The Kuznetsov NK-93 was a civilian aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop known as a propfan. The engine was also unique in having a separate duct around the contra-rotating propellers, as most other propfans are unducted. Once described in a respected aviation encyclopedia as "potentially the most fuel-efficient aircraft jet engine ever to be tested", the NK-93 was targeted for derivatives of Soviet/Russian airliners such as the Ilyushin Il-96, Tupolev Tu-204, and Tupolev Tu-330. Five in-flight engine tests were conducted on the NK-93 from December 2006 to December 2008.
Kuznetsov NK-93
The Kuznetsov NK-93 ducted propfan mounted on an Ilyushin Il-76LL testbed aircraft at the MAKS 2007 air show.
A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, open fan engine or unducted fan, is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed and performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop. A propfan is typically designed with a large number of short, highly twisted blades, similar to the (ducted) fan in a turbofan engine. For this reason, the propfan has been variously described as an "unducted fan" (UDF) or an "ultra-high-bypass (UHB) turbofan".
A mockup of the GE36 at the Musée aéronautique et spatial Safran
The GE36 on a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 demonstrator at the 1988 Farnborough Air Show. The gearless unducted fan engine had an overall diameter of 11.67 ft (3.56 m), with either eight or ten blades in front (depending on the particular configuration) and eight blades in back.
The Progress D-236 propfan engine on the Yak-42E-LL testbed aircraft at the Paris Air Show in 1991
Progress D27 Propfans fitted to an Antonov An-70
