Mass storage system reduces aero engine development time

Citation

(1998), "Mass storage system reduces aero engine development time", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 70 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1998.12770baf.025

Mass storage system reduces aero engine development time

Mass storage system reduces aero engine development time

Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe has clinched a $1.5 million mass storage systems contract with specialist systems integrator Kayser Threde GmbH. The contract will enable aero engine manufacturer BMW Rolls-Royce to store real-time, high and low speed measurement data, video graphics and hand-written test reports from two engine test beds at its new $1 billion test data analysis centre (TDAC) near Berlin, Germany.

The initial system provides over 16 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity and is a major component of a multi-million dollar turnkey systems contract won by Munich-based Kayser Threde. The core Sony PetaSite storage system will ultimately be grown to over 200 TB ­ equivalent to the storage capacity of 200,000 average desktop PCs.

The Sony PetaSite uses digital technology originally developed by Sony for handling video material in the fast access world of television and will hold all test data made worldwide, on new engines and their components. The data are important for the development of competitive engines that are lightweight, use less fuel and produce fewer emissions, as well as for tracking maintenance throughout each engine's commercial life.

"Worldwide access to our test data analysis centre must be reliable and swift for our engine development teams," commented Herr Karl Heinz Pieck, TDAC project leader of BMW Rolls-Royce. "For this to happen, digital storage in tape libraries is the only practical method of holding data and Sony was one of the few companies in the world capable of producing such a large and scalable system. With the advantages of the Sony system, together with the integration solution provided by Kayser Threde, we will be able to optimise our development and production process, so that we will achieve remarkable time and cost reductions."

Engine testing began recently at the new hi-tech BMW Rolls-Royce development and testing centre in Dahlwitz, near Berlin. All data which are produced on the different test units of BMW Rolls-Royce worldwide are gathered together in the TDAC. With several thousand sensors on a typical prototype, test engine or engine in service, an enormous volume of data is created, which must all be captured and then stored for a long period of time in order to satisfy engineering requests. Information is stored on the accuracy, reliability, effectiveness, speed and quality of the system, and engineers need to be able analyse and reanalyse these data from different perspectives.

The BMW Rolls-Royce mass storage system centres around a new Sony PetaSite scaleable digital tape library system fitted with Sony DIR-1000 series digital instrumentation recorders, capable of storing up to 100 GB per tape cartridge at transfer rates as high as 32 Mbytes per second.

The first phase of the implementation of the Sony PetaSite has been completed and will be used to store data from the existing archive. The second phase of the project is expected to see the introduction of several more Sony digital instrumentation recorders in the test beds themselves, to capture test data directly prior to archiving. All test beds will then be connected to the system, which will archive test data for a combined sales target of 3,000 jet engines between now and the year 2010.

BMW Rolls-Royce is currently manufacturing the BR710 (14,000-16,000lb thrust) and BR715 (16,500-22,000lb thrust) engines, with more powerful engines in development. Detailed design work by highly skilled engineers and extensive testing have enabled the company to produce engines that use between 10 and 15 per cent less fuel, with lower noise and lower gas emissions. A dual stage combustion engine in development will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by a further 33 per cent. Global data transfer will make data held on each engine available to the worldwide service network for regular inspection, reconditioning and repair of engines throughout their life. Time of development for the BR710 was reduced to only three years, which is sensational in comparison to the usual eight or ten years period.

The test data analysis centre is controlled by a Silicon Graphics super computer for realtime data analysis and company-wide high speed distribution of the archived data via fibre optic LAN. Kayser Threde is responsible for all the hardware and software interfacing and customer specific real-time coding for the TDAC.

Commenting on the contract, John Adam, product manager, Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe, said: "We have achieved a great deal since entering the mass storage marked in 1993 and are proud to be working with Kayser Threde and BMW Rolls-Royce on such an important and strategic application. We hope that this will be the first of many commercial applications of our high-end mass storage systems".

The contract is the world's first commercial application of the new Sony PetaSite digital mass storage system which, in addition to industrial, scientific and engineering uses, is being targeted at a wide variety of growing data intensive application areas including remote sensing, aerospace, radar, sonar, oil and gas, multimedia and document management applications.

Details from Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe, Sander Verkerk. Tel: +44 (0) 1256 483161; Fax: +44 (0) 1256 812232; E-mail: bpe.pr@ccmail.eu.sony.co.jp