UK-based components supplier GKN Aerospace has completed and delivered the first high-voltage Electrical Wiring Interconnection System (EWIS) for the Clean Aviation SWITCH project.
The AC wire harnesses, designed, assembled and tested at GKN Aerospace’s site in Papendrecht, the Netherlands, enable megawatt-class hybrid electric propulsion. Additional units will be shipped in July to Collins Aerospace’s advanced electric power systems lab, The Grid, in Rockford, Illinois, and will undergo system integration testing later this year. The system will then support hybrid-electric Pratt & Whitney GTF engine demonstrator testing at EME Aero in Poland.
The SWITCH project is an international collaboration focused on developing advanced aircraft propulsion technologies for enabling improved efficiency and performance in future short- and medium-range aircraft. Led by a consortium including MTU Aero Engines AG, RTX businesses Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace, Airbus and GKN Aerospace, SWITCH is supported by the European Union through the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking.
“The delivery of GKN’s high-voltage electric wiring system to RTX is a critical next step toward demonstrating the effectiveness of hybrid-electric propulsion technology for future aircraft platforms,” said Kristin Smith, Vice President, Electric Power Systems at Collins Aerospace. “As part of the SWITCH project, Collins’s powertrain system will begin testing later this year at The Grid lab before assembly and test of two Collins megawatt-class power motor generators within a full-scale Pratt & Whitney GTF demonstrator engine.”
Source: GKN Aerospace
