Turboprop Engines: A Brief History of the Propeller Propulsion System - Essay Sample

Introduction

For a plane to move in air space, there is the thrust that is generated with a propulsion system. Small aeroplanes and aircraft use the turboprop propulsion engines, which uses gas turbines to make a propeller turn. As early as 1926, there was already publishing on turbine designs by Alan Arnold Griffith, which marks the beginning of the development of turboprop ("Turboprop engine Rc," 2019). There was subsequent work at Royal Aircraft Establishment(RAE), which investigated the turbine designs that could be used to supply energy to a shaft and from there a propeller. In 1929, Frank Whittle established work on the centrifugal turbine designs that will be used to deliver the jet thrust.

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Gyorgy Jendrassik, a Hungarian mechanical engineer, designed the world's first turboprop. In 1928, Jendrassik disclosed the idea of a turboprop, and in 1929, the government issued a letter patent to his invention ("Turboprop engine Rc," 2019). Jendrassik went ahead and experimented with his idea by constructing a small-scale gas turbine in 1938. He also built larger Jendrassik Cs-1 with the output of 1000 bhp, which was built and tested by Ganz Works between 1938 and 1941. Jendrassik Cs-1 was designed with an axial-flow that had 15 compressors and seven turbine stages (Eriksson & Steenhuis, 2015). It had the annular combustion chamber accompanied by many modern features. It was tested, and the first run was witnessed in 1940 though the combustion problems reduced its output to 400 bhp. Later in 1941, the engine was abandoned due to world war II, and the producing factory was turned to engine production. Later in 1942, there was the first mass production of a turboprop engine that was designed by Max Adolf Mueller, a German engineer.

Turboprop engines were first mentioned in general public in 1944 after it had gone through stages of inventions. The British aviation publication Flight issued a public press with a detailed drawing of the proposed look of the future turboprop look ("Turboprop engine Rc," 2019). From the picture, it was easier to relate with the future Rolls-Royce Trent. Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent was the first British turboprop engine which was a converted Derwent II with the fitting of reduction gear and a Rotol 7 ft 11 five-blade propeller. It was put to flight test in September 1945, and from experience, Rolls-Royce developed the Rolls-Royce Clyde, which became the first turboprop engine to be certified for use by the military. The Dart also became the most reliable turboprop engines ever built in that period. The Dart-powered Vickers Viscount became the first turboprop aircraft to go into mass production and had its first flight in July 1948. Armstrong Siddeley Mamba-powered Boulton Paul Balliol was the world's first flight single-engine turboprop, which flew in March 1948. Later, the Dart production continued for about fifty years.

World war II also had an impact on the history of turboprop engines. The Soviet Union, which was built on German World War ii developments, had turboprop designers such as the Junkers of Motorenwerke, Heinkel-Hirth of BMW, and Daimler-Benz ("Turboprop engine Rc," 2019). They developed and turboprop designs and partially tested them. Soviet Union used its technology to build an airframe to be used by the jet-powered bomber, which was similar to Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress. They produced Tupolev Tu-95 Bear, which was powered by four Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprops, fitted to 8 rotating propellers with supersonic speeds. They achieved the cruise speed by going 570 mph in excess which was faster than the majority of the first jet aircraft that had already been developed. The bear served as their long-range combat as well as the surveillance aircraft. It also became the Soviet power projection during the end of the 20th century. During the 1950s, the US incorporated the contra-rotating turboprop engines with their series of experiments such as Allison T38 and T40. There was aircraft powered with T490n, such as the Convair R3Y Tradewind flying boat.

The United States had its first turboprop engine for a flying test in December 1945. It was called the General Electric XT31 used in their experiments in consolidated Vultee XP-81. The XP-81 became the first aircraft to use a combination of turboprop and turbojet power. It was the evolution of Allison's earlier T38 technology to the Allison T56s used to design and power Lockheed Electra airliner ("Turboprop engine Rc," 2019). military, marine patrol named the P-3 Orion and the C-130 Hercules aircraft, which was widely produced. Later came the modern Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine, which is the most produced turboprop engines used in civil aviation.

The brief history shows that there has been the development of turboprop aircraft from time to time, leading to improved versions turboprop engines. As stated, the first experimental turboprop aircraft was a modified Gloster Meteor fighter equipped with two Rolls-Royce Trent units, which flew in 1945 in England. Vickers 701 Viscount was the first turboprop engined powered aircraft to enter the commercial airliner schedule in April 1953. Due to many new inventions and improvements in turbojets, turboprop has lost its importance in the 1960s though some aircraft still retain them.

References

Eriksson, S., & Steenhuis, H. (2015). The global commercial aviation industry. Routledge.

Launius, R. D. (1999). Innovation and the development of flight. Texas A&M University Press.

Turboprop engine Rc. (2019). fasrmedical. https://fasrmedical691.weebly.com/blog/