PARIS—The first GKN Aerospace-developed high-voltage wire harnesses have been delivered to RTX’s Collins Aerospace for integration into a powertrain for testing on an experimental hybrid-electric version of the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan.
Developed under the European Clean Aviation Switch—for sustainable water-injecting turbofan comprising hybrid-electrics—program, the electrical wiring interconnection system (EWIS) was built at GKN Aerospace’s Papendrecht, Netherlands, site and will undergo system integration testing later this year at Collins Aerospace’s advanced electric power systems lab, The Grid, in Rockford, Illinois.
Following this, GKN says the integrated powertrain will support future hybrid-electric Pratt & Whitney GTF engine demonstrator testing at EME Aero, a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Poland. Initial harness shipsets were delivered to Collins Aerospace’s Electronic Controls and Motor Systems Center of Excellence in Solihull, England, while additional units will be shipped in July for testing at The Grid.
Collins is supplying two motor generators for Switch, both of which are identical 1-megawatt machines. The unit connected to the high-pressure spool will be derated to 500 kW, while the motor generator attached to the aft of the low-pressure shaft will be rated to 1 megawatt. In an operational version, RTX says the electric system will be used for taxiing and to boost power for takeoff, as well as other transient phases.
For future regional aircraft applications, RTX expects to design systems with up to 50% levels of hybridization for takeoff and climb, while for the single-aisle applications targeted under the Switch effort, the company is studying a much smaller level of hybridization in the order of 5%.
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