Project description
High-efficiency injection system propels commercial rollout of spinning combustion technology
Safran Helicopter Engines has patented a new spinning combustion technology that improves air/fuel mixture ignition and enables a weight reduction in the combustor, without compromising its lifetime. Assessing nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot emissions is a key step before the technology enters the market. The EU-funded LOOPS project plans to design (GDTECH), manufacture, test (INSA Rouen) and model (CERFACS, GDTECH) an advanced low-NOx and low-soot injection system for the spinning combustion technology. Experimental work will be complemented by numerical simulations that will provide, for the first time, a detailed characterisation of soot particle concentration and size distribution.
Objective
Safran Helicopter Engines has recently developed and patented a new spinning combustion technology (SCT). This innovative
technology improves ignition and blow-off capabilities and enables combustor weight reduction, without compromising turbine
nor combustor lifetime. To further promote this highly promising technology, the next step is to assess SCT performances in terms of NOx and soot emissions. Indeed, new aeronautical technologies entering the market today must comply with international
regulations and answer the public environmental concern about global warming and human health. To assist Safran in this
development phase, the LOOPS project aims to design, manufacture, test and model an advanced low-NOx and low soot/particles
injection system for SCT. The technology is based on the multi-point injection concept, which has already demonstrated very good
low-NOx capabilities. The challenge is to guarantee low soot emission as well, which may be detrimental to other pollutant
reduction. Two injectors will be designed and evaluated in a systematic way for both NOx and soot emission using combined
measurements and numerical simulation. On the experimental side, the most advanced experimental diagnostics will be used,
providing in particular and for the first time a complete and detailed characterization of the soot particles with their concentration and size distribution. On the numerical side, a significant contribution of LOOPS will be the assessment and application of accurate models for NOx and soot production in real helicopter engines. The confrontation of measurements and simulation results will allow to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical approach and to better understand the underlying mechanisms of pollutant emissions. In addition to a new low-emission injector systems for SCT, outputs of the project will be guiding rules, as well as an engineering numerical tool for low-emission SCT, allowing to find the best compromise between competing phenomena.
Fields of science
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Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
64510 Bordes
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.