Rolls Royce UltraFan

Grey Havoc

ACCESS: USAP
Senior Member
Joined
9 October 2009
Messages
19,711
Reaction score
10,141
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/rolls-royce-ultrafan-could-spark-patent-complaint-p-437769/
 

Around 0.7m (over 2 ft) bigger fan than the biggest Trent.

Intriguing to see a return to the carbon fibre blades originally developed for the early RB-211, but abandoned due to a tendency to fail under birdstrike and similar impact. I guess the heavy titanium leading edge of the ultrafan must have something to do with that.
 
I would assume that carbon composite technology and manufacturing techniques have advanced somewhat in the 50 years since the RB.211 fan blade was developed, also, I'm sure Rolls Royce has studied the GE90 fan blade . . .

cheers,
Robin.
 
Could P&W have 'locked out' rival geared versions by wording patent better ??

I'm thinking of the gaffe made by Darlington's patent guy who only worded it for a pair of close-coupled transistors on chip. "Or More" could have covered literally every microchip until patent lapsed...

Were P&W constrained by 'prior art' of geared super-chargers, turbos etc ??
 
Could P&W have 'locked out' rival geared versions by wording patent better ??

I'm thinking of the gaffe made by Darlington's patent guy who only worded it for a pair of close-coupled transistors on chip. "Or More" could have covered literally every microchip until patent lapsed...

Were P&W constrained by 'prior art' of geared super-chargers, turbos etc ??
Geared turbofans are not new, Garrett introduced the TFE731 half a century ago. Why do you think any particular P&W patent would be relevant to the UltraFan?
 
Last edited:
...when does it just become a leaky turboprop?
Why do you see this conventional shrouded fan engine as related in any way to the turboprop? Are you confusing it with the open propfan type?
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom