An artist's concept of a NASA-developed small-core jet engine installed in General Electric Aerospace’s CFM RISE jet engine design.
NASA is designing a new jet engine concept for the ultra-efficient, sustainable airliners of the future.
The US space agency is working with private sector partners to make the aviation industry more sustainable.
One of the key technologies NASA is working on is called Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC). It will be the smallest core ever for a hybrid-electric turbofan jet engine. The reduced size would lead to a fuel burn reduction of 10 percent compared to existing engines.
The engine may also go down in history as the “first production engine for airliners that is hybrid-electric,” HyTEC project lead Antony Nerone explained in a NASA post.
HyTEC: Smaller jet engine core, lower carbon emissions
A jet engine core combines compressed air with fuel, igniting it to generate power. A smaller core means increased fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.
The aim of the HyTECH project is to demonstrate a compact core. Ultimately, it aims to have the technology ready for use in next-generation airliner engines in the 2030s. HyTEC is being developed as part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership.
The HyTECH project has passed Phase 1 of development, which saw a NASA team select the component technologies to use in the core demonstrator. Now, in Phase 2, the team will design, build, and test a compact core in collaboration with GE Aerospace. According to NASA, this phase will end with a core demonstration test.
“We’ve been laser-focused since day one. We began the project with certain technical goals and metrics for success and, so far, we haven’t had to change course from any of them,” Nerone said.
The first mild hybrid-electric engine
Maintaining the same level of thrust in a smaller engine core requires greater heat and pressure when compared with standard jet engines today. This means it must be made out of more durable materials capable of withstanding those higher temperatures.
“Phase 2 is very complex. It’s not just a core demonstration,” Nerone explained. “What we’re creating has never been done before, and it involves many different technologies coming together to form a new type of engine.”
Ultimately, according to NASA, the technologies tested by the HyTEC program will “enable a much higher bypass ratio, hybridization, and compatibility with sustainable aviation fuels.”
The bypass ratio refers to the relationship between the amount of air flowing the engine core and the amount of bypassing the core and flowing around it. Decreasing the core size while increasing the size of the turbofan it powers, at the same thrust output, would lead to greater fuel efficiency.
“HyTEC is an integral part of our RISE program,” Kathleen Mondino, who helps lead RISE program technologies at GE Aerospace, explained in NASA’s post. “GE Aerospace and NASA have a long history of collaboration to advance the latest aviation technologies. The HyTEC program builds on this relationship to help chart the future of more sustainable flight.”
Hybridization will also form a crucial part of HyTEC. The engine’s core will be augmented by electrical power, which will further reduce carbon emissions. According to Nerone, HyTEC will develop the “first mild hybrid-electric engine, and hopefully, the first production engine for airliners that is hybrid-electric.”
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Chris Young Chris Young is a journalist, copywriter, blogger and tech geek at heart who’s reported on the likes of the Mobile World Congress, written for Lifehack, The Culture Trip, Flydoscope and some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including NEC and Thales, about robots, satellites and other world-changing innovations.
