Chinese designed “revolutionary” aircraft engine could fly 10x the speed of the Concord
Credit: Shutterstock
Scientists from China have developed an aircraft engine set to revolutionise air travel, capable of 20,000 km/h.
Scientists from China develop aircraft engine set to revolutionise commercial air travel
It has been more than two decades since the final Concorde flight touched the ground and ended the supersonic dream of a jet intended to revolutionise commercial air travel.
Now, companies and organisations in the industry race to reintroduce an aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound.
America’s Boom Supersonic was the States attempt, and the closest to bringing back supersonic passenger jets.
However, a group of engineers from China now puts their hat in the ring, claiming to have invented the world’s most powerful detonation engine for hypersonic flight, as reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP)
Revolutionary air-breathing engine allows for acceleration 16 times the speed of sound
The new engine, designed by Zhang Yining and his team at the Beijing Power Machinery Institute, has the potential to dramatically change the aviation industry.
According to the SCMP, the revolutionary air-breathing engine, in theory, will lift an aircraft from a runway to more than 30 km into the stratosphere and continuously accelerate it to 16 times the speed of sound.
If this is true, it would be possible to travel from New York City to London in just 17 minutes, with SCMP stating “At this velocity, even the longest intercontinental flights could take just one or two hours while consuming less fuel compared with conventional jet engines.”
How the new Chinese designed engine works, and compares against competitors
The engine operates in two distinct modes. Firstly, below Mach 7 speed (8,640 km/h), it functions as a continuous rotating detonation engine, meaning it mixes the outside air with fuel and is ignited, creating a shock wave that propagates in an annular, or ring-shaped, chamber.
Above Mach 7, according to the paper published by the designers, the shock wave stops rotating and focuses on a circular platform at the engine’s rear, maintaining thrust through a nearly straight-line oblique detonation format.
A key feature of the new engine is that the fuel detonates automatically as it reaches the rear platform due to the high speed of incoming air.
Relying primarily on detonation for propulsion, the engine is completely different from traditional jet engines used by commercial jets.
With this engine, an aircraft will be able to propel to speeds of up to Mach 16, more than 19,700 km/h.
To contextualise this engine, the Concorde had a maximum cruising speed of 2.04 Mach, or 2,500 km/h; Zhang Yining’s engine promises nearly a 10x increase in aircraft speed.
