A world on the move – the growing number of people with the means and desire to fly has created an estimated need for more than 40,000 new aircraft over the next 20 years.
The aviation industry is facing stringent requirements to reduce its environmental footprint. But technological innovation and development – from concept to certified product – can take decades.
In fact, the aircraft of 2050 is now under study within the framework of R&T programs and faces a long schedule of ground and flying demonstrations before they can be approved to safely carry passengers.
Safran Aircraft Engines' Open Rotor demonstrator, developed through the European Clean Sky R&D initiative, is part of Safran Aircraft Engines' plans to develop a propulsion system that will meet the needs of aircraft manufacturers in 2030. The Open Rotor configuration aims at meeting several technological challenges such as a new propulsion mode, an innovative aerodynamic configuration, and unprecedented manufacturing processes.
* LEAP is a trademark of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines
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LAN-XI Hardware Unit
The second phase consists of physically connecting the many hundreds of channels of diverse data such as vibration, strain, pressure, and dynamic displacement to the acquisition system. This can be a complex affair of sorting out what goes where and how. However, as the system is built around Brüel & Kjær’s LAN-XI hardware unit, which has no channel binding, any channel can be connected to any input.
This provides flexibility when configuring the system and saves time, as there is no need to designate specific sensor types to specific data acquisition types. The same data acquisition system input plug can accept all types of transducers, again easing set-up, and providing versatility.
Keeping a close eye on things during all stages of the test is important to ensure the validity of the test and to confirm that dynamic parameters remain within limits. Engineering teams monitor vital parameters in real-time to safeguard the integrity of the engine. Real-time alarms can warn of limit breaches, and logbooks keep a record of the test process.
The individual engineering teams who track the acquired signals have very different needs in terms of visualization and data processing. Each monitoring station is, therefore, configured independently providing each department with only those signals relevant to their respective applications. Data is available in real-time and a wide range of measurement displays are available to feed the right information to the right people at the right time. Data can be meticulously processed immediately or played back during or immediately after each test so that each phase of testing can be analyzed and evaluated before moving on to the next.
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