Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BEATTI (BEaring Advanced Technologies for Turboprop engine Innovation)

Teaser

Turboprop engine is the key to contribute to the EU competitiveness growth as well as to tackle the important commitment of sustainable and green transport (ENG programme). This innovation will be clearly addressed also by the bearings that are directly involved in power...

Summary

Turboprop engine is the key to contribute to the EU competitiveness growth as well as to tackle the important commitment of sustainable and green transport (ENG programme). This innovation will be clearly addressed also by the bearings that are directly involved in power efficiency and reliability, highly crucial for the engine development itself.

BEATTI project proposes advanced bearings (in term of material and design) with improved dynamic and thermal behaviours, resistance to harsh environment, such as corrosion, particle pollution and poor lubrication condition.
The BEATTI project is thus “the development of advanced bearing solutions, enablers for the next generation of Turboprop engines that will overcome current bearing performances.

BEATTI is full in line with the Clean Sky 2 programme since it will support the key Societal Challenge i.e. ‘smart, green and integrated transport’ defined in Horizon 2020 and thereby supporting society’s needs for strengthening global industry leadership. It will enable cutting edge bearing solutions for further gains in decreasing fuel burn, CO2, NOX, noise emissions and strongly contribute to the renewed ACARE SRIA, the “Advisory Council on Aviation Research in Europe, Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda” (2012).
BEATTI project contributes to the development of Turboprop engine, strategic for EU to be more competitive on the market and thus to European aeronautical industry.

BEATTI project will contribute to the raising of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the proposed bearing technologies, meaning that the overall Turboprop system reaches TRL6 by 2019/2020 in agreement with the ITD-WP3.
The new bearing technologies development will have the following main objectives in comparison with the corresponding baseline technologies solutions:
- Increase of contact pressures capacities in ideal and degraded running conditions.
- Increase of bearing life in oil off condition
- Better behaviour against spalling

For that purpose in order to maximize the results, an innovative approach will be applied coupling a better knowledge of usage conditions and failure modes using advanced monitoring tool in the implementation of the assessment testing.

Work performed

These first 18 months project were dedicated to the activities carried out for the design of the bearing demonstrators.
Starting from the strategy analysis of the introduction of a new bearing technology, the technologies that will be deployed in BEATTI were also selected and confirmed with the topic manager.

From that point, different aspects of the development were put in place.
First of all, the test plan for the technologies assessment was prepared considering the tests to perform and the instrumentation, advanced monitoring solution to put in place to maximize the results.

Secondly, the detailed design process of the bearings was carried on.
The new technologies development has also been conducted up to today and will be continued after the end of this first reporting period in order to reach the adequate maturity level for the implementation in the bearing demonstrators. For that purpose, a strong focus has been put on the bearing rings new material development with processes setup up preparations and specific characterization tests.
And finally, in parallel of the technologies development, bearings calculations were conducted to confirm the design and the expected performances of the new material bearings demonstrators. This activity was followed by the preparation and finalisation of the bearings drawings.

From that point on, the launch of the manufacturing phase could start as well as the preparation of the testing campaign that will be conducted in the next reporting period.

Final results

The main technical results of this proposal are to provide bearing technologies for improved performance compare to the baseline bearings references, such as:
- Increase of contact pressures capacities in ideal and degraded running conditions.
- Increase of bearing life in oil off condition
- Better behaviour against spalling
- Better dynamic behaviour
The technologies proposed by the BEATTI project will allow a breakthrough in terms of rolling bearing performance and design possibilities with higher power density and higher reliability.
Multi scale testing and monitoring system will allow a better understanding about performances and more specifically about potential failure phenomenon.

The impact of this proposal will concern turboprop and next generation of turboshaft engines development with the objectives of the Clean Sky 2 programme in terms of environmental benefits and European competitiveness.
For example, one can envisage a decrease in the rolling bearing diameter for the same supporting force (increased rolling contact stress capabilities). This can lead to a reduction in the engine size (mass saving) and therefore to a direct reduction of fuel consumption and CO2/NOX emissions.
With higher rotational speeds using low density material, high surface resistance raceways, these bearing will enable significant reduction in fuel burn, noise and emissions benefits while allowing a reasonable core and engine size.
The technologies will also be used in other aero engine applications with other bearing geometries, other loading conditions, such as main shaft bearings, power gearbox bearings …, where the resistance to harsh environment is also a key factor.

So BEATTI project will strengthen the European competence in rolling bearings and the development of new Turboprop/turboshaft engine, and corresponding European Aerospace manufacturers global competitiveness. In such a way BEATTI project will contribute to maintain and create jobs for aerospace industries.
BEATTI project has also been promoting education with the involvement of a university/research centre. , for instance for bearing rings material heat treatment development activity.