A turbofan is an airbreathing jet engine that combines a gas turbine core with a ducted fan, so that part of the intake air bypasses the combustion core entirely while still being accelerated rearward by the fan, the ratio between bypassed and core-routed air called the bypass ratio. The British engineer Frank Whittle described the underlying principle in a 1936 UK patent, but the first turbofan actually built and run, the German Daimler-Benz DB 670, only reached a test bed, first running on May 27, 1943; the Rolls-Royce Conway became the first turbofan placed into production, entering service in the 1950s. High-bypass turbofans now power nearly every commercial jet airliner for their fuel efficiency, while low-bypass turbofans remain typical of modern fighter aircraft.
Facts
SignificanceThe Rolls-Royce Conway was the world's first production turbofan. 1 FAQs
Was the first turbofan the engine that entered airline service?
The first turbofan to run was a German test-bed engine; the Rolls-Royce Conway was the first production turbofan.
No. The first turbofan engine, the German Daimler-Benz DB 670, was only run on a test bed, with a first run on 27 May 1943. The Rolls-Royce Conway was the world's first production turbofan, and it had a bypass ratio of 0.3, similar to the modern General Electric F404 fighter engine.
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Source Turbofan, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Turbofan, Wikipedia
History, DB 670 paragraph
The first turbofan engine, which was only run on a test bed, was the German Daimler-Benz DB 670, designated the 109-007 by the German RLM, with a first run date of 27 May 1943.
History, Conway paragraph
The Rolls-Royce Conway, the world's first production turbofan, had a bypass ratio of 0.3, similar to the modern General Electric F404 fighter engine.
- In Group: Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines, lead: type of airbreathing jet engine widely used in aircraft propulsion combining turbojet core and bypass fan
In Field: Aerospace Engineering, Categories
Jet engines
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