Digital Engine Takes Off With PLM

Using Dassault's CATIA V5, Enovia, and Delmia solutions, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC, Longueil, Canada) has deployed digital technology through the entire product lifecycle of building aircraft engines, resulting in the engine maker dramatically cutting time-to-market and saving millions

P&WC, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., employs approximately 9000 people worldwide, and to date, the manufacturer has built more than 55,000 engines for customers in 190 countries. In the aircraft industry, the development time of an engine is critical and it poses a major constraint for aircraft manufacturers. "To be more proactive to customer demand, we had to reduce the development lifecycle of a brand new engine to less than three years," recalls Mario Modafferi, P&WC director. Engine Design. "This gave us a competitive edge."

To manage the increasing sophistication of engines, P&WC had to integrate an ever-growing number of global strategic development partners. P&WC also needed a PLM solution that covered the end-to-end engine development processes to empower innovation. "We cover so many disciplines, we want to ensure that our products reflect state-of-the-art technology in aerodynamics, structure, mechanical design, performance, and control," notes Modafferi.

The company implemented a Dassault Systmes and IBM PLM solution based on CATIA V5, Enovia VPM, Enovia Portal, and Delmia. With Enovia DMU V5, P&WC gained the flexibility to share different degrees of digital mock-up information among its internal teams, suppliers, and customers. With CATIA V5 assembly modeling, Enovia DMU design in context, digital mock-up, silhouettes, and other features are estimated to save P&WC over $1 million per year.

By designing right the first time with Dassault/IBM PLM, the company estimates it has eliminated the need for a physical mock-up for interference analysis and maintenance simulation purposes, the cost of which represents approximately $500,000 per engine program. Clash and fitting simulation allows detection of collisions and gaps early in the design process, saving hundreds of hours of design time on each program. "Clash detection occurs even before the first engine is built, and 70% of interferences are now resolved at the early design stage," states Modafferi. "It saves us money and time on each project."

Virtual prototyping enables P&WC to verify accessibility and maintainability of aircraft engines. P&WC can now virtually optimize and validate engine removal using a human manikin, demonstrate the engine extraction, estimate maintenance time more accurately, and obtain acceptance from the aircraft manufacturer.