The Boeing 787 is the first aircraft in which 50% of it is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic instead of aluminum. The result: fuel economy, a larger cabin, higher air pressure and humidity, silence and a longer flight range * Interview with Randy Tissnath, director of product and service marketing at the Civil Aviation Group
Boeing's new 787, which is in mass production these days in preparation for the first delivery of the units to airlines around the world, is the first plane in the world whose chassis and wings are built mainly from composite materials. In fact, this plane contains composite materials at about 50% of its weight, compared to 11% - the proportion of composite materials in the previous Boeing 777 plane. This is what Randy Tissnath, director of product and service marketing in the civil aviation group at Boeing, who recently arrived in Israel, says in a special interview for the scientist website. To present the plane to aviation reporters, and of course to representatives of the Israeli airlines.
Contrary to what one might think, the use of composite materials in aviation began back in the sixties. Although these materials were very expensive, the demand for high performance in the Cold War era increased the use of these materials. Many years of research, experiments and refinements have resulted in the production of materials that are used for all the uses for which aluminum was previously used.
During the press conference Tissnath passed a section of the fuselage made of carbon-reinforced plastic. The material is very strong, and a strong impact on it hardly creates a scratch, it is also much lighter than copper and large parts of the plane can be produced at once through baking, where before 1,200 aluminum units were required with all 40 thousand nails needed to join them together.
How did you come up with this type of material?
We realized many years ago that we must switch to lighter and more durable materials. Until then we only knew how to work with aluminum and other metals. They are heavy and subject to corrosion. In the 777s we started using these materials to some extent. Boeing is a conservative company and it took time until we added a little in each plane. We saw the success of the XNUMX and decided to build an entire plane from this material. This was especially possible thanks to the fact that the plane was designed from the ground up and was not built on the basis of a previous plane."
"The carbon-reinforced plastic consists of a lattice of carbon fibers baked together to form a rigid material. It is ideal for airplanes because it does not suffer from corrosion, and when a crack occurs it does not expand or lengthen. Damage in this material continues to be localized. We managed to improve the material, better understand its properties, we managed to perfect the production methods. From an operational point of view, the beauty of this material - it is difficult to damage it, but when it is damaged, the composite material can be patched within an hour. The downtime of an aircraft is much shorter compared to the current situation with aluminum aircraft. Everything we do on this plane is to make it more flyable. and reduce flights so that the airlines will be more profitable."
The use of lighter materials allows first and foremost to save fuel, but there are other balances required for airplane passengers. "Every planning has several goals and you try to find the right balance between the goals. range speed, reducing fuel consumption, maintenance costs, noise and emissions. We need to optimize the planning to achieve the maximum." Tisnath says.
An example of a compromise that will no longer be necessary in the new plane is the problem of air pressure in the passenger cabin. Today the air pressure. Today, airplanes have an atmosphere with a pressure similar to that of high mountains, such as those on which the city of Bogotá in Colombia is located - too much time in the pressure and dryness of the airplanes causes 8% of the passengers to suffer from flight sickness. In order to maintain a level closer to that of the sea level, until now it was necessary to use more energy than the plane was able to produce, and there were other reasons that caused this compromise. Now it will not be necessary and it will be possible to raise the pressure and humidity to the level of lower mountains, where the effective result in terms of the feeling of the passengers is similar to that at sea level.
"We want to bring passengers a more relaxing experience. Flying can be a difficult experience. To make the journey more pleasant - the light makes a difference because it gives a sense of comfort. It allows the light to be adjusted to the changes of the day as if we were in a stable place. You can increase the humidity, the altitude of the plane is lower and closer to sea level than to the top of a high mountain. Less smells, less burning in the eyes. All these things together will make it possible to build a more relaxed atmosphere."
"It will also be possible to install larger shelves to store the passengers' handbags overhead. On many planes you arrive and see that all the seats are full and your suitcase is taken to a place where you have no access. With the large compartments you can store everything you need next to your chair. As a business traveler this is very important.
We can provide an option to charge the laptops although this will be done more according to the airlines' requirements in the expensive classes, there may be charging points in the tourist class. if they ask us. We can also provide such systems.
