Rolls-Royce Donates Trent 1000 Engine to Virginia Tech as Centerpiece of New Engineering Building
(Reston, Va.) — Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, is donating a Trent 1000 jet engine to Virginia Tech as the centerpiece of its new Signature Engineering Building, which will help to inspire the next generation of high-tech engineers.
The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is the cleanest, quietest, lightest and most fuel-efficient jet engine in aviation service today.
Construction workers recently positioned the Trent 1000 into the foyer of the Signature Engineering Building where it will hang suspended 15 feet above the floor. The building is being constructed around the engine, which will remain in a protective cover until the structure opens in spring 2014. Rolls-Royce plans to outfit the lobby of the building with interactive kiosks containing information on engine design and advanced manufacturing to inform and excite students about careers in engineering.
“We are honored and delighted to make this engine donation to Virginia Tech,” said Phil Burkholder, Rolls-Royce, Executive Vice President, Engineering and Technology. “Rolls-Royce enjoys a strong partnership in higher education with Virginia Tech that includes research and development programs, endowments and internships. We hope our Trent 1000 engine, a modern engineering marvel, will serve as a symbol of excellence and inspire generations of talented students to pursue careers in science and engineering.”
“Rolls-Royce is making a significant investment in Virginia based on the Commonwealth’s substantial success in higher education,” said Richard C. Benson, Dean, Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering and the holder of the Torgersen Chair of Engineering. “Its partnership with the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is innovative, allowing collaboration on a variety of fronts in engineering. Our long-standing activities in advanced manufacturing enable our engineering faculty and students to move quickly into research projects that Rolls-Royce will find interesting. And the display of the Rolls-Royce engine in our new state-of-the-art academic building will serve as an inspiration to tomorrow’s leaders in the engineering field.”
Rolls-Royce, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia established a research partnership called the Commonwealth Center for Aerospace Propulsion Systems to address critical technology challenges using the founding universities’ facilities. It is in its second full year of operation. Rolls-Royce and Virginia Tech are also partners, along with the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and private companies, in the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, which accelerates the translation of innovative research from the laboratory to commercial use.
Some interesting facts about the Trent 1000 include:
• The Trent 1000 hollow titanium fan is more than 9 feet across and sucks in more than a ton of air every second at take-off – that’s a racquetball court’s worth of air per second.
• The blades are engineered to deal with immense forces – equivalent to the weight of a freight train at take-off.
• The blade tip travels at more than 900mph – faster than the speed of sound.
• Each high pressure turbine blade produces more than 800 horsepower – the same as a NASCAR engine.
• The temperature inside the hottest parts of the engine reaches a level approaching half as hot as the surface of the sun.
• Yet despite all this power, a Trent 1000 on take-off is at least 3dB quieter than the previous generation aircraft.
Editor’s Notes & Resources:
• Information on the Signature Engineering Building, including a Live Cam, can be found on Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering website
• A photo library of the Trent 1000 engine and additional resources can be found at this link.
About Rolls-Royce:
- Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy.
- As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in more than 80 countries.
- Annual underlying revenue was $18.1 billion* in 2011, of which more than half came from the sale of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at $96.2 billion* at June 30, 2012, providing visibility of future growth.
- Rolls-Royce employs over 40,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 11,000 of these employees are engineers.
- In 2011, Rolls-Royce invested $1.4 billion* in research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental performance of its products, in particular reducing emissions.
- Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centers, which connect the company’s engineers with the forefront of scientific research.
- The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills.
- In North America, Rolls-Royce employs more than 9,300 people in 66 locations in 26 states and 7 sites in 6 Canadian provinces. In the United States, Rolls-Royce employs more than 7,700 people in 26 states.
- In the U.S., Rolls-Royce operates 15 manufacturing, assembly or test facilities in 10 states including California, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
* Assumed exchange rate: £1.00= $1.60
For further information, please contact:
Laura Catalano
Vice President
Corporate Communications
Rolls-Royce North America Inc.
Tel: (703) 621-2709
Email: laura.catalano@rolls-royce.com
Lynn Nystrom
Director, News and External Relations
College of Engineering
Virginia Tech
Tel: (540) 231-4371
Email: tansy@vt.edu
