Rolls Royce - The Magazine Issue 137

ISSUE 137JUNE 2013

Healthy power supply Delivering reliable energy to a major hospital campus

Voyager’s journey The RAF’s new tanker/transport is ready

Arctic role

Patrolling the hostile waters in the north

Rolls-Royce is a global company providing integrated power solutions for customers in aerospace, marine and energy markets. We support our customers through a worldwide network of offices, manufacturing and service facilities.

Welcome to the June issue In this issue we visit the Arctic with the Norwegian Coast Guard and the Antarctic with the USAF. We deep dive in a nuclear powered submarine and fly high in a brand new transport/tanker aircraft.

On land, one of Europe’s biggest hospital complexes is relying on our power system.

For over 30 years the magazine has been highlighting how Rolls-Royce works closely with customers all over the world. Providing power systems for use on land, at sea and in the air. Seeking to be ‘trusted to deliver excellence’ in all we do.

We hope you find this latest issue both informative and entertaining.

David Howie Editor

2 rolls-royce.com

CONTENTS

inside the magazine

Editorial Board Mark Alflatt, Tom Bell, Ian Craighead, Simon Goodson, Lawrie Haynes, Andrew Heath, Peter Morgan, Mark Morris, John Paterson, Colin Smith, Tony Wood Editor: David Howie david.howie@rolls-royce.com Design & Production: Hubert Burda Media UK LP Print: Pureprint Group Printed in England ISSN 0142-9469 © Rolls-Royce plc 2013 the magazine June 2013 Rolls-Royce plc 65 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AT England www.rolls-royce.com

2 Offshore high It could just revolutionise the way cranes operate from ships at sea. A new generation of crane design from Rolls-Royce is being tested on an offshore support vessel.

21 The bizjet business Designing the engines that power today’s corporate and business jets is a speciality that brings its own challenges. It’s the job of Dr Karsten Mühlenfeld to develop the engines that suit the market.

6 Maritime masterclass A new state-of-the-art customer training centre in Norway has quickly established its credentials.

The business development manager for the centre walks us through the high-tech classrooms, simulators and workshops.

24 A healthy power supply Aberdeen in Scotland is known as the ‘granite city’.

It’s here that the country’s largest health campus, Foresterhill, has been developed. A Rolls-Royce gas turbine lies at the heart of the Foresterhill energy supply.

9 Deep dive into nuclear power A boost has been given to maintaining the UK’s independent capability in nuclear plant design and build for the Royal Navy submarine fleet.

Rolls-Royce is opening new facilities and designing the latest core systems.

12 T56 – a turboprop legend With a brand new Series 3.5 upgrade proving to be a major success, the venerable T56 engine for the C-130 transporter may find that its best years of service are still ahead of it.

27 Voyager’s journey As the fleet of Trent 700-powered RAF Voyager aircraft continues to grow, the aircraft is beginning to take on the range of tasks expected of it, including air-to-air refuelling.

30 Schneider Trophy centenary At the dawn of aviation, a French steel manufacturer had a dream of creating an annual competition to speed the development of marine-based aircraft.

Jacques Schneider’s competition led the way in the new and thrilling spectacle of air racing.

16 Arctic role

Front cover: A T56 engine upgrade for the C-130 aircraft is proving to be highly successful.

Patrolling the hostile waters of the Arctic is not for the faint-hearted. Rolls-Royce designed and powered vessels help the Norwegian Coast Guard in their challenging environment, as they perform a range of roles from fisheries protection to rescuing stricken vessels.

ISSUE137 1

OFFSHORE

HIGH

Ottar Antonsen, is the Rolls-Royce Supply and Service Manager for offshore cranes, and is convinced that the new design is set to be a technological and commercial success.

It could just revolutionise the way cranes operate at sea and the loads they can bear. Rolls-Royce is testing a new design of offshore crane that has already won industry awards for design and ingenuity.

2 rolls-royce.com

MARINE

orking offshore is notoriously difficult and dangerous – especially in the conditions that can be experienced in the North Sea. Crane operators on a ship have to consider the movement of the vessel, the ‘heave’ or rise and fall of the sea, the weather, the behaviour of the load and the safety of all the crew. And at that point he has not started moving the crane. Cranes and those who operate them on offshore vessels are remarkable.

As soon as you move a load (which can be several hundred tonnes) over the side of the vessel, the ship must also start compensating by taking on water ballast immediately and at the appropriate rate. There is a lot to get right and plenty to potentially go wrong. That’s why all crane movements have to be well considered, thoughtfully planned and the crew must be properly trained and experienced.

An average offshore support vessel may be 70-80 metres in length and only 18-20 metres wide. But its crane could easily be lowering 100 tonnes over the side and into the sea. The maximum load restriction of any crane will be known but lowering an object into water increases its weight dramatically. Depending on the shape and surface area of the load, its weight can increase five-fold because of the water bearing down on it as it is lowered to the sea bed.

You then also have to take into account the weight of the metal cable being lowered, which is sometimes between 1.5km and 3km long.

Now you add in the weather conditions, the sea conditions and the movement of the vessel. I think you are probably beginning to get the picture.

W

Spooling up: the wire for the 50 tonne crane is loaded for the first time.

INNOVATION Making any part of all of this simpler and safer has to be an advantage and Rolls-Royce, alongside a partner company, Huse Engineering, of Norway, has come up with a design that they think is really special. So too does the offshore industry. Our new ‘dual draglink’ offshore crane won an ‘Innovation of the Year’ award at this year’s offshore industry conference, where latest advances are voted on by up to 4,500 professionals who know the challenges that working offshore brings.

Jørn Salthammer, Huse Engineering’s Principal Designer explains the starting point for developing the new Rolls-Royce crane. “You must begin by understanding that the crane is going to work in the North Sea and that is a particularly harsh operating environment with wind, waves, sea spray and extremely tough conditions.

“Taking these into account, my number one priority is safety.

A crane is a moving structure and the load it is supporting is also moving. The safety of the operator is paramount and a lot of advanced thinking goes into the failsafe equipment, including sensors and load warning systems. These cranes have highly advanced control systems.

“The crane also has limits on the footprint it can employ on a ship to maintain stability. We need to take up as little room as possible on the vessel. How you physically attach the crane to the vessel is also critical. The connecting collar is typically part of the ship design but

BENCHMARKING CAPABILITY

ISSuE137 3

THE CRANE IS gOINg TO WORk IN THE NORTH SEA AND THAT IS A PARTICulARlY HARSH OPERATINg ENvIRONMENT.

in the end the crane will have a bolted joint onto this and we need to ensure that this collar cannot be a weak point.”

All of these are a given in designing any offshore crane, so what makes the new design so special? Well, first Jørn is keen to point out that he did not invent it – what he did was exactly what all good engineers do, take the design to a new level by developing and improving it.

The mechanics and geometry of the new crane work differently to a traditional one. Most cranes are a ‘knuckle-boom’ design where there is a main boom, jib and winch. When a load is lifted over the edge of the vessel, then you need to lower the main boom and the winch, and then start to use the winch to compensate for the heave motion from the sea.

The new crane has a simpler geometry that is based on an increased use of hydraulics. The boom and the jib are linked by hydraulics at a single connection point.

You move the load horizontally or vertically by operating just one function. like all the very best ideas, its genius is in the simplicity of its geometry and construction. Because of its ability to work horizontally in this way, it also means that the crane has the ability to cover more of the vessel’s deck area, making it harder working and therefore adding further value for operators.

But, perhaps the real beauty is in how the crane compensates for the motion of the sea.

Its ‘active heave’ compensation system could be the key to unlocking the use of fibre rope (made from kevlar) instead of metal cables in the offshore industry. Why does that matter?

4 rolls-royce.com

Because a 130mm thick, 3km long, metal cable can weigh up to 270 tonnes. That means with a 400 tonne crane you only actually have 130 tonnes of lifting capacity available once the cable weight is factored in.

Fibre rope has zero weight in the water, in fact, it’s actually buoyant.

This latest crane design using fibre rope could mean that a 150 tonne capacity crane will do the work of today’s traditional 400 tonne crane in deepwater environments.

To date, attempts to adopt the use of fibre rope have been hindered because of the way that traditional cranes must cope with the rise and fall of the sea. The traditional way to do this is to constantly run the winch back and forward to match the sea’s motion. With a rope, this constant movement across the same area of the material would start to build up heat friction and that could spell problems for fibre materials.

However, the new crane designed and developed by Jørn and Rolls-Royce does not use the winch for this part of the job. The winch stays in a fixed position, as does the rope; it’s the jib that is constantly moving via the advanced hydraulic control system to cope with heave.

