Honeywell donates engines
Honeywell International has donated two turbofan
aircraft engines allowing Virginia Tech students and
faculty to pursue exclusive research and experience
valuable hands-on learning.
Through instrumentation techniques developed
solely by researchers in the TurboLab at Virginia
Tech, the Honeywell TFE731-2 business jet engines,
worth approximately $1.5 million, will be used to
develop new aerodynamic technologies, that could
impact manufacturing of engines for commercial and
military aircraft.
“We are grateful for industry partners like Honey-
well. Because of their generous donation, our stu-
dents and faculty are able to conduct cutting-edge
propulsion research that is entirely exclusive,” said
Walter O’Brien, the J. Bernard Jones Professor of Me-
chanical Engineering and director of the TurboLab at
Virginia Tech. “Together with Honeywell, through
innovative research, we are able to educate the best
and the brightest engineers, innovators, and scientists
while advancing technology and addressing critical
aeronautical challenges.”
Researchers will build onto the patented Stream-
Vane technology developed by O’Brien and members
of the lab team. The StreamVane device is a 3-D
printed distorted airflow producer — a much faster
and cost-effective method of creating specific distor-
tion patterns without having to fabricate the airframe
or inlet that generates it.
“This is the first time we have collaborated directly
with an engine manufacturer wanting to look at the
inlet distortion problem from a fundamental per-
spective and learn how their engines respond to given
distortion patterns,” said Justin Bailey, a laboratory
research assistant.
Donating the engines to the College of Engineering
was a passion project for Hokie Jim Ericksen, project
engineer at Honeywell’s aerospace division in Phoe-
nix.
The two engines were originally used in a train-
ing program that was discontinued in the mid-90s.
Ericksen tested the engines and created a “turnkey”
start-up package with training materials and identi-
fied collaborative research to help fund the project.
As an ME alum, Ericksen has served as the campus
manager and recruiter for Virginia Tech for 15 years.
“For the last 20 years Honeywell has been actively
recruiting Virginia Tech graduates with continued
success,” said Bob Smith, chief technology officer
and vice president of engineering and technology
at Honeywell
Aerospace. “The
donation will
strengthen our
partnership, en-
hance the ability
of the student to
have applicable
knowledge-based
experiences, and
foster the devel-
opment of skilled
workers.”