Twin City Photos

A little something different here. First of all, this is not my photo. It’s from the GE Aviation website. What you are looking at is General Electric’s latest large turbofan engine, the GEnx, (check this 2 minute crash course on how jet engines are put together) developed for Boeing’s new 787, also known as the Dreamliner. For more info go here. The photo shows the engine at GE’s outdoor test facility in Ohio. This is one of the many test stands GE has at this facility (I’ve been on top of this one), and every engine is fully tested before being delivered to customers, both aircraft manufacturers and airlines. The hexagonal structure in the back is an assembly of many powerful fans, mounted on a set of rail road tracks which are laid to form part of a circle, 180 degrees. The fan assembly is used to create side winds, commonly known as windshear, and can be moved to various angles so that the direction of the wind can be changed from front to back.

So what does this have to do with this blog? Well we (that being me and a team of others) designed a similar test stand for this engine, except for an indoor test cell. Yes, these engines are mostly tested indoors, at full power, in apartment building sized tunnels with ‘mufflers’ in the front and back! There are several hundred test cells scattered around the world, owned by governments, airlines, and engine repair/maintenance/overhaul organizations. The test cell I’m going to is in Naples, Italy.

Italy is one of my favorite countries to travel to, for the food, scenery, and cappuccinos. This will be my first international trip since I started this blog, and I’m bringing some of my camera gear along and hope to get some photos (not of the test facility … that is verboten, but the surrounding area). If I find time I might even post from there. We’ll see. Else my photoblog will be on autopilot till I get back.