Piezo fuel injectors may improve aircraft efficiency

Part of the technology will use piezoelectric actuators to more precisely control fuel valves and overall engine performance.

The project will be undertaken by the centre for power transmission and motion control (PTMC) at Bath’s department of mechanical engineering, with industry assistance from Aero Engine Controls (AEC) — which itself is a joint venture between Rolls-Royce and Goodrich.  

In June 2009 the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade group for airlines, set targets for its members to achieve an average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5 per cent annually from 2009 to 2020 and a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 50 per cent by 2050, relative to 2005 levels. It also called for a cap on aviation CO₂ emissions from 2020 (carbon-neutral growth). 

Although more radical aircraft design and propulsion is being considered, in the medium term one way of achieving targets is to make current engines more efficient. 

’We’re looking at new fuel-valve technology. Combustion within the aero engine doesn’t happen in a homogenous way throughout the whole engine; if you can control individual injectors you can control the combustion in a much more efficient way,’ said Prof Andrew Plummer, director of the PTMC at Bath.