So there is no friction or movement of the rope to cause stress.

The ‘active heave’ compensation uses a mercury vial to determine the sea movement and trigger signals to the automated control systems that operate the hydraulics. With this system, a load is not anticipated to rise/fall plus or minus ten centimetres, a remarkable achievement at sea.

The first 50 tonne crane of this type has now been built by Rolls-Royce and features a distinctive new design for the operator’s cabin too, one which the company is keen to develop consistently across our range of cranes.

“We designed the crane using computer modelling techniques, that took around one year and then moved to a full-size prototype, which is what we are now testing with customer, Olympic Shipping, on an offshore vessel at sea,” says Jørn.

“The nature of our industry is cautious and vessel owners want to see it operating successfully in the real environment but there is already a great deal of market interest in this new crane,” he adds.

For a conservative industry, this could be revolutionary and as offshore activity enters deeper and deeper waters, the advantages become more and more obvious..’

Above Inge Huse, owner of Huse Engineering Company, where the Rolls-Royce crane is on test.

Here Testing was performed at sea on a barge before the crane was delivered.

Author: David Howie is Director of Brand for Rolls-Royce.

He joined the company from a marketing consultancy and prior to that was a press officer.

ISSuE137 5

he company’s marine business has created a new organisation to be responsible for delivering global customer training. As well as the main new 3,000 square metre facility in Alesund, Norway, there is a smaller sister training base in Seletar, Singapore, to cater for Asia-based customers.

Knut Johan Rønningen is Business Development Manager for customer training. He had the job of developing the Alesund centre and also worked on Seletar. Demand has been so strong, the company is now also considering opening a short-term intermediate training centre in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, where there is a significant growth in offshore oil exploration and consequently for training too. Further expansion in Brazil will follow.

Knut explains the business case behind the expansion of customer training and the need for the facility in Norway – which is a major part of the country’s new maritime competence centre.

“We have traditionally provided training for marine customers from our different product manufacturing centres in Norway, Sweden and Finland. As a result, we have gained a lot of experience over a long period of time and, have developed extremely good training materials.

“However, we came to a point where we saw it would be beneficial to gather the resources and experiences in one centre, from which we could deliver a comprehensive training syllabus with one set of training materials and more consistent course content.”

The Alesund centre is in a purpose-built complex covering two floors. It features seven classrooms, one of which is entirely computer based and another that features computers tailored for training on automation and control systems. The rest are traditional classroom environments.

In addition, there are two technical rooms – one for automation and control systems and the second, DP (dynamic positioning) technical systems.

What makes the centre really special though are the four simulator rooms covering: manoeuvring anchor handling operations DP training 360 degree simulator training The 360 degree simulator is undoubtedly the star of the show, it is a 140 square metre full-scale replica of a bridge from an offshore support vessel. Seated here, crews can experience all types of sea conditions and real-life scenarios in a secure training environment.

T

maritime MASTERCLASS As offshore vessels and the systems they incorporate get ever more sophisticated, training for the crews who man them is in high demand. Rolls-Royce has opened a new state-of-the-art customer training centre in Norway to provide the service.

Knut Johan Rønningen is Business Development Manager for customer training.

• • • •

6 rolls-royce.com

MARINE

The 360 degree simulator is a full-size replica of a UT Design offshore vessel’s bridge.

“The simulators we have here are the best in the world and the centre is unique because of the comprehensive range of products too. There is no other training centre I am aware of that can do what we can,” adds Knut.

The products are located on the lower ground level, where there is the large training workshop.

Here, customers can get hands-on practical training with the latest marine equipment and systems, including the: main switchboard engine main propulsion system thrusters (tunnel and azimuth) deck machinery with winches seismic winches steering gear All of the equipment installed is drawn from the Rolls-Royce marine product portfolio. “usually there are around 50 customers at any one time being trained. The capacity of the facility is quite large though and in theory we could have ten courses running at the same time. At present we have five courses generally of around eight people per course,” says Knut. Potentially the company thinks that the number of users could rise to as many as 5,000 per annum. And since the facility opened, the interest from the market has certainly been high.

• • • • • • •

The official opening was last November but Rolls-Royce had already started providing courses by the middle of 2012.

“We also have very experienced seamen and ship owners coming to us. In their case it is usually a matter of learning to use the latest and most modern technology.

To operate the latest equipment efficiently on an offshore vessel, crews need to consistently update their knowledge,” explains Knut.

Training on DP and winch systems is in big demand because these are critical in today’s offshore support operations. Such training must be product specific and there are not many facilities like the Rolls-Royce centre, in fact probably none of the same scale and sophistication.

Students from the local Alesund university College studying nautical sciences and maritime industry subjects have also benefited from the new facility. Rolls-Royce has collaborated with the college for many years. Now, being able to allow the university access to the training centre has helped create a mutually beneficial bond between academia and industry. Classroom training is significantly enhanced by allowing the students to visit Rolls-Royce and gain practical experience on

THE SIMuLAToRS WE HAvE HERE ARE THE BEST IN THE WoRLD AND THE CENTRE IS uNIquE BECAuSE oF THE CoMPREHENSIvE RANgE oF PRoDuCTS Too. A typical customer training experience is a combination of four elements: e-learning packages covering up to 16 Rolls-Royce key products classroom-based theoretical training on a range of topics hands-on practical training for technical groups operational training which is carried out on the simulators “Some crews are less experienced than others and may have limited skills. So we offer a range of open and standardised courses depending on the level of knowledge and the experience of the crew.

• • • •

ISSuE137 7

real marine products and systems. Many students and lecturers in Norway have seen the investment as an indication from industry of its commitment to the future of the marine and offshore industries in the region. That has consequently seen the number of applicants to study maritime subjects increase.

So academically and commercially there are benefits. Many Rolls-Royce marine sales people bring their customers to see the centre just because it is such a showcase for the company and its product range.

“The sales people are really proud of it and we know customers like it and are convinced by our commitment when they see it,” says Knut.

For Rolls-Royce though, the fundamental issue is that the centre is providing a service that customers

8 rolls-royce.com

are increasingly demanding. The result, of course, is a stronger bond between the company and its customer base and that can only be good for ongoing relationships in the industry.

Above The centre’s workshop features the latest marine products and control systems for hands-on training.

Author: David Howie is Director of Brand for Rolls-Royce. He joined the company from a marketing consultancy and prior to that was a press officer.

Below The contemporary design of the centre’s reception area.

THE CAPACITy oF THE FACILITy IS quITE LARgE AND IN THEoRy WE CouLD HAvE TEN CouRSES RuNNINg AT THE SAME TIME.

NUCLEAR

The Astute class is the Royal Navy’s latest and most advanced submarine.

Deep dive

into nuclear power The first nuclear submarine to be built wholly in the UK including the reactor and propulsion system, HMS Valiant, was launched in 1963. Shortly after being commissioned, she completed a fully submerged run of 12,000 miles over 28 days, setting the record at this time.

ISSUE137 9

Left HMS Vanguard class in dock.

Right A nuclear submarine propulsion system on test.

Below (from left) HMS Valiant, HMS Resolution and HMS Trafalgar.

his was the first of the UK’s SSN (Ship Submersible Nuclear), that are now known to many as attack submarines. In total there have been six classes of Royal Navy SSNs and a total of 21 commissioned.

Astute is the latest submarine class and boasts a range of world-class capabilities inside its 7,400 tonne, 97 metre long hull. Powered by a second generation Rolls-Royce nuclear propulsion system, the reactor never needs refuelling over its planned 25-year lifetime. The sonar system has the processing power of 2,000 laptops and can track ships 3,000 miles away.

The Royal Navy’s other type of nuclear submarine is the SSBN (Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear) which has provided the nation’s Continuous At Sea Deterrent since 1968.

As far back as the 1950s, the UK and US agreed to develop a joint programme to deliver a credible nuclear deterrent, the UK was to investigate the medium range solution. These were to be the missile-based Blue Streak and airborne launched Blue Steel. Both were found to have limitations of range and or vulnerability. These shortcomings eventually led to the cancellation of the programmes, leaving the UK at that time without a credible deterrent.

As a result, in 1963, the UK signed an agreement with the US to purchase the Polaris submarine launched missile system that would require a new

T

10 rolls-royce.com

submarine class to be developed. Four SSBNs were subsequently ordered by the Admiralty, the first, HMS Resolution was launched in September 1966 and went into full operational service the following year.

