Aircraft Engines and Components: What You Need To Know

Aircraft engines are technological marvels, capable of enabling heavier-than-air flight for vessels that range from small, private planes to massive military transports. This is made possible through the basic operations of such systems, where the energy from fuel is transformed into harnessable power or thrust that drives the aircraft through the sky as it overcomes gravity. In this blog, we will provide readers a basic introduction to aircraft engines and the parts that make them up, ensuring that you can have a basic understanding.

The Main Types of Aircraft Engines

Several types of aircraft engines are used in modern aviation, each being designed to handle specific applications. These include piston engines, turboprop engines, turboshaft engines, turbojet engines, and turbofan engines.

Piston Engines

A piston engine is a form of internal combustion engine that uses pistons to harness the energy of combusted fuel and create mechanical power that drives a propeller assembly. They are common in smaller aircraft, where their advantage is their simplicity and reliability.

The Key Parts of a Piston Engine

Cylinders: Cylinders are where the fuel from tanks is burned.
Pistons: Pistons move up and down within the cylinders as exhaust gases expand.
Connecting Rods: Connecting rods attach pistons to the crankshaft for power transfer.
Crankshaft: The crankshaft converts the linear pivoting of the pistons into rotary motion that drives propellers.
Valves: Valves control the flow of air and exhaust gases into and out of the cylinders.

Turboprop Engines

Turboprop engines combine features of a typical gas turbine engine with a propeller assembly, where the turbine is what drives blade rotation. Turboprop engines are commonly used in regional airliners and cargo aircraft, a result of their notable efficiency at lower speeds and altitudes.

The Key Parts of a Turboprop Engine

Turbine Assembly: As fuel-and-air mixtures are combusted and the resulting exhaust gases push through the engine, they drive an assembly of turbine blades that extract power.
Propeller: As propellers spin, they generate thrust by pushing air backwards and dragging the aircraft forward.
Gearbox: A gearbox is an assembly that serves to reduce the high speed of the turbine blades to a velocity that is suitable for the propeller and current flight conditions.

Turboshaft Engines

Turboshaft engines are similar to turboprop engines, though instead of using a propeller, they drive a shaft that can power helicopters, pumps, or other forms of machinery with the advantage of a high power-to-weight ratio.

The Key Parts of a Turboshaft Engine

Compressor: In order to achieve optimal levels of combustion, turboshaft engines and many other powerplants take advantage of compressors that raise the pressure of intake air before it is mixed with fuel.
Turbine Assembly: As stated before, these engines leverage the use of turbine blades to take power from combusted fuel, driving the compressor for high performance operations.
Nozzle: As gases are ejected from the engine, the nozzle ensures they are imparted with increased velocity for extra thrust.

Turbojet Engines

Turbojet engines produce thrust by expelling a high-speed jet of hot gas out of the back of the powerplant. They are commonly used in high-speed aircraft, such as fighter jets, where their power outweighs the drawbacks of lack of efficiency.

The Key Parts of a Turbojet Engine

Compressor: Like other engines, the compressor is where incoming air is pressurized for more efficient combustion.
Combustor: The combustor mixes fuel with the compressed air and ignites the resulting solution to create exhaust gases.
Turbine: The turbine extracts energy from exhaust to drive the compressor.
Nozzle: The nozzle accelerates the exhaust gases to create thrust, serving as the main source of propulsion for such engines.

Turbofan Engines

As the final popular engine type we will discuss, turbofans are a specialized type of turbojet engine that features a large fan at the front of the assembly. The fan serves to draw large volumes of air during operations, some of which bypasses the engine core to be expelled for thrust. Turbofan engines are more efficient than turbojet engines and are most commonly found on modern commercial airliners.

The Key Parts of a Turbofan Engine

Fan: Turbofan engine fans have been progressively advanced over the years to optimally draw in a large amount of air while accelerating it for ample performance.
Gas Turbine Core: The gas turbine core operates similarly to a turbojet engine, where air is compressed, mixed with fuel, and ignited to generate powerful exhaust gases.
Bypass Duct: The bypass duct carries the air that bypasses the core engine, allowing for additional thrust as exhaust exits.

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