February 13, 2025
Search
February 13, 2025
Manufactur3D Magazine is India’s Leading and Premier Online Magazine carved out for the 3D Printing Business community in India and globe.
Search
Contents
Subscribe

We will not spam you, receive latest news & product updates.

GE Aviation Lends its Expertise to Airbus RACER – A Hybrid Helicopter with 3D Printed Cradles

Key Takeaways
Airbus’s RACER hybrid helicopter
Above: Airbus’s RACER hybrid helicopter/Image Credit: Airbus

GE Aviation Integrated Systems – a GE Aviation company, is lending its technical expertise to build Airbus RACER – short for ‘rapid and cost-effective rotorcraft’. RACER is a hybrid helicopter-like aircraft that combines the versatility of a helicopter and airplanes. Airbus Helicopters had revealed RACER’s high-speed demonstrator configuration in mid-2017.

Clean Sky 2 Research Programme

3D Printing in Aerospace
Above: Ric Parker, Chairman Clean Sky/Image Credit: Cleansky

Clean Sky is a European research programme aimed towards developing innovative, cutting-edge technology to reduce CO2, gas emissions and noise levels produced by aircraft. 

Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, Clean Sky contributes to strengthening European aero-industry collaboration, global leadership and competitiveness.

Under the Clean Sky project, more than 600 entities from around 27 countries are working together to develop “environmentally benign” aircraft tech, with the goal of reducing fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 80 percent and external noise by 50 percent, compared to 2000 levels.

Airbus RACER – Rapid and Cost-Effective Rotorcraft

Airbus’s RACER hybrid helicopter designwork
Above: Airbus’s RACER hybrid helicopter designwork/Image Credit: Airbus

The Airbus RACER is one such concept aircraft by Airbus being built for the Clean Sky 2 research programme , which the company claims will achieve cruising speed topping 400 kilometers per hour, which would make it one of the world’s fastest helicopters.

The Airbus RACER aims to provide a cost-effective, fast & agile alternative to traditional helicopters by incorporating cutting-edge technologies to make a real, sustained and sustainable difference. According to Tomasz Krysinski, head of research and innovation at Airbus Helicopters

The body of the aircraft is shaped like a helicopter. It has a large rotor on top, but it has no tail rotor. Instead, it has two skeletal wings. Each has a propeller that faces backwards, with one moving clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. These propellers, combined with the low-drag wings, help the RACER maintain lift while picking up speed.

The GE Aviation team is working on the RACER’s subsystems and components, including the transmission system for both the rotor and wing’s propellers. The engineers completely redesigned the aircraft’s cradles, the part that connects the wings to the gearboxes.

The cradles of the RACER will be made of a lightweight material using 3D-printed casting moulds to reduce weight, part count and cost. This is have a greater impact on the environment and could bring cheaper, greener, and speedier air travel.

Speaking on the use of 3D printed cradles in the RACER, Paul Mandry, engineering programme leader for GE Aviation, said, “This is the first time we’ve ever designed such a complex cast component. In addition to the money we will save by using the 3D printed parts, the RACER’s lighter weight, which means significant savings on fuel costs over the lifetime of the aircraft (and a significantly gentler impact on the environment).

The RACER also incorporates several other new components jointly designed by Avio Aero and Airbus Helicopters, made using 3D printing — including heat exchangers for the RACER’s transmission, which must withstand extremely high temperatures and physical stresses.


About Manufactur3D Magazine: Manufactur3D is an online magazine on 3D Printing. Visit our Global News page for more updates on Global 3D Printing News. To stay up-to-date about the latest happenings in the 3D printing world, like us on Facebook or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Manufactur3D Team
Manufactur3D Team reports on the latest news, insights and analysis from the Indian and the Global 3D Printing Industry. They share updates from Industry leading companies to Startups and covers their latest developments.
Share this article
Related Articles

BE A PART OF INDIA'S LARGEST AM PLATFORM

Join a list of 25K+ subscribers who receive weekly AM News, Insights and Analysis