The Rolls-Royce RB.203 Trent was a British medium-bypass
turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...
engine of around 10,000lb thrust designed for production in the late 1960s, bearing no relation to the earlier
Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent
The Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent was the first Rolls-Royce turboprop engine.
Design and development
The Trent was based on a concept by Sir Frank Whittle. It was a Derwent Mark II turbojet engine with a cropped impeller (turbine unchanged)"Rolls ...
turboprop or the later high-bypass
Rolls-Royce Trent
The Rolls-Royce Trent is a family of high-bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce.
It continues the three spool architecture of the RB211 with a maximum thrust ranging from .
Launched as the RB-211-524L in June 1988, the prototype first ...
turbofan.
Design and development
The RB.203 was a private venture engine built on the core of the
Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan used in the
SEPECAT Jaguar
The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force.
Originally ...
and the later
Hawker Siddeley Hawk
Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily ...
.
The first
three-spool engine, it was intended as a civilian replacement for the earlier
Rolls-Royce Spey
The Rolls-Royce Spey (company designations RB.163 and RB.168 and RB.183) is a low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of th ...
.
The RB.203 Trent was a member of an Advanced Technology Engine family of engines with thrusts covering a range from the RB.203 of just under to the
RB.207 of up to . The engine designs were launched at the
SBAC Farnborough Airshow
The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
in September 1966. The Advanced Technology Engine RB.203 embraced the new scalable technologies such as the three-spool architecture, a high pressure
annular combustor
A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the ''combustor'' or combustion chamber is fe ...
, the extensive use of composites throughout the low pressure compressor and engine casing, air-cooled turbine blading, squeeze-film bearings and a structurally integrated duct, the
gearbox
Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), diff ...
driven from the high pressure shaft and located in the nacelle.
The Trent RB.203 design objectives were:
* Lighter, more compact powerplant
* Improved fuel consumption
* Reduced number of parts, resulting in cheaper manufacturing costs and ease of overhaul
* Use of established turbine entry temperatures
* Adequate growth potential.
The engine was aimed primarily at the short-haul market as a Spey replacement. Specific fuel consumption was projected to be better than the then current engines and noise reduction was also a design feature. The Trent was expected to better FAA noise proposals by a considerable margin. Advanced components, which had between 15 years and 10 million service hours, promised long life, reduced weight, reduced vibration and a reduction in manufacturing costs.
The RB203 successfully ran for the first time on 18 December 1967.
As the first in the family of Advanced Technology Engines the RB.203 Trent led the testing and the development of the RB.207 and the
RB.211. The Trent was ordered by Fairchild Hiller to power the
FH-228 short haul airliner.
A key technology introduced on the RB.203 Trent was its structurally integrated
nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attache ...
, also referred to as a
power plant
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many ...
.
Specifications
See also
References
{{Rolls-Royce Trent series
RB203 Trent
1960s turbofan engines
Medium-bypass turbofan engines
Three-spool turbofan engines