An important issue that has been emphasized is the range. 787 can fly 8-8.5 thousand miles. The plane will be able to fly from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles. When we designed the 787, almost every decision we made had an impact on the range. If you make the plane wider by one centimeter it has a negative impact on weight and efficiency, increasing the range also has a negative impact on weight and efficiency. We have done a very good job to give everything that the airline requires and that everything will be economically viable. It was of course possible to develop other technologies.
"What do you think is the improvement that will be made in the next generation to make the planes even lighter?
"The long-term improvements are in what we call fiber. I was talking about nanotechnology. In the future it will be possible to engineer the fibers from which the composite materials are made so that they are lighter and stronger and then it will be possible to make the materials better. The idea is to redesign the materials at the molecular level."
The new plane will also have improved engines with much larger blades. Although they will not be built from composite materials, but General Electric and Rolls Royce, the manufacturers have designed them using computers to be quieter and more efficient. The larger fans allow a better flow of air. Engines are separate - their technology should be made of materials that allow for high temperature and the higher the temperature, the better they produce energy and therefore the materials in the engine are in the right balance between the cost of the material and ensuring that it works at high temperatures. Because the plane is more economical With 20% less fuel than previous aircraft, it is worth noting that the weight of the fuselage provides only a part of this savings. Another considerable part of it is achieved thanks to the improvements in the engines.
The hood of the engine is very smooth on the inside to avoid unnecessary friction. We use production techniques to increase the canopy by 75 cm. The improvement means a saving of 75 thousand liters of fuel per year per plane.
It's a more electric plane than ours so far. In a normal airplane we take hot air from the engine, cool it down and reduce the pressure in the process, losing energy. We switched to a completely electric design. This enables savings of 3% and lowers maintenance costs by 2%, weight savings, improved engine reliability.
Another feature of the plane is the smooth wings that the plane's computer has greater control over their aerodynamics while flying (albeit up to 60 percent, but this is also enough to save fuel). The wings are also longer than those of other planes of the same size (wingspan - XNUMX m) and appear to be curved upwards.
And there are also small but equally important details. The entertainment system will be wireless. According to Tissnath "the main advantage is the elimination of the cables, which will reduce the weight and lower the boxes that are inside the chair. This will be done by servers and other systems that will be installed on the plane itself. We are creating a transmission in the plane so that it will allow wide film communication and the ability to store and process a large amount of information. One of our goals is to ensure that all systems around the aircraft can connect to this network. Over time, if newer technology arrives, we'll just replace the boxes. It will be easier to upgrade and we can move forward together with technology.
The planes like 777 will have to be E-ENABLE. Every passenger will want a link to the Internet. The entire aircraft will be linked in a ribbon-wide link with the people on the ground and with other aircraft. The plane itself will communicate with the maintenance personnel. In the long run, it will be possible to optimize air traffic if all the planes are linked and the information on their movement in real time is available not only to the airline and the local inspectors, but to everyone it will be possible to reduce the launch windows to a minute or two, and we can work in real time, and if we run off course due to a storm The system will be able to handle this and find solutions.
And we haven't even talked about noise reduction, mainly thanks to the planning of the air flow from the engines during takeoff and during cruise, and about the experiments that are done to check how the elderly manage in the plane (the young testers are dressed in clothing that restricts movement and glasses that restrict vision) and dozens of other small details that Boeing prepares during the design and construction of the plane , so that we can feel comfortable as passengers.
While the competitor Airbus is building a much larger plane, Boeing therefore chose to go as is usually said about quality and improving flight conditions. The result is an extremely efficient and passenger-friendly plane, the need as mentioned is 20% less fuel than any other plane of the same size. The number of seats is 210-250, flight range - 15-15.6 thousand km, it has two aisles, and the width of the passenger compartment is 574 cm. The length of the plane is 57 m and its height is 17 m, the internal size is the same as that of a 777, the flight speed is Mach 0.85. Beyond passenger luggage, it can also carry 5 pallets and five cargo compartments.
Maximum take-off weight: 21,591 kg.
The start of production of the plane will be this year, and next year, 2007 will be the first test flight. Approval by the authorities is expected in 2008 and since then and for the next 30 years - units of it will be sold to airlines, the first of which is New Zealand's airline.
