The University of Nottingham is working with UK-based aerospace technology firm Derwent Aviation to assess the performance of the latter’s new Dual Drive Booster (DDB).

This is an epicyclic gearbox that aims to halve nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from aircraft and deliver significant cost benefits to airlines. A 40%-scale 3-D printed model of the DDB was on display on the University of Nottingham’s stand at the Farnborough Airshow.

The university’s involvement in the Innovate UK-funded project was to generate a computer model of the gearbox to simulate oil and air flows, so that heat generation is reduced to a minimum.

This analysis, which also included an assessment of the stress levels in the gears, aimed to confirm the viability of the DDB, which Derwent claims could be available to operators by 2025.

Patents have already been granted for the DDB in the USA, China and the UK, and they are pending in the rest of Europe.

The flow simulation required expert capabilities that — in the UK — are only found in the University of Nottingham’s Gas Turbine & Transmissions Research Centre (G2TRC).

The G2TRC team comprises academics from engineering, maths and physics, full-time research fellows, rig design engineers, project managers, ex-Rolls-Royce engineers and numerous PhD students.

It has verified the loads and stresses of the mechanical design of the DDB and is currently optimising the oil-scavenging system.