Lucas to Supply Power Systems for Embraer 135 and 145 RJs

Lucas Aerospace will supply the main and auxiliary electric power systems for the Embraer ERJ135 and ERJ145 regional jets. Combining the production and anticipated after-market sales of this contract with the engine controls business secured earlier, Lucas projects its Embraer order at $300 million based on an estimated demand for 1,000 aircraft over the next 10 years.

Under the long-term agreement with Embraer, each aircraft will use five channels of Lucas Aerospace hardware, all produced at the company's facility in Aurora, OH. Four primary DC power systems will be fitted to the aircraft, two channels to each of the two main engines. Each channel consists of a brushless DC generator and corresponding generator control unit. The fifth channel consists of a DC starter-generator and generator control unit fitted to the APU.

"The regional market is one of the fastest expanding sectors of the aircraft market and Lucas Aerospace has a large and growing position within it," said Andy Barton, Lucas Aerospace program manager for business and commuter aircraft.

"We have a long-standing relationship with Embraer and are delighted to be boosting our involvement on what it expected to be a highly successful family of aircraft," Barton said.

The 37-seat ERJ135 was first flown on July 4, 1998. Type certification is expected in June 1999. Embraer has secured orders for 145 ERJ135s with 195 options placed by North American and French customers. The ERJ145 is a 50-seat commuter aircraft that has been selected by 13 customers in nine countries, including three U.S. regional airlines-Continental Express, American Eagle and Trans State Airlines.

Lucas (Booth 8337) is showcasing its expertise in a number of different applications including the electric power generation and management system on the Bombardier Global Express. The company is also highlighting its engine control capability with a range of business, commuter and regional aircraft including the Citation X. A Lucas FADEC and fuel metering unit will be shown.

Lucas is particularly proud of a recent order to provide a complete fly-by-wire flight control system for Fairchild Aerospace's new 728JET. It will be the world's first application of a complete fly-by-wire control system with no mechanical reversion. It will incorporate fully integrated electronic controls using Lucas Aerospace's expertise from more than 100 million flight hours of safety critical software on engine controls and more than 400 million flight hours of civil fly-by-wire controls.

Some other Lucas innovations include new fuel control technology to manage temperature increases from low-fuel-usage conditions, advances in the FADEC state of the art through distributed engine controls, and variable frequency electric power generation and distribution on a turbofan aircraft.

The new Lucas gas-turbine fuel control, integrated with a Vickers split discharge vane pump, recognizes a low fuel usage condition and re-circulates excess fuel back to the pump inlet at low pressure. This dramatically decreases the rise in temperature that normally results from pressurizing more fuel than is required by the engine.

While first-generation FADEC technology produced a "quantum leap" from the old hydromechanical controls, company officials acknowledge that plenty of development work remained to be done. The Lucas-distributed engine control components, linked together by means of high-speed busses, use "fuzzy logic" to accurately identify faults and speed maintenance.

Lucas achieved the world's first certification of the variable frequency electric power generation and distribution system following the type certification of the Global Express. The variable frequency system eliminates the hydromechanical constant-speed drive required in conventional constant-frequency systems, offering substantial weight, reliability and cost benefits.

By Jim Street