existence.
Cleared for takeoff: On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration certified the GE9X — meaning that GE can start manufacturing engines for commercial service. The milestone came after a testing process that was long and grueling, at least from the engine’s standpoint. Following a regulator-prescribed regimen, engineers subjected it to all manner of abuse. It’s tough but it’s also cutting-edge: The GE9X achieves its efficiency gains partly through the use of lightweight but heat-resistant ceramic matrix composites, as well as 3D-printed parts. And the engine is smart, incorporating big data and analytics to help airlines save time and money. GE Aviation senior engineering executive Karl Sheldon summed it up: “We’ve developed an aircraft-engine combination that I honestly think is going to be unbeatable in the marketplace.”
Learn more here about the long journey of the GE9X — and where it goes from here.
UNDER THE SEA
The sight of wind farms popping up off coastlines around the world is a promising one, as offshore breezes will help many countries realize ambitious renewable energy goals. But there’s a lot going on beneath the surface of those blustery seas, too. Once the turbines generate the electricity, it’s got to get to the dry land where it will, for instance, light homes and businesses. That, in turn, involves huge, impregnable offshore fortresses called converter stations, which pool the electricity generated by the dispersed turbines and package it for transmission via an undersea cable. And it involves high-voltage direct current, or HVDC — the latest generation of power transmission tech, and a key element of a new wind farm going up in the North Sea off the coast of England.
Introducing Sofia: Conceived by the utility giant RWE, the Sofia wind farm will generate 1.4 gigawatts when it comes online in the middle of the decade. GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions division recently won a contract, together with Sembcorp Marine, to bring electricity from Sofia through a 220-kilometer-long subsea cable that will terminate near the U.K. city of Newcastle. GE will build one of the most powerful and most remote offshore HVDC converter stations in the world, an ambitious undertaking that relies on expertise the company has gained over the years at its HVDC research park in Stafford, England. The heart of the station will be a system of valves to convert the alternating current from the turbines to direct current for efficient transport; the brain of it will be sophisticated digital controls that give operators a comprehensive view of the entire system.
Learn more about Sofia here.
The world’s most powerful commercial jet engine is one step closer to passenger flight on the Boeing 777X.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“The telemetry that will be available to provide data back to us as an engine manufacturer is really going to be unprecedented. We will have the ability to monitor engine pressures, temperatures, flows. The predictive capability of that engine will exceed anything that we’ve got out there today.”
— Karl Sheldon, general manager, GE9X engine program, GE Aviation
Quote: GE Reports. Images: GE Aviation.