Oil Management Technology

Modern aircraft are increasingly being equipped with larger electrical generators to cope with the growing use of electronic operating systems.
Consequently, the efficiency with which the engine can transmit power to drive the generators now has a more significant effect on the fuel efficiency of the aircraft as a whole than ever before.
The generators are driven by an engine-mounted gearbox that consists of a high-speed gear train and supporting bearings inside its housing. These components are lubricated and cooled by multiple internal oil jets.
Since the movement of oil inside the gearbox is known to have a significant effect on the transmission efficiency, KHI has developed a cutting-edge technology for analyzing the behavior of oil within the gearbox.
By leading to the discovery of an oil churning phenomenon with a complex high speed flow of an air-oil mixture, this technology has enabled us to achieve a 40% reduction in energy loss by optimizing the gearbox design.

Gearbox installed on an aircraft engine

Complex flow of air-oil mixture in gearbox