Rolls Royce: Electrifying the future

We’ve been changing the way the world is powered for the last 100 years. Now, with an increased focus on electrification, we’re set to revolutionize the next 100. Continue reading:
https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/our-stories/electrification.aspx

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Rolls-Royce welcomes UK Government funding for project to push the boundaries of all-electric flight research (press release)

Rolls-Royce today welcomes funding from the UK Government which will enable it, together with new partner YASA, to carry out ground-breaking research aimed at accelerating the adoption of all-electric propulsion in aviation.

Rolls-Royce is leading a research project known as Accelerating the Electrification of Flight (ACCEL) to explore the use of a high power electrical system in a demonstrator aircraft. We are working with YASA (UK), a manufacturer of high-power, light weight electric motors and controllers used in automotive, aerospace and industrial applications. Drawing on Rolls-Royce’s expertise in aviation design and safety, the project aims to flight test the system to gain a detailed understanding of the potential for electric flight. Rolls-Royce will be supported by Electroflight Ltd (UK), specialists in high performance electric powertrains including energy storage systems.

Rob Watson, Director of Electrical, Rolls-Royce said: “We are delighted to be leading this research partnership. We are already investigating the potential of hybrid-electric propulsion, building on our existing expertise in applications such as hybrid trains and gas turbine-powered naval vessels, but this funding from the UK Government will enable us to explore the potential of all-electric flight.

“The increased use of electrical systems is an inescapable trend in our markets and championing electrification is a core part of our long-term strategy at Rolls-Royce.”

Chris Harris, CEO, YASA said: “We’re excited to be working with Rolls-Royce on integrating our high-power, light weight electric motors into a pure electric demonstrator aircraft. Thanks to our innovative axial-flux design, YASA can deliver the smallest, lightest electric motors for a given power and torque – opening up new and exciting opportunities for electrification in aerospace.”

Roger Targett, Managing Director, Electroflight said: We are delighted to be supporting Rolls-Royce with an integrated electric powertrain including an innovative energy storage solution. Our team comprises leading experts in electrification from the motorsport and automotive sector to assist our partners to accelerate the evolution of electric aircraft.”

Rolls-Royce is already exploring hybrid-electric propulsion – using a gas turbine engine as a generator to power an electric fan – for regional commercial aircraft through the E-Fan X demonstrator programme with Airbus and Siemens, announced last year. At the Farnborough International Airshow, Rolls-Royce is also showcasing a hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) vehicle concept which could be adapted for personal transport, public transport, logistics and even military applications and take to the skies as soon as the early 2020s.




About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

• Rolls-Royce pioneers cutting-edge technologies that deliver the cleanest, safest and most competitive solutions to meet our planet’s vital power needs.
• Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
• Annual underlying revenue was £15 billion in 2017, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £78.5 billion at the end of December 2017.
• In 2017, Rolls-Royce invested £1.4 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
• Rolls-Royce employs almost 55,000 people in 50 countries. More than 19,400 of these are engineers.
• The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.

About YASA: www.yasa.com

Founded as a spin out from Oxford University in 2009, YASA is now the world’s leading manufacturer of axial-flux electric motors and controllers for hybrid and pure electric propulsion and generation. YASA motors and controllers are designed and manufactured at YASA’s new 42,000 sq. ft. serial production facility. The facility has a capacity of 100k motors per year, 80% of which are destined for international export. The facility was opened by the Business Secretary The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP in Feb 2018.

About Electroflight: www.electro-flight.com

Electroflight is an innovative technology company focussed on accelerating the development, integration and testing of electric powertrains. The team leverages many years’ experience in high performance automotive and motorsport applications to bring pace to aerospace electrification.



Related
DARTeC - addressing the digital aviation challenge (press release)

Press release number PR-TRA-18-72

Cranfield University and its partners in the £67million Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre (DARTeC) will today announce the five primary research challenges that the centre will tackle when it opens in early 2020.

Launching the challenges in a white paper, entitled ‘Addressing the digital aviation challenge’, the partnership behind DARTeC will set out how they will aim to unlock the potential of digital aviation for the UK and global aviation industry.

With the pace of air travel growth already causing strains across the sector and UK passenger numbers expected to increase by 49% by 2050, solutions other than expansion of airport capacity and ground infrastructure need to be found.

Digital aviation has often been cited as being the next significant business transformation event of the sector and one which can support the industry towards delivering greater customer satisfaction while addressing efficiency, cost and capacity issues.

However, while many of the challenges of digital aviation are understood individually, there are very few opportunities to address them simultaneously within a collaborative research and technology environment. DARTeC will offer that opportunity by creating a ‘research eco-system’ underpinned by Cranfield’s global research airport and the University’s newly-opened autonomous vehicle research facility.

Funding for DARTeC is being provided by a consortium of leading aerospace and aviation companies including Thales, SAAB, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Limited, Aveillant – as well as Cranfield University. The Centre is also benefiting from £15.5m of funding from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), a scheme led by Research England.

Launching DARTeC’s five research priorities at the Farnborough International Show, Professor Graham Braithwaite, Project Lead and Director of Transport Systems at Cranfield University, said: “Aviation is a key sector for the UK economy contributing £52 billion to UK GDP but the sector’s present rate of growth is simply not sustainable.

“We need new digital solutions to tackle the challenges of over-capacity in both airports and airspace, we need to create passenger experiences more fitting of the 21st century and we need to create more sustainable air travel. Working with our partners, DARTeC will greatly advance the application of innovative technologies within the air transport sector and will unlock the potential of digital aviation.”

Addressing the digital aviation challenge, DARTeC’s five primary research areas will be:

• Connected systems – developing digital systems that will operate at speeds that the current Aircraft Condition Monitoring System (ACARS) and the Aircraft Condition Monitoring System (ACMS) are not capable of producing.
• Unmanned traffic management – developing airspace management solutions that will bring higher levels of system resilience, safety and security while adapting to competition from UAVs to operate in the same airspace.
• Seamless passenger experience – developing a more personalised, intuitive and less stressful passenger experience by using digital integrated technology to examine challenges such as unified security, the elimination of triple waiting areas, optimised passenger flows and baggage separation.
• Distributed airport and airspace management - developing the next generation of air traffic control in an environment of steadily increasing air traffic density and ‘on-demand’ requests.
• Conscious aircraft – developing technology and systems that would allow aircraft to monitor its current health, allowing it to reliably predict the useful life or components and systems, while automatically adapting to optimise their remaining life.