A groundbreaking new design for airbus jet engines uses open fan technology to greatly increase efficiency for commercial airliners.
Over the past few months European commercial airliner manufacturer Airbus has been starting work on a brand-new jet engine design called an open fan engine. This design removes the traditional casing encompassing a jet engine’s fans that has been standard since the beginning of the jet age. This leaves the fans completely exposed spinning in the open air almost like older prop driven aircraft.
The new open fan engine design is speculated to improve fuel efficiency by roughly thirty percent which is especially enticing in commercial aviation.
Some concerns with the engine are its noise emissions like previous problems with supersonic airliners. Noise concerns are common in the commercial aviation world.
However, Airbus has implemented new methods of new suppression befitting the new design to significantly reduce the larger noise footprint. Also, the blades being exposed poses safety risks in accidents. Aircraft with these engines are suspected to be more venerable to bird strikes.
Airbus currently plans to test the revolutionary design on an A380 airliner by 2027 which is the largest passenger airplane in existence.
Overall, the open fan engine is an exciting prospect. The fundamentals of engine design in aviation may change again for the first time in many years.
