History of Aero Engine Development
Let us introduce the history of the various engines, as well as the commercialization of the HF120, which is developed and offered in partnership with the General Electric Company(GE)
Phase 2 Establishment of the comprehensive engine technology
(1992 to 2003)
Design and part manufacturing technologies had been established and developed for an engine (Model HF118-2) which was powerful enough to meet the engineering and type certification requirements.
HFX-01 development
1992 - 2000
The target performance and weight goals were achieved for the first time by applying the turbofan engine system, which was widely applied in the jet engine industry, and using common materials.
HFX-01, an engine which was built with a conventional engine structure.
High-altitude test with a large aircraft (HFX-01)
Flight tests were conducted to verify the engine performance and functions under actual flying circumstances, which included a low temperature, a low atmospheric pressure, or load variations such as a position change and weightlessness caused by a fuselage movement, some of which are difficult conditions to reproduce on the ground.
HF118-2 Development
1998
We challenged to improve the weight, fuel efficiency and emission to gain more competitiveness.
HF118-2 Technology Development
Weight Reduction
A weight reduction of approximately 80% was achieved as compared to conventional systems. This was achieved by integrating the fuel-control technology developed for Honda automobiles and a fuel pump system into a single structure.
Fuel efficiency
Despite the size of the engine, we developed a compressor that can draw a large amount of air and compress an air at class-leading performance. It was achieved by developing Honda’s original computational fluid analysis software.
Low Emission
Applied Honda's traditional combustion method (CVCC) to combustor and achieved class-leading emission results.
Turbofan engine HF118-2 developed by utilizing the accumulated technologies and know-how.
November 2003
The first flight was achieved by only using Honda’s turbofan engine.
Flight test with HF118-2 retrofitted on both sides of a small business jet engine.
December 2003
We succeeded in the first flight on the experimental aircraft (HondaJet) equipped with HF118-2.
(This flight was 100 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.)
Flight test conducted on experimental aircraft (HondaJet) with HF118-2.