Heat treating for efficient aircraft engines
One of the ways to make aircraft engines more efficient, and reduce fuel emissions, is to run them at higher temperatures.
However, to do so safely requires heat-treating the alloys of which certain engine parts are made to ensure they can withstand the hotter conditions without becoming damaged.
This process involves heating these engine parts to very specific temperatures over 1300 ºC using temperature sensors called thermocouples. Previously, thermocouples only offered an accuracy (or uncertainty) of ±3 degrees. This level of uncertainty is not reliable enough to use in the heat treatment of the next generation of aircraft's engine parts as even this small variation in temperature could mean the difference between the alloy becoming damaged, or not.
NPL has solved this problem by developing a way of reducing thermocouple uncertainties to a world-beating value of less than ±1 degree.
With this added confidence in temperature sensors, aircraft engine part manufacturers and processors will be able to heat treat their products more accurately than ever before. This in turn means less waste, increased safety, and ultimately the production of more efficient engines.