One of the most important parts of a plane is the engines. Without them, the wings wouldn't be able to generate lift to get airborne, the cabin wouldn't have electricity, and most aircraft wouldn't have suitable air to breathe.
Knowing how the engines are doing is important information for the pilots. Engine performance data is automatically transmitted to the airline's and engine manufacturer's operations centers when it is sent to the screens in the flight deck. The teams on the ground will be aware of a problem with an engine as soon as the pilots notice it.
How is this data displayed to the pilots, what does it mean, and what do we do when the engines fail?
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It is important to understand how the engine works before diving into the details. The four key stages of a Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 are referred to as "suck, squeeze, bang and blow."
The front stage of the engine is known as the fan. There are many sets of blades through the engine.
The fan is supposed to suck air into the engine Up to 10% of the air doesn't go through the engine's core. It leaves the back of the engine. I'll let you know why in a bit.
The other 10% of air passes through more blades which squeeze the air and increase its pressure. A bang and an increase in heat and energy are caused by the mixture of fuel and igniter in the engine's combustion chamber. The hot air leaves the engine through the turbine blades.
The cold air causes the thrust to increase further, which leads to the aircraft moving forward.
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The compressor and fan at the front of the engine are powered by the turbine downstream. To get them moving during the engine start process, they need either high-pressure air from the auxiliary power unit or an electric motor in the plane.
The extra help is no longer necessary once the engine is running.
The amount of fuel injected into the chamber affects the thrust of the engine. The thrust levers are pushed forward by the pilots. An electrical signal is sent to the engines to increase fuel flow. The speed of the compressor and fan increases as well as the speed of the turbine.
The most fascinating machines ever made.
There is a lot happening while the engine is running. The most important parameters of the engine's performance are fed to the flight deck and displayed on the screens for the pilots to watch.
The hot air in the combustion chamber is used to turn the fan and compressor in the turbine. The air temperature and pressure drop when the energy is taken out of the air. The turbine pressure ratio is the ratio of the air pressure leaving the turbine to the air pressure entering it.
The TPR is the amount of thrust the engine is generating. The thrust produced by the turbine is low because the air pressure entering it is not as high as the air pressure leaving it. If a lot of fuel is sprayed into the combustion chamber, the pressure of the air coming out is higher than that entering, resulting in high thrust and a high TPR.
The TPR gauge in the flight deck is used by pilots to see how much thrust each engine is giving.
The N1 values show the speed of a part of the engine, which is displayed as a percentage of the maximum.
The low-pressure compressor and the low-pressure turbine are connected to the drive shaft by the front fan. Operators use N1 as the primary indication of the engine's speed and thrust because not all aircraft have TPR gauge. Engine speed indications can be provided by the N1 readings if the TPR system fails.
The exhaust gas temperature shows how hot the air is just after the turbine. The EGT on one engine is more hot than the other. The reason for this is that one engine is older than the other.
When an engine reaches a certain number of operational hours, it needs to be removed from the wing and replaced with a new one. If the remaining hours are not enough, engineers will usually remove one engine and keep the other on the wing.
The replacement engine will be newer than the one on the plane. It is a good indication that the older of the two engines is hotter than the EGT when pilots notice it.
A higher-than-normal EGT can show an engine surge or stall.
The high-pressure compressor and the high-pressure turbine are referred to as N2 indications. After the engine is up and running, pilots do not use it very much, but they do monitor it during the engine start. The engine is being turned by air or electric motor at this point. An indication of how well the start process is going is provided by keeping an eye on the N2 rotation.
The high-speed section of the engine is an indicator of the N3 on engines with a third stage. It is only used during the engine start and can be a sign of an engine surge.
In the case of an engine problem, no rotation of the N3 section is a good sign that the engine is in bad shape.
The indication shows the amount of fuel the engine is using. The fuel flow gauge should show 2.5 on each side since the aircraft uses 5 tons an hour. It's usually an indication that the engine is a little older than the other. This theory will be supported by a higher EGT value.
It could be a sign of a fuel leak if the flow rate is high. We would pay more attention to the fuel checks if this is the case. We are fine if it continues to show above our planned remaining fuel.
If there is a significant leak that will result in us landing with less fuel, we may have to shut the engine down and take the plane to a nearby airport.
Oil is needed to keep the parts lubricating. It acts as a cleaner as well. The oil pressure must stay within limits during normal operation.
The engine could fail if the pilots don't act quickly. "ENG OIL PRESS" is displayed by the aircraft alerting system. The crew was told to reduce the power on one of the engines.
They need to shut the engine down before the lack of pressure causes serious damage to the engine.
The oil pressure can be seen increasing in the video.
Ensuring that the oil is at its optimal temperature is important. It can take a little while for the oil temperature to reach the correct level after the engine is started on cold days.
If the oil temperature gets too high, the crew will shut the engine down if they can't keep the temperature under control.
The amount of oil is crucial. The quantity of oil will fall over time. Engineers check the oil levels before each flight to make sure it's okay. If there is a structural failure in the engine, the oil quantity may go down.
Jet fuel and how it works are related.
A jet engine is made up of thousands of parts. As they spin around thousands of times a second, the blades that make up the fan, compressor and turbine need to be balanced out. They have to be weighed with an accuracy of just over zero percent. Damage to one of the blades can cause the disc to vibrate.
Damage is usually caused by a bird strike or ingestion of FOD.
There is a display that shows the correct level of engine noise. The crew is alert if this value goes past four units. High engine vibration is not a problem. It's possible that something else is wrong with the engine.
It is the pilot's cue to look at the other engine parameters to find a source of the problem and to think about a plan of what to do if they have to shut down the engine.
It's important to keep a close eye on how our engines are doing. By knowing what is going on at each stage of the engine, we are able to monitor exactly how the engine is performing and take preventative steps should something go wrong.
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