What will the next-generation light aircraft
powerplant be? Will it be an off-the-shelf FADEC-driven engine with improved
fuel specifics? Or a large-displacement six-cylinder powerplant capable of
burning unleaded premium autogas? A 300-hp two-stroke diesel?
In the world according to Teledyne
Continental Motors, it could be any or all of those and this week, the company
hosted a small entourage of aviation journalists to explain its view of the
future of light aircraft powerplants. TCM is, in fact, contemplating if not
actively working on all of these concepts and no matter what kind of engines
emerge from the company’s Mobile, Ala., factory during the next decade, one
thing seems certain: All are likely to be driven and/or monitored by electronic
controls.
Those controls will be capable of recording
critical engine parameters to both improve engine longevity and make
maintenance less of the hide-and-seek process it now seems to be. And all of
that engine data may find its way back to the factory via Web-based technology
that TCM is now developing.
TCM already has the firewall side of the
equation wrapped up in its PowerLink FADEC system, the company’s president,
Bryan Lewis, told a group of journalists this week. The Aerosance-developed
PowerLink employs pulsed fuel injection and variable timing in lieu of
conventional magnetos and pump-driven mechanical fuel injection. It also has an
engine control unit capable of storing every engine operating parameter
imaginable. But it’s no secret that PowerLink, which originally flew in 1999,
hasn’t yet made significant market inroads, with under 150 systems flying. TCM
is targeting reasons... Lewis believes lukewarm market acceptance has been due
largely to buyers being unfamiliar with FADEC’s most appealing benefit: the
ability to log engine data for improved maintenance and engine longevity.
Lewis and Steve Smith, who oversaw
development of PowerLink at Aerosance, say a FADEC-controlled engine should be
more thermally stable, more economical and more durable than traditional
engines over the long haul to TBO. Now they aim to prove it. (And that’s one
reason journalists were invited in to have a look around.)
Part of TCM’s vision is an all-encompassing
data, marketing and service system that it’s calling the Alpha System. For
nearly a decade, the company has had the bones of this in its online TCMLink
service, one of the better Web-based service and data networks.
The Alpha System might be thought of as v.
2.0 of TCMLink. Data from FADEC-driven engines will form the centerpiece of the
Alpha System, but it will stitch together any and all data related for engine
operation and maintenance, from technical specs and service bulletins, to
oil-analysis reports, to individual engine histories, and more.
As explained to us, the Alpha System will
have a powerful online diagnostic function, something that may be necessary if
FADEC is to prove practical in the field. Although the full-blown system is
still in the developmental phase, TCM is beginning to market some Alpha
components, including an Alpha magneto system based on improved Bendix mags
shipped complete with harnesses and Champion plugs. Look for more Alpha
products and services during the coming months, says TCM..