Sean Broderick's aviation career started in 1991, working for Airbus in Toulouse. His industry experience includes four years with an aviation consultancy, where he worked on the successful launch of a U.S. Part 121 carrier; 12 years with an airport association as a magazine editor and communications executive; and more than 15 years of full- and part-time work as a journalist, writing about air transport and business aviation. &nbsp;
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Sean Broderick

At last year's NBAA Convention in Orlando, Safran Power Units (SPU) announced new designations for its first two business-jet auxiliary power units (APUs). SPU rebranded its newest APUs the SPU150[DA] and SPU300[BA]. A year later, SPU says that both units are on track for certification and are supporting flight-test programs for their respective platforms: the Dassault 5X for the SPU150[DA], and the Bombardier Global 7000 for the SPU300[BA].

 


SPU—formerly Mictroturbo—bought both programs from Pratt &amp; Whitney in 2014, three years after the two companies formed a joint venture to develop business-jet APUs. With its first two platforms secured, the long-time military APU and missile-engine supplier has its eyes on more commercial work. Its differentiator, said SPU CEO François Tarel, is technology.

 


SPU, which generates approximately 75 percent of its business from APUs, is also Safran's fuel cell center of excellence, for instance. "We want to provide solutions to the aircraft manufacturer where we can bring power onboard with the current type of design, the gas turbine, but also maybe hybrid technology and, in the long-term, fuel cells," he said.

 


The company also is investing heavily in advanced manufacturing, and the effort is bearing fruit. This past June, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certified an SPU 3D-printed APU turbine nozzle designed for the eAPU60, which is forward-fit on the Leonardo AW189. The new nozzle is made up of four components, compared to eight on the current design. The 3D-printed part also cuts 35 percentof the weight.

 


The certification—EASA's first for a 3D-printed (additive manufactured) hot-section APU part—shows that SPU's focus to develop less expensive parts is gaining traction in design, industrialization and certification.

 


The next step is mass production of the eAPU60 nozzles. SPU also plans to expand the process to other parts. The big-picture goal is to develop the capability to 3D print 30 percent of the parts in a notional clean-sheet APU design within five years.

 


"We will do it step by step, going deeper into the core of the engine," Tarel said. "And we can take validated parts and expand them to other programs."

 


Tarel is hopeful that some of them will be new business jets. Taking a part through to regulatory approval demonstrates the full range of capabilities needed to industrialize the process—and deliver savings to operators.

 


"I can take this experience and say I know how to demonstrate it, and I know what fits with EASA rules for approval," Tarel said. "We are getting experience not only in the process by itself, but the ability to industrialize and certify. For us, it’s an important step."

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