Safran Aircraft Engines will coordinate the demonstration of new Open Fan engine technologies with 26 European key players as part of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking project OFELIA.
Safran Aircraft Engines, a leading French engine manufacturer, is set to coordinate the demonstration of new Open Fan engine technologies in partnership with 26 industry European key players as part of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking project OFELIA. The consortium, which includes industry giants such as Airbus, Avio Aero, and GKN Aerospace, as well as research labs and academics from several countries across Europe, is set to receive €100 million in European funding from Clean Aviation.
OFELIA’s objective is to showcase the benefits of an open fan architecture in terms of efficiency to address the needs of future generations of Short & Medium Range (SMR) Aircraft by 2035, on the path towards the industry’s target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Open Fan aims to save 20% of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to today’s narrow-body engines.
Under Clean Aviation’s OFELIA initiative, Safran Aircraft Engines and its partners will mature a set of technologies to TRL 5 for low-pressure systems, high-pressure core, and advanced systems, including hybridization, that will pave the way for ground and flight test demonstrations on an Airbus A380 powered with an Open Fan by the middle of this decade. The consortium also targets full compatibility of this disruptive architecture with Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and hydrogen.
Michel Brioude, Executive Vice President, Engineering and R&T, Safran Aircraft Engines, said, “As a world-leading military and commercial engine manufacturer, our responsibility is to develop key technologies that will lead to more sustainable aviation. The Open Fan architecture is the major innovation of our CFM RISE technology demonstration program with GE Aerospace and stands as a key driver to improve next-generation engine efficiency. We are looking forward to partnering with European industry leaders to shape the future of clean aviation.”
The OFELIA roadmap will encompass more than 20 tests at partners’ facilities. Safran Aircraft Engines, Avio Aero, and GKN Aerospace will work together to design and manufacture components for the Open Fan engine Demonstrator. In the meantime, OFELIA will address specific topics of the technology maturation plan for the Open Fan, such as whirl flutter, unducted FAN, propeller and vanes, high-speed booster, high-speed low-pressure turbine aerodynamics, high-power compact reduction gearbox, light-weight engine components, combustor emissions, high-pressure compressor aerodynamics, engine hybridization.
“The OFELIA project is part of Clean Aviation’s 20 daring projects that are researching innovative solutions to power the next generation of sustainable aircraft. Together with the European Union, European aviation has the power to lead the way towards a climate-neutral aviation system and set new global standards for safe, reliable, affordable, and clean air transport”, said Axel Krein, Executive Director, Clean Aviation.
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Safran Aircraft Engines is playing a key role in the Clean Aviation programme in accordance with its strategic roadmap that will explore several ways to reach ambitious goals towards decarbonization. The company is also a partner in the HYDEA project, coordinated by Avio Aero, to develop key enabling technologies for a hydrogen combustion engine. In 2022, Airbus and CFM International signed a partnership agreement to collaborate on a hydrogen demonstration program that will take flight around the middle of this decade.
