Icing Tests Next On The Agenda For New Powerplant

Icing testing has begun on Pratt & Whitney's  PurePower PW1524G engine that will power the Bombardier CSeries aircraft family. The company anticipates completing engine certification by the end of 2012.

To date the PW1524G engine test program has run more than 1,200 hours of full engine testing – including more than 200 flight hours on its 747 flight test airplane (pictured). The PurePower PW1200G engine for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet has completed more than 600 hours of full engine testing and is scheduled to begin its first flight test campaign in April. Certification testing for the PW1200G engine is scheduled to begin by the end of the second quarter. These first two PurePower engine applications have accumulated more than 1,800 hours and 4,800 cycles of full engine testing.

In September 2011, the PW1524G engine for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft completed its first flight test program on Pratt & Whitney's Flying Test Bed, logging 25 flights with 115 flight hours. A second PW1524G flight test engine has since completed more than 100 hours and 20 flights at the company's Mirabel Aerospace Centre, in Mirabel, Quebec (Canada). The state-of-the-art facility, which opened in 2011, features advanced manufacturing technologies and will house final production assembly and test for the PurePower PW1500G engine. The first PW1524G production engines for Bombardier will be built there this summer. 

"We have rigorously prepared the PurePower engine family for successful certification," said Todd Kallman, president, Commercial Engines & Global Services. "As a result of our rig, core and full-engine testing, we are confident the PurePower engine family is ready."

In addition to more than 1,800 hours of full engine testing, Pratt & Whitney performed critical part-level and engine sub-system testing to validate PurePower engine program designs, including hundreds of hours of core testing; design validation of the Fan Drive Gear System; fan blade for bird ingestion; blade containment; and compressor performance for the advanced PW1000G engine core. 

Pratt & Whitney says the combination of its gear system and advanced core allows PurePower engines to deliver double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions with a 50-percent reduction in noise over today's engines.

The PurePower engine has been selected as exclusive power for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft and Mitsubishi Regional Jet. It will also power the first Airbus A320neo aircraft, as well as the Irkut MC-21 narrow-body jet.

FMI: www.purepowerengines.com