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Three milestones in one week

Pratt & Whitney rolled out three new engines for three platforms on three continents during one week in October.

On Oct. 14, 2014, in Savannah, Georgia, Gulfstream launched its new family of G500 and G600 business jets, which will be powered exclusively by Pratt &Whitney Canada’s PurePower PW800 16,000-lb-thrust-class engine.

On Oct. 18, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. rolled out its first Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) in Nagoya, Japan. The MRJ will feature exclusive power from Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1200G engines.

Embraer Defense System’s debut of its KC-390 transport and aerial refueling tanker in Gavião Peixoto, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2014, marked another milestone. Pratt & Whitney is the majority collaborator on the International Aero Engines V2500 modified for use on the military aircraft.

To date, the PurePower engine family has completed 11,000 hours of testing, including 1,500 hours of flight testing and more than 23,000 cycles of testing. www.mrj-japan.com; www.pratt-whitney.com; www.gulfstream.com; www.embraerds.com

UTC licenses PromptFM technology to CGTech

United Technologies Corp. (UTC) has executed a licensing agreement with CGTech. The agreement allows CGTech to integrate UTC’s PromptFM machining process optimization technology within CGTech’s VERICUT cutting process simulation software to help improve machining equipment productivity.

The licensing agreement will enable development of software that is capable of reducing development time, cycle times, and process variation, while enabling longer machine life and improved part quality. www.cgtech.com; www.utc.com

Rolls-Royce and Safran create joint venture

Norbert Arndt, Rolls-Royce executive vice president, structures and transmissions, and Hélène Moreau-Leroy, chairman and CEO, Hispano-Suiza (Safran), have signed an initial, exclusive 25-year contract to create a jointly-owned company that will design, develop, produce, and support accessory drive train transmissions for all Rolls-Royce’s future civil aircraft engines.

Hispano-Suiza is a supplier of engine power transmissions, with an installed base covering more than 30,000 engines worldwide.

The new joint venture will build a production plant in a competitive country starting in 2015 to begin operations by 2017. www.rolls-royce.com; www.hispano-suiza-sa.com

GF Machining Solutions recognized for microtechnology

GF Machining Solutions recently received the Golden Micron (Microns d’Or) Award at Micronora 2014, a biennial trade show held in Besançon, France. The award recognizes microtechnology innovations, and GF Machining Solutions was acknowledged for its Integrated Vision Unit (IVU), a non-contact, vision-based measurement system to improve micron-scale wire EDM operations.

At the trade fair, the company integrated the IVU with the AgieCharmilles CUT 2000 S fast wire-cutting EDM. The machine features an intelligent power generator with direct power supply module that has been shown to produce high-quality surface finishes of Ra 0.08µm.

When integrated with the machine, the IVU system locates the part edges and scans contours with a charge-coupled-device camera featuring a light-sensitive pixel array.

The camera is available with either a 56X or 156X magnification. At 56X magnification, the field of view is 0.24" x 0.14" and measurement accuracy is ±0.00006". www.gfms.com