OCT 07

A small startup company is developing a new kind of jet engine that has the promise of being smaller, lighter, and more fuel efficient than current jet engines, and can significantly reduce the emissions from jet engines, as well. The new engine developed by R-Jet is called an orbiting combustor-nozzle (OCN) jet. OCN jets rotate the airflow through the engine in a vortex, rather than passing the air straight through as conventional jet engines do. Swirling the incoming air into a vortex allows for a more complete mixing of fuel and air, leading to more efficient and complete combustion of the fuel. The company states that the OCN jet can reduce fuel burn by at least 25% and reduce emissions by about 75%.

Because the OCN engine needs fewer blades and has fewer moving parts, it can be smaller than a conventional jet engine; an OCN jet could be half the size of a comparable power conventional jet engine. The lighter engine weight can also contribute to lighter weight structure for the aircraft, which, in turn, can further contribute to decreasing fuel demand.

At present, the company needs to find partners in order to further develop their engine design. In the meantime, R-Jet is looking to other opportunities in non-aircraft applications such as electrical generators to provide a platform with which to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the OCN jet design. Once aircraft builders see the viability of the design, the company hopes to find opportunities to use the engine in aircraft applications.

Previously on EcoGeek: Piston-Powered Airplanes More Fuel Efficient (But Is That Enough?)

via: Cleantech Blog and The Economist

image source: The Economist via R-Jet

Comments (3)

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written by shasta, October 08, 2010

I hope it works out for them. That seems like a pretty big jump in efficiency but if it is true it would be great. In a gas turbine used for power production 50% of the energy is used just to run the compressor part of the turbine. I also like the drop in emissions. The gas turbine I operate has very strict emission standards that must be followed. We inject ammonia and do everything possible to get the numbers down as low as possible. We would be fined if we went over our limits. All the while there are thousands of jets overhead with no emission controls.

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written by TipThePlanet, October 09, 2010

Jet emissions are very deadly to the environment but it's something that we cannot avoid, especially since it can be efficient as well. I hope that the company gets the support that it needs. I'm guessing that they need financing to get this off the ground. So they're in the process of designing it? They don't know for sure yet if it can really be effective?

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written by Michael, April 20, 2011

It’s like jet engines weren’t complex enough and subject to failure due to their complexity. They are proposing to add a big number of bearings that have to be heat tolerable in order to rotate a big critical part of the engine which is the combustion chamber and I am not sure how they intent to seal the rotating mechanism. I like thinking outside the box but this is just theoretical and naive.

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