An aircraft with such a power plant will be able to fly between continents in an hour
Chinese scientists at the Beijing Institute of Power Engineering reported the creation of «the world's most powerful detonation engine». The developers describe it as an air-breathing propulsion system that will be able to lift the aircraft to an altitude of 30 km and reach a speed of about Mach 16. With these parameters, intercontinental flights will take only an hour or two.
All technical details are not disclosed, but a drawing of it was published in the peer-reviewed journal Chinese Journal of Propulsion Technology. The engine is dual-mode. At speeds up to Mach 7, it operates as a rotating detonation engine. The air from outside mixes with the fuel and ignites, creating a shock wave. The wave propagates through the chamber in the form of a ring: as it rotates, the shock wave ignites more fuel, resulting in powerful and long-lasting thrust.
At speeds above Mach 7, the shock wave stops rotating: the thrust is maintained in the format of an almost linear detonation. The fuel explodes automatically, reaching the rear platform of the engine due to the high speed of the incoming air.
Scientists have not revealed the efficiency of the propulsion system, but based on previous scientific estimates, an explosion of flammable gases can convert almost 80% of chemical energy into kinetic energy. For comparison, the efficiency of conventional turbofan engines is 20-30%.
According to the researchers, the new engine turned out to be relatively undemanding to operating conditions.