The Garrett TPF351 is a
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
engine designed by
Garrett Engine Division of
AlliedSignal Aerospace Company
Honeywell Aerospace Technologies is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell Inte ...
. Initiated by Garrett in October 1987, the TPF351-20 engine was selected by Embraer to power the
Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector, a high-speed commuter "pusher" aircraft. It was first tested on May 19, 1989 and then ground tested and
flight test
Flight testing is a branch of aeronautical engineering that develops specialist equipment required for testing aircraft behaviour and systems. Instrumentation systems are developed using proprietary transducers and data acquisition systems. D ...
ed on a
Boeing 720
The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959.
Its type certificate was i ...
on July 9, 1990. The first prototype CBA 123 was tested on July 18, 1990,
followed by a flight to the
Farnborough Air Show
The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
in September of the same year.
Both programs were cancelled in 1992, when the TPF351 was nine months from engine certification.
Design
It was built on the
TPE331
The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was originally designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from .
Design and developm ...
-14 which power the
Jetstream 41
The British Aerospace Jetstream 41 is a turboprop-powered feederliner and regional airliner, designed by British Aerospace as a stretched version of the popular Jetstream 31. Intended to compete directly with 30-seat aircraft like the Embra ...
, keeping its
combustor
A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the ''combustor'' or combustion chamber is fed ...
system and high pressure
turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...
, already of the right size.
The two-stage centrifugal compressor is scaled-up from the
Garrett F109
The Garrett F109 (Company designation TFE109) was a small turbofan engine developed for the Fairchild T-46 by Garrett AiResearch. With the United States Air Force's cancellation of the T-46 program in 1986, further development of the engine cease ...
turbofan of the
Fairchild T-46 and
Promavia Jet Squalus
The Promavia F.1300 Jet Squalus, also known as Promavia Jet Squalus F1300, was a two-seat light jet trainer designed by Italian Stelio Frati and built by Promavia in Belgium with support from the Belgian government.
Development
The Jet Squalus w ...
trainers.
The engine ran about hotter than the TPE331-14 in the core.
It was Garrett's first
free-turbine turboshaft
A free-turbine turboshaft is a form of turboshaft or turboprop gas turbine engine where the power is extracted from the exhaust stream of a gas turbine by an independent turbine, downstream of the gas turbine. The power turbine is not mechanically ...
, avoiding the high reduction gear of a single spool turboprop and allowing an easier starting since the gas generator is disengaged from the power turbine.
The HP spool turns at 31,500 rpm while the LP spool turns at 19,444, reduced to 1,700 for the propeller: a reduction ratio.
Power can grow by 25% within the same size.
[
It is assembled from six modules: accessory gearbox, compressor, combustor, gas-generator turbine, power turbine, and propeller gearbox.
The ]FADEC
A full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an "electronic engine controller" (EEC) or " engine control unit" (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of a ...
provides torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of t ...
-limiting protection, propeller synchronization, auto- propeller feathering and auto-relight.
It could have powered growth versions of the Beech Starship
The Beechcraft Starship is a twin-turboprop six- to eight-passenger pressurized business aircraft produced by Beech Aircraft Corporation.
Development
Development of the Starship began in 1979 when Beech decided to explore designs for a succe ...
or Piaggio Avanti.
A large-diameter bore hole running through the compressor and turbines allow a concentric shaft to connect the power turbine to a front-mounted gearbox to convert it to a tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...
.
Applications
* Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector
Specifications (TPF351-20)
See also
References
Bibliography
*
{{aeroengine-specs
1990s turboprop engines
TPF351