Today’s Royal Navy flotilla comprises four Vanguard class SSBNs that were commissioned between 1992 and 1998 and five Trafalgar SSNs; the latter of which are in the process of being replaced with the navy’s latest and most advanced submarine, the Astute class. HMS Astute and HMS Ambush, are due to be brought into service this year and a total of seven is planned for the class.

The decision by the UK Government in 2007 to replace the Vanguard nuclear deterrent submarine signalled a long-term commitment by the MoD. This commitment gave rise to the need for a significant investment strategy by stakeholders in the submarine programme. Not least of this was the investment by Rolls-Royce and the MoD to develop the Rolls-Royce nuclear design and manufacturing facilities at Raynesway, near Derby, as the site infrastructure was approaching 50 years old.

The first part of the strategy was to rationalise two manufacturing sites into one new Primary Components Operations (PCO) facility. For the first time, the design, engineering, supply chain and manufacturing teams were brought together. The PCO facility was opened by the Chief of Defence Materiel, Bernard Gray, in 2012, and provides the business with some of the

comprises an energy centre and reception building; the manufacturing best equipment available today in an environment that enables fully facility will incorporate an all new product assembly building. The new integrated, efficient and versatile ways of working. The new PCO facility manufacturing facility will be fitted with new equipment required to provides the opportunity to introduce new and efficient workflows in manufacture future core designs and will be capable of a flexible drumbeat a smaller footprint that reduces product travel by over 70 per cent. to meet changing demands. The new facility will also be capable of However, manufacturing reactor components is only one half of the assembling the core and other reactor components more efficiently. equation, in terms of supplying the submarine propulsion system, like the The ground floor of the reception building also has a key role in providing engine in your car, it needs fuel. In the case of a nuclear reactor, the fuel stringent emergency arrangements for the nuclear licensed site set by the comes in the form of the reactor core that sits inside the main pressure external regulatory body. vessel. Some have likened the process to a kettle, where the pressure The investment into infrastructure and equipment will guarantee the vessel is the kettle and the core provides the heating element; capability to supply and support the Royal Navy with reactor cores for the whilst both produce steam the similarities next 40 years and potentially beyond. stop there. Over the past 50 years, Rolls-Royce The Raynesway regeneration is a clear sign of the has designed, manufactured and supported commitment and confidence the MoD has in two separate Pressurised Water Reactor the business. However, in the current economic (PWR) designs. climate there is considerable pressure to The earliest PWR reactor cores provided reduce the cost of the wider programme. power for only a limited period of time before HRH The Duke of Kent opened Atlantic House In the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security needing to be replaced/refuelled up to four at Raynesway, the new centre for naval nuclear Review (SDSR), the MoD committed to reduce times during the life of a submarine. Whilst propulsion systems. the cost of the overall submarine programme each of the three subsequent core designs by around £900m over ten years. extended the lifespan, the greatest stepIn support of the SDSR commitment, the change was established in 2002. The fifth and MoD and its partners of Rolls-Royce, BAE current reactor core design does not require Systems and Babcock formed the Submarine any replacement over the lifetime of the Enterprise Performance Programme with submarine. The current reactor core is fitted three objectives – ‘Cost Out, Performance to the existing Astute class and back-fitted Up and Sustainability In’. Earlier this year, to the Vanguard class submarines with the Rolls-Royce announced they had been last of these re-fits taking place this year awarded a ten-year contract, worth around in HMS Vengeance. £800 million that would provide the longIn 2007, the UK Government decided to term commitment required to deliver a stepreplace the UK’s nuclear deterrent submarine change in operational efficiency. The contract and established the Successor programme will enable cost savings to the programme to replace the existing Royal Navy’s of up to £200m savings in the provision of Vanguard class. Successor, will see the nuclear propulsion systems for the existing and introduction of the third generation PWR-system design, future submarine flotilla over the next ten years.

PWR3. This will deliver a huge improvement in terms of safety, integrity As part of the contract, this year will see and availability, while at the same time reducing the through-life costs. a transition to a new commercial framework that The design of the PWR3 system is now at an advanced stage and is also provides fair value and a solid platform for moving from the complex computer modelling and simulation phase change and improvement based on the three tenets of: to preparation for manufacture in the new Raynesway PCO facility.

Already there are several sophisticated scale test rigs producing tens simplification of contracts of millions of data points to verify and validate the designs. rationalisation of contracts and cost structures From the outset of the Successor project, it was recognised that the improved ways of working existing core manufacturing facilities would not have the capability to The next SDSR will take place in only two years’ time and it is vitally produce the necessary new breed of reactor cores. To maintain capability important for Rolls-Royce to prove its capability to deliver an affordable the MoD awarded a £1.1 billion contract with Rolls-Royce in 2012 for the submarine programme. In its entirety, the regeneration project will ensure regeneration of the Core Production Capability (CPC) facility. The contract Rolls-Royce is able to deliver added value for the MoD and the UK tax payer, also ensured the capability to produce future naval reactor cores as required while securing a long-term future for the teams at Raynesway. by the MoD for the submarine programme. The CPC regeneration project Author: David Radcliffe is Communications Manager for the Submarines business will achieve modern safety and environmental standards as well as enable at Rolls-Royce. He has worked with a range of blue-chip organisations in the financial, media and charitable sectors. a more efficient and effective manufacturing process. The new facility

• • •

ISSUE137 11

T56 a turboprop legend

Few aircraft engines in history can match the capability, flexibility and longevity of the Rolls-Royce T56 turboprop. ith civil and military uses on multiple aircraft, and a rich heritage of nearly 60 years, this legendary engine has seen it all in operations around the world. And yet the best years of service are still ahead for the venerable powerplant.

Operators of T56-powered fleets can increase range, reduce their fuel burn and lower operating costs through new technologies introduced by Rolls-Royce. The latest improvement, known as the Series 3.5 enhancement, will keep the global T56 fleet on-wing for decades to come.

“My personal opinion of the 3.5 upgrade is that I believe you hit the bullseye on this. This is hands-down exactly what the C-130 community needs,” was the reaction of one US Air Force Flight Engineer to the new programme.

The Series 3.5 joins the proven legacy of the T56 engine with high-tech and updated parts to improve performance and reduce cost, offering significant savings.

The T56 story began in the 1950s, when it was designed for the four-engine workhorse C-130 transport. That aircraft demonstrated a record of success in global service, carrying military personnel, equipment, cargo and medical supplies wherever they were needed, and continues to do so.

W

DEPENDABLE The huge C-130 fleet has completed untold thousands of missions and brought their crews home again.

Its dependable T56 engines were later engineered to meet the needs of Lockheed Martin’s L-382 (the civil version of the C-130) and P-3 surveillance aircraft, as well as Northrop Grumman’s E-2 surveillance aircraft and C-2 transport.

Hundreds of those planes remain in service around the US, in the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as powering aircraft flown by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Air National Guard units around the country.

Globally, hundreds more are flown by air forces and civilian operators on every continent.

12 rolls-royce.com

DEFENCE

An Air National Guard LC-130H Hercules operating in the harsh conditions of Antarctica.

ISSUE137 13

“These T56-powered aircraft are operating around the world today in the most austere of environments, and their value has been proven again and again over the decades they have flown,” says Tom Hartmann, Senior vice President for Rolls-Royce.

“Now, their operators have the option to upgrade their engine performance in very significant ways. They will lower operating costs, reduce fuel usage and get many years of additional service from their engines and aircraft.”

The Series 3.5 enhancement gets its name as it improves the standard T56 Series III configuration, moving its performance toward the Series Iv. The enhancement incorporates new materials as well as new blades and vanes within the engine. The updates have already been proven in use in other Rolls-Royce engines, resulting in a low-risk solution. Under the Series 3.5 design and specification, the enhanced engine will improve fuel consumption significantly – by 7.9 per cent. However, in flight tests performed by the US Air Force (USAF), the Series 3.5 engine demonstrated a 9.7 per cent improvement compared to production specification Series III engines.

The enhanced engine also operates with a turbine inlet temperature more than 100°F cooler, which will mean longer parts life and predicted 22 per cent turbine reliability improvement.

Additionally, the enhanced engines require no airframe or controls changes to the aircraft.

Those benefits have led to widespread customer interest as operators around the world face budget reductions and look for ways to trim costs and keep their fleets operating for another two decades.

COMMITMENT

THE ENHANCEd ENGINE WILL IMPROvE FUEL CONSUMPTION SIGNIFICANTLy – by 7.9 PER CENT.

Mark Jarvis, Lockheed Martin’s director and Programme Manager of P-2/S-3 programmes, says: “The Series 3.5 programme allows us to help our P-3 operators extend the useful service life of their aircraft. It’s also a very good avenue to contain and control operating costs, due to the reliability and improvements Rolls-Royce is putting in the T56 engines. The Series 3.5 programme demonstrates the commitment Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce have to support P-3 operators for a very long time.”

