Rolls-Royce Corporation

Support systems for gas turbine engines, including specialized pumps, cleaning methods for engine components, mobile power generation units, and specific structural components like joints and fasteners.

Systems and methods for real-time or periodic assessment of turbine engine health, including detection of wear, damage, unbalance, or deterioration, to enable predictive maintenance and extend operational life.

Focuses on the development and application of novel materials, coatings, and manufacturing processes to improve the performance, durability, and cost-effectiveness of turbine engine components.

Integration of electric machines, energy storage, and power transfer systems with gas turbine engines to enable hybrid operation, electric starting, or auxiliary power generation, improving efficiency or operational flexibility.

Techniques for building three-dimensional metal objects layer-by-layer using metal powders, including powder bed fusion, binder jetting, and directed energy deposition. This theme encompasses process mechanics, equipment design, and operational control for AM systems.

Integration of electric motors, power generation, and distribution systems for propelling aircraft, including components for coupling motors to propellers and managing electrical power.

Focuses on optimizing the geometry, structure, and internal flow channels of impellers, blades, and housings to improve fluid dynamics, efficiency, or specific performance characteristics of centrifugal pumps and fans.

Techniques and structures within heat exchangers designed to enhance heat transfer efficiency by controlling and optimizing fluid flow, including baffle arrangements, jet impingement, and condensate management.

Protective layers applied to ceramic or composite substrates to enhance resistance against extreme temperatures, corrosion, or erosion in harsh operating environments.

Systems and methods for real-time sensing, modeling, and closed-loop control of additive manufacturing parameters to ensure part quality, consistency, and process efficiency. This includes thermal management, atmospheric regulation, and precise material deposition.

Methods and processes for fabricating ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), including preform creation, infiltration techniques, and densification to form complex shapes with enhanced properties.

Integration of additive manufacturing with subtractive manufacturing (e.g., machining, cutting) or other traditional processes within a single system or workflow to create parts with improved features, surface finish, or material properties, or to enable new manufacturing paradigms.

Innovations in the design, materials, and maintenance of seals, valves, and related components to improve durability, reduce leakage, and enable specific pump functions like high-pressure operation or automated seal replacement.

Combustor and fuel supply system designs that enable operation with multiple fuel types (e.g., conventional, ammonia, hydrogen) or optimize fuel-air mixing for improved efficiency, reduced emissions, or specific power cycles.

Specialized welding or bonding techniques and apparatuses tailored for joining small-scale electronic components, integrated circuits, or semiconductor wafers, emphasizing precision, miniaturization, and electrical connectivity.

Application of protective layers to improve the durability and longevity of components by enhancing resistance to wear, oxidation, or chemical degradation in demanding operational environments.

Production of materials where properties vary continuously or discontinuously through the volume, often achieved by combining different powders or applying specialized coatings like thermal sprays to enhance surface hardness, wear resistance, or thermal properties.

Methods and systems for real-time monitoring and control of coating processes or chamber cleaning, utilizing sensor data (e.g., thermal, pressure, optical) and predictive models to ensure quality and optimize efficiency.

Ceramic materials and components engineered for specific functional applications, such as electronics, energy storage, wear resistance, or high-temperature heating elements.

Systems and methods for monitoring, regulating, and diagnosing the performance and health of pumps and fans, including speed control, flow rate management, abnormality detection, and safety mechanisms like overspeed safeguards.

Development of novel motor architectures beyond traditional radial flux designs, including linear, axial, or multi-armature configurations, often to optimize for specific performance characteristics like torque density or form factor.

Methods for layer-by-layer deposition or 3D printing of concrete and cement-based materials, often employing rapidly hydrating binders or specialized compositions for rapid setting.

Systems designed to regulate the flow, pressure, and distribution of non-fuel gases and fluids within aircraft, such as cabin air, oxygen supply, or pneumatic actuation systems.

Pumps and blowers specifically adapted or designed for unique fluid types, challenging environments, or particular industrial, medical, or consumer applications, often involving debris, specific gas mixtures, or precise delivery requirements.

Manufacturing processes and techniques for producing stator cores, windings, and coils, including lamination, impregnation, hairpin winding, and segment coil bending, to improve motor efficiency, power density, or reliability.

Methods and structures for integrating and enclosing electronic components into compact, multi-functional modules, often involving embedded components, multi-layer substrates, and electromagnetic shielding for performance and miniaturization.

Designs for gear systems, particularly epicyclic configurations, to achieve high gear ratios for efficient power transfer between engine shafts and components like fans, often integrating with electric machines.

Development of novel chemical compositions for fluxes, solders, and filler metals to improve material properties, enhance joint reliability, reduce defects, or meet specific application requirements like high-temperature reflow or specialized material joining.

Techniques and systems utilizing laser beams for precise material modification, including cutting, cladding, ablation, and surface treatment, often for joining, shaping, or removing material.

Systems and methods for precisely controlling welding parameters such as power, speed, oscillation, and material feed to optimize weld quality, consistency, and efficiency, often involving automated or semi-automated processes.

Computational methods and design principles for generating optimized geometries, internal structures (e.g., lattices, minimal surfaces), or functional features that are specifically enabled or enhanced by the capabilities of additive manufacturing.

Design and assembly of power conversion, distribution, and protection modules, focusing on compact form factors, efficient electrical connections, and robust protective measures for electronic systems, often in high-power applications.

Design and engineering of specialized components within deposition systems, such as heaters, targets, susceptors, and chamber walls, to achieve precise control over process parameters like temperature, material flux, and plasma characteristics.

Technologies for storing, managing pressure, and safely distributing hydrogen fuel within an aircraft, including tank integration, pressure control, and leak detection.

Methods for depositing thin films with controlled conformality, thickness, and material properties, including selective deposition on specific areas, often using atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), or epitaxial growth.