Engines
Rolls Lauches RR500 Turboshaft
Rolls-Royce last month launched the RR500 turboshaft, a 475-shp derivative of the RR300 that powers the in-development Robinson R66.

Rolls-Royce last month launched the RR500 turboshaft, a 475-shp derivative of the RR300 that powers the in-development Robinson R66. Certification is scheduled for late 2011, with deliveries pegged to begin in the first quarter of 2012.

“Basically, we took the 300-shp RR300 and increased the airflow,” Ken Roberts, Rolls-Royce president for helicopters, told AIN. Design engineers enlarged the compressor and modified the turbine and other components. The purpose of increasing the airflow was to “keep the operating temperature relatively modest,” he explained. Designers could also have increased power by raising temperatures.

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