Inside the Complex US F-35 Engine Manufacturing Assembly Line

hello everyone and welcome back to the flectus channel the need for dependable high-performance engine designs has become more and more necessary with the advancement of the aviation industry both in the military and civilian air transport sectors [Music] this need became very obvious as far back as the 1950s when airplanes began switching from propeller driven engines to jet engines arrow engine manufacturers too have been in a neck to neck race to meet this pressing need with pratt and whitney counting amongst the most successful of them headquartered in east hartford connecticut the company has been producing engines for both civil and military crafts since 1925. reciprocating engines to turbo jet and even rocket propulsion the company has grown alongside the aerospace industry from the very start to this new age of propulsion systems what you're seeing with aircraft is they're becoming more integrated and there's no better example of that than the propulsion system pratt and whitney's engines have been used on some of the united states air force's most popular and valuable aircraft [Music] among them is the f-35 lightning the newest generation of u.s fighter aircraft that rely on specially designed pratt and whitney engine for propulsion it uses a custom f-135 low bypass augmented turbofan engine offering over 40 thousand pounds of thrust [Music] the main thrust here is improving the emission weighted fuel burn of this engine we put in a package of advanced aerodynamics in both the compressor and turbine shooting for a five percent reduction in fuel burn and we pretty much achieve that goal the f-135 engine production line is one of the most mind-blowing marvels of modern engineering it's a combination of automated work instructions precise machining laser ultrasonic inspection automated drilling and laser projection rolled together some parts of the engine are made in londale canada and in poland [Music] the final assembly however takes place in middletown connecticut in the united states where in 2014 pratt and whitney took engine technology a step further by switching from the vertical to the horizontal assembly system this concept had been on trial in the company's branch in canada powering the cs series of aircraft for more benchmarking the team of engineers also traveled to europe to study audi corporation's efficient r8 cars horizontal engine model horizontal aircraft engine assembly automatically eliminates all the tooling interfaces leading to increased productivity the reliability of this engine was also proven through the accelerated mission testing this testing method is used to rapidly age an engine by causing it to accumulate several years of running time in a short amount of time allowing for the identification and correction of issues before they could occur in normal use another aircraft that uses pratt and whitney's engine for propulsion is the c-17 globemaster a strategic airlift plane that has rendered heavy service since it first entered service in 1995. they use it in a very challenging environment and the engine delivers day in and day out they take off from very short runways and unimproved runways and having reliable thrust when you don't have much room is paramount to executing it boasts four pratt and whitney f-117 pw100 turbofan engines similar to those used on commercial airliners [Music] the f-117 engine is the revolutionary part of a c-17 it had the ability to go into desert locations and had the the opportunity to to air drop at very low altitudes in very austere locations with horrible weather weather conditions because the performance of the engine allowed them to get into those places the b-52 another aircraft featuring the jt3d and j-57 engines was essentially built to carry nuclear weapons for cold war era deterrence missions [Music] therefore the ability to save fuel while airborne was integral to its design in fact the b-52 continues to be the only aircraft in service with eight engines the interior of the b-52 is still very revolutionary for its age the bombay doors open up to reveal a near empty compartment which can be stocked with any variety of bombs and other munitions along with engine redundancy boeing was careful to provide plenty of interior system redundancy to protect against potential failures for instance the b-52 features six engine driven hydraulic pumps and four electric backup pumps four generators and two manual emergency landing gear extension and retraction systems [Applause] below the cockpit is a tactical mission area where two operators work to keep the plane on track while controlling the aircraft's weapons the plane was also equipped with the defensive aerial tail gun designed as a potential nuclear response craft it was essential that the b-52 be able to get airborne very quickly this led to what's known as the cart start to execute this launch procedure the flight crew together with the crew chief scrambles to the plane where they remove pre-flight check flags and then into the craft explosive charges are then used to fire up the engines which would normally take up to one hour to warm up in most cases however a cart start can have the b-52 going in 10 minutes besides the differences in the engine types and the unique starting methods of some aircraft another distinct difference is the engine placement mini planes manufactured by learjet for instance feature rear-mounted engines which are positioned near the tail on either side of the fuselage the boeing 727 is also known for this design as is the boeing 717 the crj 200 to 1000 and the mcdonnell douglas md 8x series of jetliners this is in stark contrast to the majority of large commercial and military craft like the b-52 and boeing 747 which feature underwing engines rear-mounted engines are ideal for protecting against issues related to engine failure if one engine were to stall mid-flight the pilot would have to deal with much less asymmetric thrust as the engines are so close to the center line [Music] when an underwing engine goes out the resulting yaw can make it difficult for the pilot to maintain control unfortunately rear-mounted engines are also extremely loud for passengers near the back of the plane [Music] they also need a horizontal stabilizer to be placed above them resulting in a t-tail design by contrast underwing engines are easier to service and do not result in the noise issues associated with their tail mounted counterparts this configuration also provides wing bending relief which can reduce wing structure weight and allows for an overall lighter plane [Music] all in all both designs have their benefits but who knows the airplanes of the future may rely on something different altogether [Music] that's the end of this video i hope you enjoyed it make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content see you next time you

Channel: Fluctus

Views: 80,724

Keywords: Pratt & Whitney, F135, F-35, C-17 Globemaster, F117, 5th generation engine, HArrier aircraft, STOVL, B-52, JT3D, J57, engine pods, air force scrambling, cart start, Boeing 747, CRJ200-1000, MD-8X Boeing 747

Id: TLfO4uUztIk

Length: 11min 1sec (661 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022