FUEL EFFICIENCY
ightglobal.com 30 June-6 July 2015 | Flight International | 25
Boeing❯❯manager of NASA’s ERA project. “But shaving
aircraft fuel consumption by even a few per-
centage points can save millions of dollars
and help protect the environment from harm-
ful emissions.”
The two NASA experiments on board the
757 ecoDemonstrator form part of eight ERA
technology demonstrations that are being
conducted this year and will bring the project
to a close. The eight demonstrations span five
focus areas: aircraft drag reduction; weight re-
duction through use of advanced composites;
fuel and noise reduction through advanced
engines; emissions reductions through im-
proved engine combustors; and fuel and noise
reduction through aircraft configuration
changes. With all eight of its demonstrations,
NASA aims to mature the technologies to the
point where there would be less risk for air-
craft manufacturers to incorporate them into
future designs.
“Having a relevant testbed, such as Boe-
ing’s ecoDemonstrator, to help mature tech-
nology concepts is extremely important to
NASA’s environmentally responsible aviation
project,” says Collier. “Our researchers have
been working hard to develop technologies to
reduce airplane fuel consumption, noise and
emissions. Being able to prove those concepts
in flight tests gives them a better shot of get-
ting into the commercial fleet.”ACCELERATING CHANGE
A total of 15 different technologies will be test-
ed as part of the 757 ecoDemonstrator pro-
gramme, compared with 32 technologies on the
787 platform and 12 on the 737. Some of the
previously tested technologies have already
been – or soon will be – put into practice, says
Yu. These include an “advanced technology
winglet” concept that was tested on the 737 ec-
oDemonstrator and was later “transitionedright into the baseline design for the 737 Max”.
The new winglet can improve fuel efficiency
by as much as 1.8%, says Boeing.
In addition, a new lightweight material that
was installed under the aft wing section of the
787 ecoDemonstrator aircraft “will be
wrapped into production” of future 787s, says
Yu. “We plan to see this flying on the 787 in
the next year,” she adds.
“A lot of the technologies will be seen on
multiple airplanes, with some near-term and
some longer-term timelines,” says Yu. “Tran-
sitions will happen at different times. For ex-
ample, we probably won’t see fuel cells for
another 15 years. The main thing is to speed
up implementation.”
Boeing deliberately chose a 757 that was
nearing the end of its commercial life to be its
latest ecoDemonstrator testbed because, once
flight tests are over, the airframer plans to work
with the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association