The Enormous UltraFan! A Rolls-Royce story.

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“When it does not exist, design it.” — Sir Henry Royce Thanks for this video!❤

When I was 19, a man called Harry came to work with us. He was retired and just wanted to keep himself busy. He taught me almost everything I know about practical engineering, as it turns out he was the chief production engineer at Rolls Royce aerospace. He helped develop the broad spread fan blade design. They gave him a Gold Rolex... thanks Harry, you were (and remain) a legend...

It's unfortunate that aviation related companies practically have to risk their company's financial existence every 20 years or so trying to determine which direction the industry will go. A wrong decision could potentially doom them. It's one field that I definitely wouldn't want to be a CEO.

When I was studying aerospace engineering at school less than two decades ago, my propulsion class professor thought that a geared turbofan would probably never enter into production in the foreseeable future. Jet engines make so much power that no matter how efficient you make the gearbox, you're still turning enough energy into heat to melt or at least soften the gears. It's cool to see these companies doing what was thought impossible just a few years ago.

I've been retired from RR at Derby for nearly 30 years so I very much enjoyed this treatment. My job was in designing instrumentation/measurement on test-beds and rigs - blade off tests were fun and blade untwist measurement interesting. Royce's are also heavily involved in small nuclear reactors - also Derby-based, Considering how much pressure was put on blade containment in case of fan blade failure, the idea of huge blades spinning in the open I find disturbing. btw, no-one I ever worked with referred to the company as 'Rolls' it was always 'Royce's' because, after all he was the designer/engineer and Rolls was the backer who died quite early in the life of the company.

The way Peter prepared , produce and presend a story is always amazing ! I can sit and watch a 3 hour documentary of him presenting the way ants reproduce with the same excitment .

In theory it's much easier to scale a GTF down than up, particularly looking at the immense engineering challenges of the gearbox. Also RR have much experience with scaling engines as their triple spool architecture allowed them to do this extensively (whereas P&W/GE had to design a new engine for each application). So while it may appear that RR are late to the party, they are starting with a number of advantages. Also I saw a detailed market analysis on Leeham that showed RR actually have the highest potential MRO revenue of the big three going forward, because RR have a largely captive market for overhauling their widebody engines whereas the market for servicing smaller engines is much more diverse and competitive.

I am very happy to hear this video end on a positive note. I am so weary of all the negativity being pumped out by social media. Thank you for a great video.

One reason to go big on a demonstrator engine is that, while building the first few, you are working on the manufacturing processes. The absolute tolerances at a big scale are more forgiving than they will be on a smaller variant of the same design, so it makes sense to go big first, then scale down as the manufacturing gets more precise.

Sorry, just have to point out a small mistake: The fighter banking away being labeled P-51 is actually a P-40 (which did have the Merlin in a variant)

I would love to have seen a 747-8 or A380 with just two of these massive engines slung under the wing. Imagine the efficiency of that many passengers on a twin engine aircraft!

I'm not just a huge fan of this channel... I'm an UltraFan.

Thank you for for providing an extensive account of some of UKs engineering history ❤. We are proud of the contributions made by RR (areo)

As always - an excellent, clear explanation of a complex topic. Thanks!

I’m surprised that you did not mention the B-52 Bomber re-engine contract that is going to Rolls-Royce. Perhaps you can dedicate a program entirely about how that process came about and why Rolls-Royce was selected.

Rolls Royce have their fingers in many pies, UltraFan engines on this scale have applications beyond the airline industry. The shipping industry is under immense pressure to clean up, power plants like this have the power to run ships cleaner, more efficiently and faster, it is always good to look at the holistic picture. With regards aviation - I'll bet there will be a smaller scale UltraFan made available for single aisle aircraft in the not too distant future. Remember, RR Aero Engines is also investing heavily in electric and hydrogen propulsion systems.

No mention that RR won the the contract to re-engine the B-52?!?!

Although this was about RR, this made me think of my own experiences almost working at GEs engine overhaul plant in Cardiff on the CFM family line. Unfortunately just like the pandemic affected RR, it left me without a university placement year at GE, I do wish I could have experienced a year there as a complete plane geek.

I'm looking over at my 20" box fan: "Buddy, you've got some catching up to do."