The 129th Air Rescue Wing of the California National Guard is also looking for ways to reduce costs and keep aircraft flying.

Col Steve ‘bucky’ butow, Wing Commander of the 129th, notes that “our 1966 model aircraft are older than the aircrews that fly them. We owe it to these brave young airmen to meet or exceed the capabilities of a modern fleet until such time as these legacy aircraft can be replaced.”

Col butow adds: “In a period of declining defence budgets, the Air National Guard is compelled to pursue all available means to 14 rolls-royce.com

extend the life and reliability of our legacy fleet while improving safety and mission success. Increased engine and propeller performance is key to achieving these objectives. These modifications essentially pay for themselves over the first few years of fuel savings. The end result is increased mission capability, aircraft reliability and fuel efficiency that cannot be matched without accelerating the fielding of replacement aircraft.”

The USAF operates more T56 engines than any other single fleet in the world. Facing pressures to reduce fuel usage and overall costs, the USAF conducted an internal business case analysis to determine the value of incorporating the Series 3.5 enhancements in its fleet for reduced fuel use and operating costs.

The result of the USAF study: the Series 3.5 would bring more than US$2 billion in fuel and reliability savings through 2040.

“The Series 3.5 shows great promise for improvement in performance and fuel efficiency for the T56 engine. A USAF study has projected US$240 million in fuel savings through 2040, which will help the service meet its goals for energy savings,” says Theodore G Fecke, USAF Senior Leader for Propulsion, Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio.

One additional benefit: the enhanced engine parts can be added at a standard engine overhaul, replacing legacy design parts with the new fuel efficient ones. That will offset the cost of the Series 3.5 improvements, and allow operators to recoup their investment in as little as five years.

PRODUCTION All ground and flight testing has been completed and the Series 3.5 enhancement is on schedule to receive FAA certification and USAF qualification later in 2013.

In the meantime, the US Air National Guard has deemed the Series 3.5 its No.1 programme on the critical capabilities listing for C-130s in its 2013 ANG Weapons Systems Modernization Priorities book. The USAF and other customers await internal funding decisions to launch the enhanced engines into their fleets.

Rolls-Royce has already begun low-rate production of parts to ensure the Series 3.5 enhancements are ready for delivery when customer orders begin rolling in.

“Seldom does an idea come along that leads to such positive and dramatic results, a ‘win-win’ all around. We look forward to working with operators around the world to help them achieve these significant benefits as the Series 3.5 rolls out globally,” says Hartmann..’

Author: George McLaren manages external communications for the Rolls-Royce defence business in North America. He joined the company in 2005 after working more than 20 years as a journalist.

Above The USAF is the largest operator of the T56-powered Hercules.

Right T56 engines undergoing maintenance.

ISSUE137 15

Arctic role

If patrolling 25,000 kilometres of coastline wasn’t enough, the Norwegian Coast Guard also has responsibility for an area of sea equal to seven times the land mass of the country. They do so with a team of just over 700 people and a fleet of just 15 ships.

16 rolls-royce.com

MARINE

The Norwegian Coast Guard vessel KV Harstad was designed and equipped by Rolls-Royce.

ISSUE137 17

The Norwegian Coast Guard service provides a range of roles in the difficult conditions of the seas around Norway.

atrolling these hostile waters is not for the faint-hearted. The Norwegian Coast Guard has to be well equipped to do the job with vessels for both inshore and ocean-going duties.

Norway’s coastline ranks seventh in the world in terms of distance – longer than that of the USA. Add to that the extremes of sub-zero temperatures, round-the-clock daylight and darkness (depending on the season), sea ice and heavy seas, and you will see their challenge matches their responsibility.

Rolls-Royce has been supplying a range of maritime technology to the fleet for many years, ranging from ship design to propulsion systems and powerful winches. Headquartered in the small but bustling town of Sortland, the Coast Guard has a reassuringly dominant presence in the community.

“Coast Guard services are structured in different ways around the world, but here, there are two sides to the organisation. We are part of the Norwegian military, and therefore have a duty to uphold Sovereignty rights, but also a maritime force – what I like to call ‘a police authority at sea’,” says head of service, Commodore Lars Saunes.

“The scale of the area we cover isn’t just measured by the length of the coastline. We have a territory to patrol that covers a huge area of ocean and our responsibility reaches from the Swedish Border to the North Pole.”

The Coast Guard’s operations regularly take them to, and beyond, the northernmost part of

P

18 rolls-royce.com

Norway – the archipelago of Svalbard which stretches between 71 and 81 degrees north.

This stunningly beautiful landscape includes Bear Island and Spitsbergen. The Coast Guard ships will venture as far as 84 degrees north, before ice prevents further passage.

The largest vessel in the fleet, the appropriately named KV Svalbard, is an icebreaker launched in 2002. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Bergen engines delivering a total of 13,560kW, Svalbard can operate in polar ice up to one metre thick and handle ridges and rafted ice up to four metres thick.

POPULAR The ship is a frequent visitor to the area, which is home to extensive Arctic research facilities.

Cruise ships are becoming increasing popular in the summer months, which has led the government to restrict the size of vessels visiting the islands – another future duty for the Coast Guard to manage.

Beyond Svalbard, the Coast Guard has responsibility for search and rescue activities right up to the North Pole. “There is no one else,” says Commodore Saunes. “When you get this far north, you need very good relationships with those around you. We work closely with our Russian counterparts, and we are proud to be part of the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum, so we have good linkages.”

Rapid response in the harsh conditions of the Arctic is ensured not only through a fleet of well-

equipped ships, but also with aircraft. The Coast Guard currently operates a fleet of Rolls-Royce powered Lynx helicopters, providing air sea rescue over a wide area, but this capability is due to be transformed soon when the first NH90 enters service.

“We rely heavily on our aerial capability, but with more shipping activity and exploration in the north in future, we will need to be able to respond to emergencies over greater distances.

The NH90 will give us exactly what we need, with increased range, and a capacity to carry 14 passengers, enhancing our search and rescue capabilities.”

One of the most versatile ships is the KV Harstad, a powerful offshore patrol vessel designed and equipped by Rolls-Royce.

The UT512 design is full of high-tech equipment for the variety of the roles the ship and crew carry out year round.

Originally built for towing, the combination of Rolls-Royce Bergen engines and controllable pitch propellers give her an impressive bollard pull – the measurement of force from a fixed point ashore – of 115 tonnes, plenty of power for the demands of rescuing stricken vessels.

One such occasion saw Harstad comfortably tow a tanker weighing some 120,000 tonnes.

When in port, Harstad is in a constant state of readiness, ready to take to the seas at one hour’s notice. “Our visits to port are often like pit stops,” says skipper, Lt Cmdr Salamonsen. “We change crew, refuel, and we’re off again.”

The Coast Guard has a number of prime functions, fisheries protection being the main one with numerous inspections of home and international fishing fleets ensuring compliance with the rules of the sea. Harstad’s crew boards several hundred trawlers every year. “The most important kit we have on board is our rib boat – which is deployed several times a day.”

Other duties include fire fighting and oil spill recovery. Another interesting capability is the role as part of the NATO Submarine Rescue Service (NSRS) – a specialist response service managed

by Rolls-Royce from a base in Faslane, Scotland.

In the event of a submarine emergency, the ship can be transformed into the nerve centre of subsea rescue operation in just 16 hours.

“That may sound a lot,” says Lt Cmdr Salamonsen, “but in reality it means the installation of 350 tonnes of specialist equipment including submersible remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and containerised control centres, decompression chambers and accommodation for the rescue team.

“We’re proud to be part of the NSRS emergency response, and confident that this highly versatile, multipurpose ship can be ready as and when we’re needed.”

KV Harstad is not only multipurpose in terms of duties. She also features a hybrid propulsion system from Rolls-Royce, which allows the crew to switch in or out engines depending on mission requirements, conserving energy in the process.

Lt Cmdr Salamonsen says: “The beauty of our hybrid system is that we can select the amount of power we need, so if we’re not in a hurry, we can propel the ship using just one of the smaller auxiliary engines. If we need more power, or need to get somewhere quickly, we simply use more engines.

“Hybrid works really well for us. It lessens the running hours of the larger engines, reducing the maintenance costs, and most importantly, giving us a significant saving in fuel.”

An auxiliary engine, normally used to provide onboard power supply, can move the 3,000 tonne ship at speeds between four and

the magazine ISSUE137 19

Bergen engines provide the power.

