Wait aren’t all airplane wings bid inspired?
How many blades do you have to add to a turboprop before it’s promoted to an open turbofan and touted as a major new innovation?
Based on my image search engineering, the answer to your question is 2.
Based on my one semester of air breathing propulsion that I took 25 years ago, I’m guessing there is more going on inside the turbine part of the engine that both allows sustainable fuels that current turbofans can’t and also allows compression ratios at lower fan speeds that allows an open fan with fewer blades. Again, I barely passed air breathing propulsion back then and haven’t used ANY of that knowledge since, so I’m mostly talking out of my ass.
I’ve seen turboprops in museums and on the internet with around six or eight blades. When I looked on the Wikipedia page for propfan engines, which seems to be another name for an open turbofan, the distinction seemed to be mainly how the blades were shaped (like propellor blades or turbine blades) and how tightly-integrated everything is (you can swap the propeller out on a turboprop).
Airbus explained that it ran the numbers and found that, while it could build a successful hydrogen airliner, the plane would be successful in the same way that Concorde was successful. In other words, a technological triumph, but a commercial failure.
Just like any other hydrogen powered… Anything.
If you listen to the actual talk the bird they are talking about is an albatross and they are simply saying that to improve efficiency you need to make the wings longer and slimmer but then the plane will not fit in current aiport gates so they are working on folding wings.
Aviation peaked with the Spruce Goose, AKA the Birch Bitch, AKA the H-4 Hercules. Been downhill ever since…
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Higher for hire
Ohh ee ohh!
Hell yeah the wood plane
Never heard it called the birch bitch.
Rocket designs are worm(-with-diarrhea)-inspired!!
That’s a great description!
Thank you.
I much prefer it to the crude ‘flying cocks’ one.
So not the picture in the thumbnail but a generic jet
To me “next generation” and propellers just don’t mix, but I know nothing. Just want my jetpack.
Plot twist: And they’ll still pack their passengers like sardines.
