This Genius Invention Could Transform Jet Engines

Mike McCune is an engineer with Pratt & Whitney, the airplane manufacturer. After 30 years of development, he's created a gearbox for a jet engine that makes them 75% quieter and 15% more fuel efficient. That's a savings of about $1.5 million per airplane each year.

[AgentJayZ]

This may be a very good incremental improvement, but it is no breakthrough, and it is not a first.
The Garrett TFE731 is a geared turbofan engine that has been powering small to medium sized aircraft for over 40 years.
This is a larger engine, but using the same idea that's been flying for decades.

[iinRez]

I like the guy who covered this, a man who respects his momma is a respectable man indeed.

[GuyMahoney]

We've invented an innovative new design the world has never known!

A FUCKING TRANSMISSION.

[Sacto]

Pratt & Whitney has been studying this idea for more than 30 years. Remember, the geared turbofan was an outgrowth of the Pratt & Whitney/Allison 578-DX propfan project from the 1980's. It was in the early 2000's P&W started serious research into a geared turbofan, an the result is the PW1000G series _PurePower_ engines we see today. I really hope that P&W teams up with Rolls-Royce (through the IAE consortium) to build bigger geared turbofan engines, ones that could possibly end up on the Airbus A350XWB, Boeing 777-8/-9 and 787 airliners for even quieter operation and lower fuel burn. Already, the PW1124G engine on the Airbus A320neo is incredibly quiet, to say the least.

[outerlimitsurvey]

The video should explain why the gearbox is "incredibly simple yet fiendishly difficult." Is it because the cogs spin so fast they fly apart? Expansion and contraction during the heat/cooling cycle? Lubrication failure in the bearings?

[MegamanTheSecond]

a gearbox...stop with the clickbait a gearbox isnt a genius breakthrough its 50 Years too late wtf

[alexanderstromer]

What a genius. Takes 30 years for installing a gearbox.

[hp]

So a planetary gear system like that in the front hub of tractors.

[MVHiltunen]

Let's clear something: The invention is not about "hey let's use a gear box!" This is something any bootfucked engineer would think of at the instant he's introduced to the problem. Mostly this is just really badly told news by Bloomberg, thinking their viewers couldn't handle any more complexities that are present here (none). The gearing of jet engines is in fact quite tricky and in this case, the ratio should be variable. Any classic gearing scheme would lead to bigger losses at the speeds of jet turbines than what can be saved with lowered compressor speeds.

[OregonDARRYL]

But who wants to fly any more? I'd rather crawl naked to most places than take a plane.

[sophrapsune]

Great story.
Fuel comprises a substantial (~40%) of an airline's costs, so a 15% efficiency saving is very dramatic.
The idea seems so obvious, it is a wonder that it hasn't been a feature of turbofan engines from day one.
The story would've been better if it had explained why this innovation was so difficult that it took 35 years to develop.

[presidentoxford]

2.56 Try standing behind it & see how the call goes.

[abrahamedelstein]

I feel like they're just giving the layman's take on this, I refuse to buy that it took them half a century to come up with a gear box that lets the turbine and compressor work at their optimal efficiency, in fact I always assumed it was how turbofans worked.

[AlphaMatador]

I live in a community next to O'hare that is now getting a ton of airplane noise due to the expansion! This makes me so happy! I hope this innovation revolutionizes airplane noise!! Thank you for your hard work!!

[VolksTrieb]

Mama its me. Iam standing INFRONT of a Jet engine which is idling to test how LOUD it is -.-

[carroll]

I worked on P/W & GE Jet and Turbo Fan Engines while in the Airforce and loved it. I used to service Rebuild and Test Live.

[johnwattdotca]

Hey! Deep Purple set a rock record when they had a sound system as loud as an old jet airliner.
Get this quieter one out and my band might beat that.

[AmxCsifier]

this channel is better than I expected

[StoutProper]

Anything that takes thirty years to design must be complicared. Complicated shit goes wrong and needs maintenance.

[Judeable]

I've met and worked once with Mike he is a smart guy. The gearbox he created is basically the same as a planetary gear system you find in a propeller engine. But it has a couple differences.