Coast Guard crew on board the KV Harstad.

seven knots. Bringing the much larger and more powerful Rolls-Royce Bergen engines in allows Harstad to reach an impressive 18 knots, or unleash all of her 115 tonnes of towing capacity, should the need arise.

A new HQ ‘close to the action’ in Sortland, the anticipation of a fleet of new helicopters, and even talk of new ships, gives Commodore Saunes plenty to be optimistic about. There’s also the issue of melting ice opening up new shipping routes and future Arctic oil and gas exploration by several nations, which will all need close attention. But there is one challenge common in many parts of the maritime industry, that he thinks he can overcome.

Attracting young people to spend long periods at sea, working far from home isn’t everyone’s first

The modern ship control system on the KV Harstad.

career choice, but Commodore Saunes believes the Norwegian Coast Guard offers something extremely rewarding on many fronts.

ESSENTIAL “A military career offers a great deal for young people.

Apart from an excellent education, our recruits get the opportunity to learn a wide range of skills, travel extensively, meet interesting people and perform a role that’s not only essential for your country but also crucial for the wellbeing of thousands of seafarers.

“For me, and I may be biased, the Coast Guard offers the best job in the Norwegian military.

You get to sail a lot, you perform interesting tasks and patrol some of the harshest seas on the planet.

No two days are the same.

“By joining the Coast Guard you’ll be guaranteed to see sights that many only dream about. Our stunning coast line, the spectacle of Arctic ice, plus of course perhaps the best possible view of the northern lights, life as a Coast Guard is extremely rewarding.”

The new intake of recruits gives him confidence for the future. He adds: “I’m delighted to welcome our latest batch of new recruits into the Coast Guard family. With the challenges and opportunities ahead, patrolling these waters will continue to require the best talent and equipment available. Looking to the future, I’m confident we’ll have both.”’

Author: Craig Taylor is Head of Communications – Marine for Rolls-Royce. He has previously worked in communications roles in the nuclear power and public transport industries.

WE HAVE A TERRITORY TO PATROL THAT COVERS A HUGE AREA OF OCEAN AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY REACHES FROM THE SWEDISH BORDER TO THE NORTH POLE. Commodore Lars Saunes

20 rolls-royce.com

TECHNOLOGY

The bizjet business The small and medium sized engines powering regional airliners and corporate jets present different technological and commercial challenges to those powering the airliners that most of us are used to flying on. So says Rolls-Royce EVP Engineering & Technology, CSME, Dr Karsten M端hlenfeld.

ISSUE137 21

Right The engine core for the E3E development programme on test in Germany.

rom his base in Dahlewitz near Berlin, Mühlenfeld oversees the development of the company’s civil small and medium engines (CSME), making him ideally placed to talk about how Rolls-Royce anticipates and develops technology to meet the needs of corporate customers such as Gulfstream, Bombardier and Cessna, as well as regional customers.

“The biggest drivers of our technology,” he says, “are to prepare for the next generation of corporate and regional jet engines and to develop engines even faster, with the best reliability from day one and at reduced costs.”

At the heart of the next generation of engines will be a new, smaller core with a high-pressure spool of nearly half the size of today’s engines for large corporate jets, but with a significantly increased pressure ratio – from 16:1 currently, to more than 23:1, to improve efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. On small engines, the overall pressure ratio needs to be generated with only two spools, whilst on large engines a third spool further boosts the pressure ratio. The high-pressure ratios of the new small core are achieved by the use of a ten-stage compressor and a two-stage high-pressure turbine to drive it.

A smaller engine core means that the compressor blades will also be smaller. The challenge is to prevent air from leaking around the blades and thus reducing the efficiency of the engine. In response, the company is developing

F

22 rolls-royce.com

blisks – blade integrated discs – for all compressor stages rather than just a few as today. This will reduce air leakage, improve the capability of the compressor and in the long-term also reduce the unit cost.

VIBRATIONS “Another significant technological challenge comes,” according to Mühlenfeld, “as a result of the smaller rotor size.” Rotors in the high-pressure system of future engines could spin at over 26,000rpm. This is far in excess of speeds found in large civil engines. As a consequence, the rotors have to be designed to reduce vibrational forces transmitted into the aircraft. So the goal is to provide an engine without any vibrations to make the passengers’ journey as comfortable as possible.

In addition, the company is looking at new turbine design concepts and consequent manufacturing processes as the size, weight and cost challenges mean simply scaling the design from the larger engines would not give the optimum solution.

More compression is also needed in the lowpressure system. As a consequence, Mühlenfeld’s teams are pursuing fan technologies different to those being developed for the larger, slower running civil airliner engines, where new methods of manufacturing are being developed to deliver lightweight, improved efficiency composite fan systems. For corporate engines in

contrast, blisk fan concepts are being developed.

Manufacturing the blade and disc as one unit will allow more airflow and higher-pressure ratios, compared to a conventionally bladed fan of the same size.

All these technologies will result in lower fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions and weight, but they will only have a second order effect in reducing NOx emissions from the combustion process.

State-of-the-art Rolls-Royce combustion technology is being developed to address the reduction of these emissions. “The first step,” according to Mühlenfeld, “is a more sophisticated approach to the state-of-the-art ‘Phase 5’ combustor and in the longer term, the introduction of lean burn.”

The Rolls-Royce teams in Germany are co-ordinating lean burn developments for the company globally and working with the German Aerospace Centre, (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt – DLR), to demonstrate whole engine system maturity for a lean burn through the Advanced Low Emissions Combustion System – ALECSYS programme – to allow incorporation into civil aero engine applications.

“The business model in the small and medium sized engine sector and especially in the corporate segment is different too,” says Mühlenfeld. “With a different balance between the Original Equipment and Services business

compared to the large engines.” This is because as a general rule, corporate jets are flown less intensively – in terms of numbers of flight cycles and hours – than airliners and therefore the pressure on reducing cost is even more intense.

“Finding technologies which reduce the cost of the engine without compromising on quality is a second challenge in this very competitive market.”

For example, Rolls-Royce is using more near net shape forgings. These reduce the amount of work – in terms of milling and grinding needed.

Time and cost saving technologies are also being adapted from other industries such as metal injection moulding (MIM) which is already being successfully applied in the automotive sector.

New, low cost, proprietary materials also play a role. For example, we are developing a new high-pressure turbine disc alloy which is

BIOGRAPhY Following his PhD, Mühlenfeld joined BMW Rolls-Royce Aero Engines, the forerunner of Rolls-Royce Deutschland. He became Chief Design Engineer for the Nimrod application of the BR710.

Following a period as the company’s Head of Mechanical Design, Mühlenfeld moved to Europrop International (EPI), a new joint venture for the development of the engine for the new A400M transporter.

In 2007 Mühlenfeld returned to Rolls-Royce Deutschland as Director of Military Programmes before becoming the German company’s most senior engineer.

FINDING TECHNOLOGIES WHICH REDUCE THE COST OF THE ENGINE WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON QUALITY IS A CHALLENGE IN THIS VERY COMPETITIVE MARKET. significantly cheaper than today’s material but still meets requirements for CSME engines in terms of temperature capability. The company is also using more light and cost efficient composite materials.

A significant source of composite expertise resides in the company’s University Technology Centre (UTC) at TU Dresden. In conjunction with the Dresden UTC and the UK’s Bristol-based

National Composites Centre, new composite parts have been established for the engine fan module, such as a single-piece, all-composite nose cone, initially for the BR725, but also suitable for the company’s large civil engines. Another example is composite shafts to reduce weight and cost significantly.

AERODYNAMIC Three other German UTCs are also playing important roles. The company is working on computer-based optimisation and integration tools – modelling how different aerodynamic shapes within an engine combine for best effect – with the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus. TU Darmstadt is focusing on developments in turbine technology whilst the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is involved in the development of next generation combustion technologies.

Rolls-Royce also works with the DLR in Cologne and Gottingen on combustion and turbine technology. “The DLR is a very attractive and competent institution to work with. They have a number of large and sophisticated test rigs we have access to.” Work is also being undertaken at DLR Berlin on developing new noise reduction technologies and noise prediction methods for Rolls-Royce worldwide.

The German Aerospace Research Programme (Luftfahrt-Forschungsprogramm – LuFo) provides incentives for companies to work with universities and public research institutes. UTCs get 100 per cent funding for their research and Rolls-Royce gets 50 per cent provided that on completion the research is deployed in Germany. “This makes it very attractive to do research work in Germany.”

The final factor driving technological development in the CSME sector is the need to develop and build engines to the same high quality as always but bring them to market faster.

