Turbomeca has launched a new family of Arriel 2 turboshafts in support of Eurocopter’s strategy to evolve many of its helicopters, endowing them with more performance and lower operating and maintenance costs, writes ShowNews' John Morris.
Photo: Turbomeca
The Arriel 2+ family (from 894shp to 951shp) is based on the successful Arriel 2 range, of which 10,000 have been delivered and logged 30 million flight hours. The engines bring more power at higher ratings, improved specific fuel consumption, greater reliability, and a 10% reduction in direct maintenance cost. “
That’s quite a breakthrough,” said Philippe Couteaux, Turbomeca’s vice president and general manager for airframes. It will be achieved, he said, by a higher TBO (time between overhaul), up to 4,000 hours at entry into service, then up to 6,000 hours at maturity.
Technical changes include a new axial compressor, a new HP compressor diffuser, new material for the HPT blades, and a new power turbine. Features include a new generation FADEC, engine data recorder, and an engine monitoring program for preventive rather than reactive maintenance.
The new Arriel 2D, Arriel 2E and Arriel 2N members of the new family will respectively power the Eurocopter AS350 B3e, EC145T2 and AS365 N3e. Arriel 2D certification is scheduled mid-2011, the Arriel 2E’s one year later and Arriel 2N’s mid-2013.
The new engines can be run for 30 minutes at takeoff power rating, giving all three helicopters greatly improved one-engine-out performance.
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