Cessna teamed with GE Aircraft Engines and Georgia Tech to design a 20-passenger aircraft that would reduce fuel burn by nearly 70 percent. The turboprop includes advanced systems and engines not yet in existence.
The plane might be fitted with an aircraft-grade applique with a design rather than paint, cutting pounds of weight. And the skin itself might be much smoother, meaning smoother airflow and less drag. Those developments would lead to fuel savings, maintenance improvements and increased aircraft performance, officials say.
Cessna's research is part of a NASA effort to make airplanes of the future greener and quieter.
NASA's $1.9 million, 27-month contract with Cessna is for research on the use of protective outer skins on composite aircraft.
Under the NASA contract, a team of six Cessna engineers will look at ways of making a lighter and leaner composite structure by slipping composite layers over a lighter exterior. The layers would slip over the entire airplane and its wings.
"We're trying to come up with the right set of materials and combination of layers to do all the functions of what's currently done by the composite skin itself," said Vicki Johnson, Cessna engineering specialist and the principal investigator for the NASA contract.
The layers might include a foam layer for impact absorption followed by an outer layer to cover up bumps and gaps.
"Part of the research is to figure out how many layers will it take to meet all of the requirements," Johnson said. "It might take two, but it might take three or four."
No comments:
Post a Comment