“With minimal time for an iterative design cycle, our development programmes have to be right first time, which makes them leaner, faster and cheaper,” says Mühlenfeld. The engines developed and manufactured by our CSME business may be small but the technological, manufacturing and commercial challenges are not.

Author: Simon Kirby consults and lectures in marketing communications with a particular interest in technology.

He has worked in communications roles extensively in both the public and private sector.

ISSUE137 23

Foresterhill’s sophisticated scanners and diagnostic equipment must have a reliable power supply.

A healthy power supply Scotland’s largest hospital complex at Foresterhill health campus in Aberdeen, supports the wellbeing of around half a million patients each year.

Situated high up in ‘the granite city’, sits this124-acre multifaceted site.

24 rolls-royce.com

ENERGY

oday, Foresterhill Health Campus, jointly owned and occupied by the NHs and the university of Aberdeen, has established itself as one of the largest clinical campuses in europe. it hosts the main teaching hospitals that serve North east scotland and the Northern isles of Orkney and shetland. it hosts 1,000 beds across three separate hospitals – the Royal Aberdeen Children’s hospital, the Aberdeen Maternity hospital, and the Aberdeen Royal infirmary – and is home to 10,000 professional medical staff and students who work on site, or attend the medical school and medical science departments of the university of Aberdeen.

A reliable, stable and efficient heat and power supply is critical to keeping Foresterhill operational around the clock, 365 days per year.

As Gary Mortimer, General Manager – Facilities and estates at NHs Grampian explains: “80,000 people spend time on our wards during the course of a year, with more than 500,000 outpatient visits. including visitors, close to a million people pass through our gates in a given year, and the site is packed with equipment focused on people’s health and care, including sophisticated diagnostic aids like MRi and PeT scanners and imaging kit.

“A lot of power is needed to support such a constantly high level of activity, and our energy costs for the campus are in the order of £6 million a year.”

Demand for power in high-tech environments like hospitals never reduces.

T

regularly installed, and the Royal infirmary is currently being equipped with new operating theatres.

Foresterhill’s demand for power and heat certainly never reduces. With such a challenging mix of criteria and the need for sustainability, Gary Mortimer’s team engaged the Carbon Trust to assess an outline plan that included new plant with a biomass element.

The scheme, which evolved over a couple of years, was well over the level of capital investment that required sign-off by NHs Grampian, NHs scotland and the scottish Government Health Directorate.

PRIMARY Though Foresterhill is only one of 90-plus sites managed by NHs Grampian, its sprawling presence on the outskirts of ‘the granite city’ represents an astounding 50 per cent of the health Board’s total footprint. Foresterhill has its own helicopter landing site due to the hospitals’ roles as tertiary hospitals for the North of scotland and the rurality of the Grampian area and in addition, it serves as the primary emergency hospital for scotland’s buoyant offshore industries.

And it has not finished expanding yet, which is why capacity and flexibility were important considerations for the future when NHs Grampian looked to replace the ageing boiler house that had been in service since the 1970s and was reaching the end of its economic life.

Capacity, cost-effectiveness and low environmental impact were uppermost among the selection criteria when deciding on the scope of supply for new power generation equipment.

NHs Grampian also needed to ensure that the selected technology could easily meet future anticipated demand levels.

Rolls-Royce 501 gas turbine technology was selected as the heart of the power system.

“The plant has to offer site resilience over the next 15-20 years to match planned expansion and modernisation. We have invested £110 million alone in the past 12 months, for example, commissioning a new nine-storey, 400-bed emergency care centre that co-locates Accident & emergency, our ‘out of hours’ GP services, and the ‘NHs 24’ contact service.

This co-location gives a single and flexible focus to emergency patient care. in collaboration with our university partners, we’ve also built a new dental hospital and education centre, and also completed the energy centre itself,” points out Gary Mortimer.

Furthermore, the existing buildings – some almost a century old – are progressively being modernised. Meanwhile, brand new equipment is

RELIABILITY A combined heat and power (CHP) based solution was ultimately chosen for the new energy centre. it cost £13.5 million and comprises a 5.2MW Centrax power generation unit incorporating Rolls-Royce 501-KB7 gas turbine technology.

Derived from the T56/501 family of aero engines that have flown well over 200 million hours, around the world the industrial variant of the 501 is acknowledged for its reliability and simple maintenance. The industrial 501 has itself accumulated over 110 million running hours in service with 500 energy customers in 53 countries.

Other major hospitals in the uK that use Centrax generating plants powered by the Rolls-Royce 501 include, Dundee (2.6MW), Leeds (4.8MW) and Queen elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (3.6MW).

At Foresterhill, the 501-powered Centrax package operates in combination with a waste heat boiler, issue137 25

A Rolls-Royce 501 gas turbine sits inside the Centrax package at Foresterhill.

THe PROveN TRACK ReCORD OF CeNTRAx AND ROLLs-ROyCe FOR ReLiABiLiTy is iMPORTANT TO us.

augmented by the biomass boiler and two dual-fuel boilers to meet the huge heat and power requirements demanded by the site. The plant is configured to deliver ample inherent flexibility in order to ensure business continuity at all times. it is a heat-driven solution modelled on the coldest reasonably imaginable winter, from which peak requirements are calculated based on heat demand.

“We need a heat load to generate maximum electrical output,” explains Graham Mutch, who is Head of Maintenance at Foresterhill, “but during the summer we don’t need such a considerable amount of heat. The flexibility of the gas turbine is a clear advantage under these varying conditions.

BALANCE “We achieve a good balance between gaining maximum efficiency out of current load while being able to meet projected loads well into the future, providing about 90 per cent of the power we need ourselves,” adds Graham.

The remainder is imported from the national grid, which could provide all electricity in the unlikely event of an unscheduled outage – and would be used during scheduled maintenance of the gas turbine package. Nothing is left to chance, and an additional failsafe comes in the shape of 21 generators strategically positioned in key locations, just in case power is lost in a particular zone.

While the plant’s operational regime precludes exporting power, the advantage of producing its own power and being largely independent of the grid is a £2 million annual saving in energy costs.

26 rolls-royce.com

The 1.5MW biomass boiler, which burns woodchips, is only employed in the winter during periods of highest demand for heat when up to 12 tonnes of steam per hour is provided.

“The steam is very much the site’s life-blood,” stresses Gary Mortimer. “it is used for heating, ventilation, hot water, cooking and laundry, and for safety-critical services such as sterilisation.”

Plentiful steam is generated by three main boilers – two rated at 8.5MW and one at 6.5MW – which are dual-fuel, capable of running on natural gas or liquid fuels. This helps plant economics – as they use the cheapest fuel (usually gas) – but also guards against any supply interruptions the site’s facilities management have no control over.

They can switch to liquid fuel at very short notice, with a week’s supply stored on site.

Reliability, economic and capacity criteria are all comfortably accommodated by the new energy centre, and its environmental credentials are pretty impressive, too: so much so that Foresterhill’s energy centre was adjudged winner of the industrial category of the BReeAM (British Research establishment environmental Assessment Method) awards in 2012.

The centre won praise from BReeAM for its early collaboration on environmental issues, and its innovative thinking. This led to the highest mark in its class and an ‘excellent’ rating for its 17 per cent reduction in carbon footprint – equating to 4,500 fewer tonnes of carbon being released to the atmosphere each year – together with

reduced levels of waste.

The local community, along with patients occupying the campus’ 1,000 beds, might have been concerned at news of a new ‘power station’ on site, but they need not have worried for its noise profile is also extremely low.

SENSITIVE “This was important to us, as a health centre is clearly a sensitive location, and among our closest neighbours is a major new primary school just across the road from the energy centre, but we’ve had no complaints from the community, either during construction of the centre or since,” says Graham Mutch.

And there are no complaints about the new energy centre either: “Our clinical staff and students – and the patients, of course – depend on a constant supply of power and heat, but it’s a given, they never need to think about it, and that’s the way it should be,” assures Gary Mortimer.

“While we in Facilities Management can’t take it for granted in quite the same way, we are very confident of the plant we have created and installed. The proven track record of Centrax and Rolls-Royce for reliability is important to us, and we have a very positive and ongoing relationship.

The project has, from the start, been an exemplary exercise in good partnering.”

Author: Gary Atkins writes on a range of industrial, engineering and technology topics. With a background in corporate PR and communications, his main focus is on high-technology sectors including aerospace, marine and specialist manufacturing.

DEFENCE

Voyager’s

journey As the uK’s largest military airfield, the Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) transport base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire is a bustling place.

