Volvo Aero's components passed the GEnx program test

Volvo Aero's components passed  the GEnx program test

General Electric's new GEnx engine has underwent the “Fan Blade Out Test (FBO)”,
as part of the engine certification process. An important objective of the FBO
test is to demonstrate that the aircraft engine, at full speed, can lose one of
its fan blades without the engine becoming detached from the aircraft wing. 

Volvo Aero is responsible for the design of the two components used to affix the
GEnx engine to the aircraft wing. The FBO test is crucial in order to
demonstrate the ability of the components to cope with maximum strain.

Volvo Aero is a program partner in the GEnx engine and will equip the engine
with a total of six different components. Three of these were designed by the
company, including two advanced components in the engine mountings. 

“We are very satisfied with the test, which can be regarded as a final test of
our ability to develop technical solutions for lightweight structures for
aircraft engines. Through innovative solutions and proprietarily developed
technology, we produce weight-optimized components,” says Olof Persson,
President of Volvo Aero. 

Volvo Aero focuses on developing lightweight solutions for aircraft engines. The
work involves a number of technical solutions that were developed in Swedish and
EU-financed programs. 

Volvo Aero's investment is based on expertise that has been accumulated over
many years, based on the company's military operations. Cooperation with the
government is now being developed on the civil aircraft side, through current
environmental investments. Volvo Aero and the government are also jointly
investing SEK 126 M in a civil demonstration program between 2007 and 2010. 

“The GEnx, which is currently undergoing a period of many tests and
certifications, is the most recent in a series of projects that are
acknowledgements of our ability within lightweight designs,” says Olof Persson. 

GEnx, Volvo Aero's largest investment to date in a new civil aircraft engine
program, appears to be a major sales success long before the engine has even
been placed in commercial traffic. The first flight using the GEnx engine on a
Boeing 787 aircraft is scheduled for the autumn of 2007. Boeing's Dreamliner
will be put into operation officially in the summer of 2008. 
GEnx will also be used on Boeing's coming modernized jumbojet, Boeing 747-8. 

July 9, 2007
For more information, please contact Staffan Zackrisson, Business Development &
Sales, Tel: +46 (0)70-557 6710.

Images of the GEnx flight and component manufacturing at Volvo Aero are
available at:
http://www.volvo.com/volvoaero/global/en-gb/newsmedia/image+bank/news+images/