AEDC workers complete engine test for Japan

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Japanese and U.S. engineers and technicians at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) recently concluded altitude qualification testing on an XF7-10 engine.

"The purpose of the testing was to confirm, by altitude qualification testing, the function and the performance of the XF7-10 engine," said Mitsuru Akitsu, chief researcher and technical official on Japan's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) test project within the Ministry of Defense (MOD). "That engine will power our next generation maritime patrol aircraft, the XP-1. The engine and test article setup began in August. The first tests were run in September and continued through October."

Akitsu said the engine proved it was up to the task during the XP-1's successful maiden flight from Gifu Air Base in Japan Sept. 28.

According to Akitsu, the XF7-10 engine is a high-bypass turbofan engine that TRDI developed to power the XP-1, a newly designed maritime patrol aircraft for the MOD. The XP-1 uses four XF7-10 engines and is destined to replace MOD's P-3C Orion, a turbo-prop powered aircraft that has served in that capacity for 20 years.

"AEDC's role in this testing definitely contributed to the success of their maiden flight of the XP-1 powered by the XF7-10 engine," said Jeff Dodd, the Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) project manager on the engine test. "The main things we were measuring with these tests were thrust and fuel flow - the Japanese were testing in all corners of their flight envelope and checking engine operations at all those points. This included starting and restarting of the engine."

ATA is the prime test contractor at AEDC that operates the center's facilities.

Rick Kamykowski, Arnold's Navy DoD project engineer on the test, said the engine's installation into the test cell was unusually smooth for a first-time entry.

"The Japanese did a very thorough job of planning and it helped us to get things ready on our end," he said. "We were able to start testing Sept. 10 and provided more test time than we had planned to in the process."

Kamykowski said they simulated flying the engine under conditions that would exceed those experienced during flight.

"Thrust and fuel flow were their two critical measurement items," he said. "The Japanese engine company (IHI) built an engine to a TRDI specification and they have to guarantee a certain amount of thrust and fuel flow. The engines are designed to operate in a larger envelope than the aircraft. You want to make sure the engine will operate throughout the entire flight map of the aircraft. They want to hit the corners and make sure they can operate it efficiently and safely. I think the data we obtained from the test entries in early September helped give them a very good feeling nothing unusual was going to happen on their first flight."

Dodd said the second half of the XF7-10 engine altitude qualification test is slated for 2008 with the engine returning in August.

"Testing should begin around the 15th of September," Dodd said. "It's actually the same engine, even the same serial number. They're going to rebuild this engine and then it will come back next year."

Akitsu said the data needed for the evaluation of altitude function and performance will be obtained from these two entries in AEDC's C-2 Test Cell.

"From 2002 until this year, we had tested the XF7-10 development engines in Japan," he said. "This included the Preliminary Flight Rating Test, bird ingestion, altitude endurance. Some of this testing included use of the TRDI flying test bed. Since 2006, the XF7-10 production engines have been tested and completed some additional qualification testing, including icing tests."

Akitsu also explained why AEDC was chosen to conduct the recently completed ground testing of the engine.

"Our altitude test facility in Japan is small and has limited air flow capacity; therefore the test envelope of a high bypass ratio engine such as the XF7-10 is restricted to a small portion of the envelope," he said. "AEDC's C-2 facility has the large airflow capacity required to subject the engine to the full test envelope without restriction. AEDC also provides people with an abundance of engine altitude test experience. We decided AEDC was the most appropriate place for testing the XF7-10."

First Lieutenant Joe Fritschen, AEDC Air Force project manager for the test, said the greatest challenge facing the Japanese and Americans working on the engine test was the language barrier.

"The test team dynamic was certainly different from what you would see on a non-FMS (Foreign Military Sales) program and admittedly language has been a challenge for us at times," he said. "But we've always been able to work though that, with some laughs along the way."

He added, "It's been a unique and rewarding test experience for both the Japanese and the AEDC crews, from an engineering perspective as a new engine entry, and a cultural perspective as well.

"We have a long-standing security arrangement with Japan, dating back to the time of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. That partnership includes helping to ensure they have an adequate self-defense force. The XF7-10 testing at AEDC is part of that effort."