World's largest and most efficient aircraft engine aces first tests

Rolls-Royce has completed the first ground tests on its massive UltraFan engine, claiming it's at least 10% more efficient than any other large aero engine in service today. This carbon/titanium beauty will roll out on airliners in the 2030s.

Despite the UltraFan's intimidating size, it's impressively lightweight thanks to Rolls-Royce's high-precision 3D-manufacturing robots, which make most of those mammoth 140-inch-diameter (3.56 m) blades in carbon composite, but use titanium to add strength and resilience to the leading edges.

The turbines behind the main fan are kept fairly small, creating a high bypass ratio by allowing a good volume of air to pass straight through around the compressors and out the back. This cuts down noise by a remarkable 35%. It also boosts efficiency – as does a planetary power gearbox that allows the main fan to spin slower and the compressors to spin faster, putting each in their optimal zones.

At 10% more efficient than the most frugal engine on the market – Rolls-Royce's own Trent XWB, according to the company – it stands to save airlines billions of dollars in fuel bills, so it's sure to be popular when it's fully certified and rolling out on narrow and widebody aircraft in the 2030s, at a number of different sizes ranging from 25,000-110,000 pounds of thrust.

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