Trent 700 engines provide the power for the RAF’s new Voyager tanker/transport aircraft.

he tarmac in front of the well-used passenger terminal is usually crowded, with the service’s wide variety of airlifters, plus visiting civilian cargo aircraft and even airliners leased to support operations, all taking a brief pause from the endless task of moving personnel and equipment around the world.

Already hectic due to the co-location of the RAF’s Boeing C-17s, Lockheed TriStars and Vickers VC10s, Brize Norton got even busier in 2011 when it welcomed the UK’s inventory of Lockheed C-130Ks and newer J-model Hercules. They arrived at the site following a decision to close the

T

RAF Lyneham base in neighbouring Wiltshire. All of the types, young and old, continue to play a vital role in maintaining the crucial ‘air bridge’ between home and operations in Afghanistan, or in supporting the combat aircraft deployed there.

Quietly, a new addition has also appeared on the scene, bringing with it the opportunity to transform the RAF’s means of delivering the air transport and air-to-air refuelling (AAR) missions which underpin the UK armed capability across the globe.

The new era began on 10 April 2012, when a military derivative of Airbus’ issue137 27

A330 widebody airliner left Brize Norton on its first operational flight in RAF markings. introduced via the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Future strategic Tanker Aircraft (FsTA) programme, and now named Voyager, the new aircrafttype is in the process of assuming the duties held by the Conway-powered VC10 force since the mid-1960s and by the second hand RB211-powered Tristars introduced around 20 years later.

For the AirTanker consortium responsible for introducing a core fleet of nine modified A330 tanker/transports, plus five more of the aircraft which will be held at short-notice readiness to support any operational surge, the pressure is on to deliver a seamless transition.

Having been gradually reduced over the last several years, the RAF’s VC10 inventory was recently powered back to just four aircraft. This Rolls-Royce powered ‘Conway quartet’ will fall silent before the end of september 2013.

A mixed fleet of three Tristar transports and four tankers flown by 216 sqn will follow them into retirement by March 2014.

CONFIGURATION The uK’s first three Voyagers had transported more than 50,000 passengers and around 3,200t of freight, and accumulated a combined total of around 3,000 flight hours and more than 771 sectors flown by end April 2013, according to AirTanker. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 772B-60 turbofans, each capable of producing 71,100lb (316kN) of thrust on take-off, the Voyager can carry up to 291 passengers in a one-class cabin configuration, along with under-floor freight, and has a maximum fuel capacity of 111 tons. in a unique arrangement, operations have been performed using military-registered aircraft ZZ330 and ZZ331, plus G-VYGG, which will remain on the commercial register throughout the at-least 24-year service duration of the private finance initiative-enabled FsTA deal.

This will give the RAF ‘guaranteed access and greater flexibility’ than is possible today using traditional charter arrangements, AirTanker says.

Crews from the air force’s 10 sqn fly the Voyager under military regulations,

Trent 700 engines in assembly at Rolls-Royce. The engine is in service all over the world on Airbus A330 airliners.

28 rolls-royce.com

while civilian pilots do so under the terms of AirTanker’s air operating certificate, which was secured from the uK Civil Aviation Authority in December 2012. The first airline-style operation was performed on 5 January, with a Voyager having been used to transport uK military personnel to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.

All flights to date have been made only in the passenger transport role, to locations including: Canada, Kenya and the united Arab emirates.

Denoting its heritage as an A330 derivative, the fleet has demonstrated an availability rate of 96 per cent by the end of 2012, with AirTanker citing an on-time performance record of almost 98 per cent.

“Our capability and aircraft usage is building each and every month that goes by,” says iain Cullen, AirTanker’s director of flight operations, with the company having expected its aircraft to log a combined 520 flight hours during April.

The uK's fourth Airbus A330 Voyager, ZZ332, touched down at the RAF's Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire on 26 April this

year, it was handed over for use as a three-point tanker: a configuration which includes under-wing hose and drogue refuelling pods and a fuselage refuelling unit. This will be used to support large aircraft types, such as the RAF’s future fleet of 22 Airbus Military A400M Atlas tactical transports, which will enter use at Brize Norton from september 2014, following the retirement of the service’s remaining T56-powered C-130Ks. Another two Voyagers are due to arrive by the middle of 2013. This expanded fleet strength is due to increase further, to reach seven or eight Voyagers by the end of this year, with a full in-service declaration due to be made by May 2014, as the type is cleared to fully take over the operational provision of AAR services.

Preparations to take on the AAR role are already well advanced, with three RAF crews having completed their training in tanker operations for the Voyager at a dedicated training school at Brize Norton by mid-March. First activities to be performed following the MoD’s granting of release to service approval for the critical task will include supporting training involving RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 strike aircraft. They will also later support eurofighter Typhoons, including extending their flight endurance while tasked with providing quick reaction alert cover for the uK, and also the Falkland islands. Then from late this decade, the new type will also support the Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint strike Fighters to be flown by the RAF and Royal Navy from RAF Marham in suffolk.

A defensive aid system enhancement programme to be conducted by AirTanker’s engineering team at Brize Norton will also enable the Voyagers to play an important part during the uK’s troop drawdown process in Afghanistan, as the

Voyagers will fully take over air-to-air refuelling services next year.

uK works towards ending its combat involvement in the country by late 2014.

Once the FsTA service is at full strength, the tanker/transports will be operated by 30 RAF crews of two pilots each, plus 37 mission system operators, who will specialise in tasks including AAR provision. This will include the formation of a second squadron, to join

MoD’s operational needs, but ordinarily made available for third-party use by other militaries or civilian customers. The company says it is now ‘exploring actively several business scenarios on how we can use that capability’. But early experience suggests that the five additional airframes will be in demand.

“The A330 enjoys a strong reputation in the commercial environment and that’s crossing over into the military sector,” Cullen says. “We’re currently exploring a

number of opportunities for military and civilian applications but the point is that the demand is there across sectors and we have the flexibility in the aircraft and in our organisational structure to meet it.”

A joint military and civilian operations team at Brize Norton is already providing a slick dispatch service, but AirTanker is using all the information at its disposal to analyse the cause of any delays during its operations: even down to the minute. similar attention is also being paid to the Voyager’s fuel consumption statistics while operating in the air transport role, where its two under-wing hose-and-drogue refuelling pods are removed in order to reduce drag, as all fuel saved can be offered to receiver aircraft.

Now an increasingly regular sight in the circuit around Brize Norton, the RAF’s Voyager fleet is ready to take on the range of tasks being expected of it, with a mix of military and civilian crews responsible for its operating and maintenance. Five years after the MoD signed its FsTA deal with the AirTanker team of Babcock, Cobham, eADs, Rolls-Royce and Thales, the new arrival is ready to deliver the goods.

While many will be moved by their last experience of hearing the VC10’s wonderful engines roar later this year, the capability, versatility and reliability of the RAF’s replacement Voyager fleet should more than compensate in operational terms. And who knows; perhaps one day, enthusiasts might even flock to Brize Norton to hear the A330’s Rolls-Royce tuned ‘Trent duet’ on take-off?

THe A330 eNJOYs A sTRONG RePuTATiON iN THe COMMeRCiAL eNViRONMeNT AND THAT’s CROssiNG OVeR iNTO THe MiLiTARY seCTOR. 10 sqn in operating the type. seven civilian crews of two pilots each will be provided by AirTanker, with these sponsored reservist personnel also to be trained to perform some military flying tasks.

Cullen says AirTanker has been ‘hugely impressed’ by the standard of the candidates who have applied to become sponsored reservist pilots, with these having included highly experienced training captains from the airline sector.

At least a dozen have been recruited so far, including five instructors, and the first two pilots graduated from officer training at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire in December 2012, both with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

“Our recruitment process placed significant emphasis on getting people who shared and understood not only our values but those of the RAF,” says Cullen, who adds that the right ethos is needed if crews are to be moved between flying a commercial Voyager one week, and then donning their RAF uniforms with no disruption to the service.

AirTanker’s so-called ‘surge’ fleet will be drawn on as required to support the

Author: Craig Hoyle is defence editor for Flight International magazine, and has reported on defence aerospace programmes since 1996. He first flew in an RAF VC10 during the 1970s.

issue137 29

Schneider TROPHY CENTENARY Schneider Trophy sea plane air races energised technologies, sparked intense international rivalries and captured unprecedented public interest. It all began 100 years ago… acques Schneider, son of a wealthy French steel and arms manufacturer, thrived on high-speed boats and became a renowned racer of hydroplanes. Then, in 1908, he met Wilbur Wright and embraced a second passion – aviation.

