INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI has received a $200,000 award from Rolls-Royce Corporation to continue the design and testing of the next generation of aircraft engines, with a goal of creating cleaner, more efficient, and powerful engines. This is in addition to prior awards in 2006 and 2007 totaling approximately $380,000. The wave rotor combustion turbine engines could cut fuel usage and CO2 emissions in aircraft by 20 percent or more over traditional gas turbine engines being used today. They could also help make hypersonic flight to orbit more feasible.
“We are very optimistic about the potential of this research and how it can impact all types of industries, especially aviation. The fact that Rolls-Royce is continuing to help fund it is a positive sign that they believe in this technology as much as we do,” stated Razi Nalim, P.E., Ph.D., associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at IUPUI who is leading the research efforts, and patented key inventions for the technology.
Student and faculty researchers are currently in the process of building and testing the technology in university labs through conceptual design, small-scale experiments, and computer simulation. The next phase will involve full-scale testing in rocket labs at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., which have already been refurbished and expanded because of the project. Testing is expected to begin in West Lafayette by the end of 2008.
“The gas turbine engine, which has been enormously successful for aircraft and marine propulsion, and electric power generation, due to its light weight, smooth and reliable operation, low emissions, and varied applications, is not efficient enough in converting fuel energy to useful work,” Nalim stated. “Our goal is to design an alternative to the gas turbine application that is just as reliable, but cleaner, more efficient, and more powerful. It will not only help reduce fossil-fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in traditional applications like airplanes and power generation, but a lighter, more efficient engine may allow Boeing to design an aerospace plane to carry us all the way to outer space and return safely to earth.”
Nalim’s colleague Phil Snyder, a Rolls-Royce engineering associate fellow and fellow wave rotor specialist, believes the IUPUI and Rolls-Royce team will lead to new capability in many new gas turbine products. “We are dealing with a disruptive or game-changing technology.” Snyder said in an interview just published in Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.”
“Rolls-Royce is committed to partnering with universities such as IUPUI to expand the reach of our in-house research and development work in areas such as wave rotor technology,” said Snyder. “We look forward to positive results from the tests targeted for later in the year.”
Research of the wave rotor combustion turbine engine first began in 2000 at IUPUI through funding from NASA, the Indiana 21st Century Foundation, and Rolls-Royce. Additional funding is still being sought through government agencies and private corporations.
About the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI
The mission of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI is to be one of the best urban university leaders in the disciplines of engineering and technology recognized locally, nationally and internationally. The school’s goal is to provide students an education that will give them the leverage to be leaders in their communities, industry and society. For additional information on the School of Engineering & Technology, go to www.engr.iupui.edu.
