Reaction Engines claims to have developed a super air pre-cooler, essential for not melting engines at hypersonic speeds
A major scientific breakthrough released this week could mean the end of long-haul flights after the discovery of a way to prevent aircraft engines from melting when traveling at hypersonic speeds (over 6,000 km/h).
Experts at Reaction Engines , UK, announced that they had successfully tested a “pre-cooler” for the Saber engine, which ran smoothly at simulated speeds of Mach 3.3 (4,047 km/h). The tests were carried out at the company’s base in Colorado, in the United States
The Saber engine is considered “revolutionary” by the British manufacturer as it combines the characteristics of a jet engine with those of a rocket. That is, power is what is not lacking. Reaction Engines also claims that an aircraft equipped with this powertrain will be able to reach very high speeds, but with moderate fuel consumption, similar to that of a jet.
The company explained that the cooling system was able to successfully quench the temperature of the inlet air flow into the engine from 420° Celsius to just 20° in less than a second. According to Reaction Engines, this temperature replicates the thermal conditions corresponding to flight at Mach 3.3, or more than three times the speeds of sound. Such speed is the record of the SR-71 Blackbird , the fastest aircraft in the world produced to date and 50% faster than the supersonic commercial airliner Concorde .
The company, however, still does not disclose details about the new system, but guarantees that it works.
The next Saber engine test will be conducted at a simulated speed of Mach 5.5 (6,791 km/h), Reaction Engines said. Such a pace could cut the flight time between London and New York to less than an hour.
Although it is naturally still far from being used in commercial aviation or even in space, another area of interest for Reaction Engines, the British company claims that its advanced cooling system for having more immediate jobs for industries such as motorsport as well as the Oil and Gas.
Founded in 1989 by propulsion engineers, Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, in the English countryside, develops technical designs of advanced equipment for heat exchange, high-tech engines and the vehicles in which they could be applied. In recent years, the company has been working in partnership and receiving funding from public and private sources, such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Boeing.