In 1912, Schneider united his two great loves in a single vision: la Coupe d’Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider,

J

30 rolls-royce.com

an annual competition to foster the development of practical aircraft with good range and payload that would feature the best of hydroplane and flying-machine technologies.

Marine-based aircraft, he believed, offered unique potential to boost international trade and link nations in harmony.

The first Schneider Trophy, as the race became known, attracted

applications from wealthy individuals and aircraft manufacturers in seven countries. Powered flight, scarcely a decade old, had already ignited excitement throughout the western world and the first event, in Monaco on 16 April, 1913, focused international attention.

The fact that only four aircraft entered, all of them French, failed to dampen enthusiasm. The tulipwood

veneer Deperdussin monoplane of Maurice Prevost, with its 160hp rotary engine, claimed victory in front of a huge crowd at an average speed of 73kph (46mph) – and with it the Schneider Trophy. It proved the one and only French victory.

1914’s Monaco race provided much more excitement, although most entries again relied on derivatives or conversions of land-based aircraft.

HISTORIC

Here Gilbert’s MoraneSaulnier seaplane takesoff at Monaco in the first Schneider Trophy contest in April 1913.

Below The magnificent Schneider Trophy is now kept at the London Science Museum.

Victory went to a British Sopwith floatplane at nearly twice the pace of the 1913 event – 140kph, (87mph).

Resuming in 1919 after World War I, the races began to show a sharper international competitive edge with Italy, France and Britain vying for honours. At first Italy dominated and only a narrow 1922

win by Britain’s Supermarine Sea Lion II at a record speed of 233kph (145mph) prevented Italy claiming a third consecutive win and thereby, according to the contest’s rules, gaining the trophy for all time.

By 1923 the fame of the event had crossed the Atlantic, attracting teams from the US Army and Navy, both anxious to counter rapidly-reducing funding of the US military by financing development of highprofile racing aircraft. The US pitch paid-off handsomely, with Navy Curtiss CR-3 floatplane conversions thrilling huge crowds on the south coast of England and taking first and second places, notching a 285kph (177.28mph) winning average.

When Baltimore, MD, hosted the next race in 1925, Americans warmly welcomed the flying circus to town and witnessed dramatic displays of low-level, high-speed flight. By now entries were evolving into purposebuilt Schneider ‘specials’ and Italian and British pilots flew

furiously, only to see victory clinched for the US Army Air Service with a Curtiss R2C-2 flown at 374kph (232.57mph) by Lt Jimmy Doolittle (1896-1993), already well on his way to becoming the United States’ most famed airman.

By the 1926, event powerful political undercurrents began to swirl, with Italy’s

dictator Benito Mussolini decreeing Italy would win – whatever the cost.

Mario Castoldi, chief designer of the Aeronautica Macchi company, reacted by abandoning the flyingboat in favour of a streamlined float-plane, the M.39, powered by an ambitious V-12 Fiat engine of 882hp.

Il Duce’s exhortations and money proved wondrous incentives, ensuring Italy claimed the trophy once again.

PERFORMANCE But race pilots were beginning to pay a heavy price for the drive to gain ever-higher performance. 1,000hp high-compression V-24 engines developed by Italy for the 1927 race proved dangerously unreliable and one of its pilots died in a test-flight crash. But the 875hp Napier Lion V-12 engines powering Britain’s five entries held together to ensure a Supermarine S.5, designed by the company’s chief engineer Reginald Mitchell, claimed the win in front of 200,000 spectators. Significantly, its speed, at 453kph (281.65mph), proved faster than virtually all current land-based aircraft, emphasising the extent to which the trophy

had evolved into a force for fiercely competitive national prestige.

In Britain, the Napier Lion engine was reaching the end of its development potential and when Supermarine and the Air Ministry approached Henry Royce about the prospect of producing a potential world-beating successor he agreed at once, recognising its reputational value. Royce, the story goes, sketchedout his concept for the new engine with his stick in the sand near his seaside home, explaining its main dimensions and characteristics to his small audience of key Rolls-Royce engineers.

With just six months from contract award to the 1929 race, the challenge for both Rolls-Royce and Reginald Mitchell, designer of the new Supermarine S.6, was enormous.

The bold new R engine design featured extensive advanced materials, a high-performance supercharger and novel fuel additives to improve combustion at high boost pressures.

The first of just 19 R engines to be built ran five months before the 1929 race. Engineers faced countless mechanical failures during bench trials but continual redesigning and testing of components improved reliability and performance.

Flight tests in the new Supermarine S.6 began four months after the racing engine’s first test-bed run, giving Mitchell and his pilots just six weeks to test the potent combination of this massively highly-tuned engine within the slim, all-metal seaplane.

On 7 September, more than a million people crowded the beach at Calshot, watching breathlessly as first one, then

ISSUE137 31

Left Henry Royce (centre) with the Schneider Trophy winning team of 1929.

Below The Reginald Mitchell designed Supermarine S.6B was powered by the Henry Royce designed R engine.

a second, Italian rival pulled out through mechanical failure. Both Supermarine S.6s flew perfectly, giving Britain overwhelming victory at 529kph (328.63mph). Could a third and ultimate Schneider Trophy be in Britain’s grasp in 1931?

Mussolini had other ideas, establishing a high-speed flying school on Lake Garda to put selected pilots through 18 months of intensive training for the 1931 event. Again, the race would prove an Anglo-Italian duel: Rolls-Royce against Fiat, Supermarine against Macchi, Mitchell against Castoldi. And again Britain would have home advantage.

FORMIDABLE But off-stage drama intervened when the British government suddenly withdrew its support. All seemed lost for the British team until the charismatic Lady Lucy Houston threw her formidable political and financial weight into the row, berating the government and stepping in with £100,000 (about £5.5 million or US$8.46 million today) to save the day.

And what a day. On 13 September, a million spectators packed the shores.

32 rolls-royce.com

But sadly they were to watch a one-team race, for tragedy had struck the Italians once again with the death of their team leader in a test flight of the advanced new M.C.72.

Italy petitioned to have the race postponed but the British refused, such was the potential prestige of their third and permanent Schneider Trophy triumph.

Would the hot-rod R engines, burning special fuels to produce nearly 2,000hp, last the 350km (217.48 miles) course? Would the sleek

new blue-andsilver S.6B seaplanes prove manoeuvrable enough with all that power and torque? Flt Lt John Boothman provided the answers, streaking over the finishing line with an average speed of 547kph (340.08mph).

Boothman and all of Britain celebrated long and hard, while

his S.6B can be seen today (with a Rolls-Royce R engine and the Schneider Trophy itself ) in London’s Science Museum.

The Schneider Trophy failed to fulfil the hopes of Jacques Schneider, for marine aircraft gained only a niche role in the world of aviation.

But Schneider certainly empowered major progress in aviation technologies.

A F Sidgreaves, managing director of Rolls-Royce in the 1930s, declared the trophy had compressed ten years of engine development into just 24 months.

R engines went on to power successful world speed record attempts on land and water, while for Rolls-Royce its hard-won R engine experience led directly to the development of arguably the most effective power unit of World War II – the Merlin.

Author: John Hutchinson is an independent writer on a range of topics including technology. He has worked in various corporate and media communication roles, never far from the leading-edge industry of aerospace.

Trusted to deliver excellence

®

®

®

Published quarterly Material contained in this magazine may be reprinted but permission must be obtained in advance from the Editor.

Picture credits All photographs Rolls-Royce plc except: Cover, P12-13, P14-15, US Air Force P2-P3 top, P4-P5, P6 bottom, P7, P8, Peter Holman, Motordrive Photographic P16-17, P18-19 top, P20 top centre, Norwegian Coast Guard P18-19 main, P20 top left, top right, main, portrait, Andrew Siddons, Peak Photographic Ltd P21, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation P24, P25 top, NHS Grampian P25 bottom, P26, Ken Taylor Photography P29 top, Crown Copyright P30, Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library) Copyright owned by photographer/organisation.

Please inform us if your details have changed If your details have changed, or if you would like a colleague to receive complimentary issues of The Rolls-Royce Magazine, please contact the circulation department for an application form via email: craig.brown@rolls-royce.com The information in this document is the property of Rolls-Royce plc and may not be copied, communicated to a third party, or used for any purpose other than that for which it is supplied, without the express written consent of Rolls-Royce plc.

While this information is given in good faith based upon the latest available to Rolls-Royce plc, no warranty or representation is given concerning such information, which must not be taken as establishing any contractual or other commitment binding upon Rolls-Royce plc or any of its subsidiary or associated companies.

Download ‘The Rolls-Royce Magazine’ App free from the following:

Scan the code to access www.rolls-royce.com