Williams EJ22

Last updated
EJ22
Type Turbofan
National origin United States
Manufacturer Williams International
First run2000

The Williams EJ22 was a small turbofan engine that was being developed by Williams International for very light jet (VLJ) aircraft applications.

Contents

Development

Williams International had been building small turbofan engines for cruise missile applications since the 1960s, and had successfully entered the general aviation market in 1992 with the FJ44 engine. That same year, NASA initiated a program, Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE), to partner with manufacturers and help develop technologies that would revitalize the sagging general aviation industry. In 1996, Williams joined AGATE's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program to develop a clean-sheet fuel-efficient turbofan engine that would be even smaller than the FJ44 and designated the FJX-2 engine. This provided $100 million in research and development funding for the new engine. [1]

Initially, Williams contracted with Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to design and build the Williams V-Jet II, a Very Light Jet (VLJ) to use as a testbed and technology demonstrator to showcase the new engine. The aircraft, powered by two interim FJX-1 man-rated version of Williams' cruise-missile engine, debuted at the 1997 Oshkosh Airshow. Development of the FJX-2 engine progressed, most of the design work was completed during 1998 with initial prototype parts being delivered in the second quarter of that year. The FJX-2 engine was designed with many experimental systems and manufacturing processes to minimize parts count and lower production costs and having a bypass ratio of 4:1. As a result, there were many technical difficulties and failures of the initial prototype hardware. However, subsequent re-designs and the incorporation of more conventional systems resulted in the engine eventually meeting the NASA requirement of 700 lbf (3,100 N) thrust. The program ultimately culminated with altitude testing at the NASA Glenn Research Propulsion Systems Laboratory from March - April 2000.

In 2000, Williams joined with Eclipse Aviation to develop an FAA-certified version of the FJX-2, designated the EJ22, to be used on the Eclipse 500 VLJ due for first flight in June 2002. This would be an unprecedentedly short period of time to develop a new man-rated turbofan engine. The new EJ22 powered the Eclipse 500 prototype on its first flight in the summer of 2002, but never flew with the EJ22 again; Eclipse terminated their contract in late 2002 and switched to the more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW600 series. [2] [1] Following termination of the contract, development work and FAA certification was halted shortly thereafter.[ citation needed ].

Eclipse initially required the engine to produce 770 lbf (3,400 N) thrust, exceeding the 700 lbf (3,100 N) rating of the FJX-2 by 10%. To achieve the required thrust-specific fuel consumption, the EJ22 turbofan was designed as a three spool engine having a fan, two axial compressors and three expansion turbines. As a result, the engine was significantly more complicated than any prior Williams International engine. While very impressive on the test stand, the EJ22 proved quite temperamental during the two years of its development process and it was frequently subject to problems starting, overheating, part failures and various subsystem issues.

Specifications

Data from [3]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

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References

  1. 1 2 Noland, David (November 2005). "The Little Engine That Couldn't". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 25 October 2022. The Eclipse 500 never again flew with EJ22s. Three months later, Eclipse Aviation announced: “The EJ22 is not a viable solution for the Eclipse 500 aircraft, and Williams International has not met its contractual obligations.” Williams conceded that it had run into “a number of challenges” with the EJ22 but insisted it had satisfied the contract, implying that the airplane had simply grown too heavy.
  2. "Eclipse Aviation Completes Two Successful Flights of First Eclipse 500 Certification Flight Test Aircraft". 2004-12-31. Archived from the original on 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  3. NASA. "FJ44 compressor image". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on June 7, 2001. Retrieved November 21, 2007.