Kuznetsov Design Bureau

For the successor company of this design bureau, see JSC Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov Design Bureau
IndustryAerospace
Founded1946
Defunct2009
FateMerged with three other companies
SuccessorJSC Kuznetsov
Headquarters
Samara
,
Russia
ProductsAircraft engines, rocket engines, turbines

The Kuznetsov Design Bureau (Russian: СНТК им. Н. Д. Кузнецова, also known as OKB-276) was a Russian design bureau for aircraft engines, administrated in Soviet times by Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov. It was also known as (G)NPO Trud (or NPO Kuznetsov) and Kuybyshev Engine Design Bureau (KKBM).[1]

NPO Trud was replaced in 1994 by a Joint Stock Company (JSC), Kuznetsov R & E C.[2]

By the early 2000s the lack of funding caused by the poor economic situation in Russia had brought Kuznetsov to the verge of bankruptcy.[3] In 2009 the Russian government decided to consolidate a number of engine-making companies in the Samara region under a new legal entity. This was named JSC Kuznetsov, after the design bureau.[3]

Products

Aircraft engines

The Kuznetzov Bureau first became notable for producing the monstrous Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engine that powered the Tupolev Tu-95 bomber beginning in 1952 as a development of the Junkers 0022 engine. The new engine eventually generated about 15,000 horsepower (11.2 megawatts) and it was also used in the large Antonov An-22 Soviet Air Force transport.

Kuznetsov also produced the Kuznetsov NK-8 turbofan engine in the 90 kN (20,000 lbf) class that powered the Ilyushin Il-62 and Tupolev Tu-154 airliners. This engine was next upgraded to become the about 125 kN (28,000 lbf) Kuznetsov NK-86 engine that powered the Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft. This Bureau also produced the Kuznetsov NK-144 afterburning turbofan engine. This engine powered the early models of the Tupolev Tu-144 SST.

The Kuznetsov Design Bureau also produced the Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofan engine that was used on the Lun-class ekranoplan. (Only one such aircraft has ever been produced.)[citation needed]

Kuznetsov's most powerful aviation engine is the Kuznetsov NK-321 that propels the Tupolev Tu-160 bomber and was formerly used in the later models of the Tu-144 supersonic transport (an SST that is now obsolete and no longer flown). The NK-321 produced a maximum of about 245 kN (55,000 lbf) of thrust.

Kuznetsov aircraft engines include:

NK-321 (136 kN cruise [4] 245 kN, NK321M 280 to 300/350 kN, max 386)
NK-32-02 for An-124 Tu-160 and PAK DA

Industrial gas turbines

Kuznetsov industrial gas turbines include:

  • NK-12ST. Derivative of the NK-12 turboprop. Serial production started in 1974. The engine is designed for gas pipelines.
  • NK-14ST. (8 MW) 32 percent efficiency, pressure ratio of 9.5, turbine inlet temperature of 1,203 K (2,165 °R; 930 °C; 1,706 °F), exhaust gas flow rate of 37.1 kg/s (82 lb/s), fuel gas consumption of 1,900 kg/h (4,200 lb/h), and weight of 3,700 kg (8,200 lb).[14]
  • NK-16ST. Derivative of the NK-8 turbofan. Serial production started in 1982. Used in gas compressor stations.
  • NK-17ST/NK-18ST. Uprated versions of the NK-16ST gas turbine.
  • NK-36ST. (25 MW) Derivative of the NK-32 turbofan. Development tests conducted in 1990.
  • NK-37. (25 MW) Modification of the NK-36ST gas turbine. Designed for electric powerplants with a steam-gas plant. 36.4 percent efficiency, pressure ratio of 23.12, turbine inlet temperature of 1,420 K (2,560 °R; 1,150 °C; 2,100 °F), exhaust gas flow rate of 101.4 kg/s (224 lb/s), fuel gas consumption of 5,163 kg/h (11,380 lb/h), and weight of 9,840 kg (21,690 lb).[14]
  • NK-38ST. (16 MW) Derivative of the NK-93 propfan. Development tests conducted in 1995. Serial production started in 1998.
  • NK-39. (16 MW) Modification of the NK-38ST gas turbine. Designed for electric powerplants with a steam-gas plant. 38 percent efficiency, pressure ratio of 25.9, turbine inlet temperature of 1,476 K (2,657 °R; 1,203 °C; 2,197 °F), exhaust gas flow rate of 54.6 kg/s (120 lb/s), fuel gas consumption of 6,043 kg/h (13,320 lb/h), and weight of 7,200 kg (15,900 lb).[14]

Rocket engines

In 1959, Sergey Korolev ordered a new design of rocket engine from the Kuznetzov Bureau for the Global Rocket 1 (GR-1) Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS)[citation needed] intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which was developed but never deployed. The result was the NK-9, one of the first staged-combustion cycle rocket engines. Kuznetsov developed the design into the NK-15 and NK-33 engines in the 1960s, and claimed them to be the highest-performance rocket engines ever built.[15] The engines were to propel the N1 lunar rocket, which in the end was never successfully launched.[15] As of 2011, the aging NK-33 remains the most efficient (in terms of thrust-to-mass ratio) LOX/Kerosene rocket engine ever created.[16]

The Orbital Sciences Antares light-to-medium-lift launcher has two modified NK-33 in its first stage, a solid second stage and a hypergolic orbit stage.[17] The NK-33s are first imported from Russia to the United States and then modified into Aerojet AJ26s, which involves removing some harnessing, adding U.S. electronics, qualifying it for U.S. propellants, and modifying the steering system.[18]

The Antares rocket was successfully launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on April 21, 2013. This marked the first successful launch of the NK-33 heritage engines built in early 1970s.[19]

Kuznetsov rocket engines include:

  • Kuznetsov oxygen-rich stage-combustion RP1/LOX rocket engine family. Including NK-9, NK-15, NK-19, NK-21, NK-33, NK-39, NK-43. The original version was designed to power an ICBM. In the 1970s some improved versions were built for the ill-fated Soviet Lunar mission. More than 150 NK-33 engines were produced and stored in a warehouse ever since, with 36 engines having been sold to Aerojet general in the 1990s. Two NK-33 derived engines (Aerojet AJ-26) are used in the first stage of the Antares rocket developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. The Antares rocket was successfully launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on April 21, 2013. This marked the first successful launch of the NK-33 heritage engines built in the early 1970s.[19] TsSKB-Progress also uses the stockpile NK-33 as the first-stage engine of the lightweight version of the Soyuz rocket family, the Soyuz-2-1v.[20]
  • RD-107A rocket engine. Powers the boosters of the R-7 family including the Soyuz-FG and Soyuz-2.[21]
  • RD-108A rocket engine. Powers the core stage of the R-7 family including the Soyuz-FG and Soyuz-2.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Russian Defense Business Directory". Federation of American Scientists. US Department of Commerce Bureau of Export Administration. May 1995. Retrieved 21 July 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ Shahab-5/IRSL-X-3, KOSAR/IRIS
  3. ^ a b "The Historical Chronicles of Kuznetsov JSC". Kuznetsov-motors.ru. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Турбореактивный двухконтурный двигатель с форсажной камерой НК-321".
  5. ^ a b c Dancey, Peter G (2015). Soviet aircraft industry. Fonthill Media Limited. ISBN 978-1-78155-289-6. OCLC 936209398.
  6. ^ a b Zrelov, V. A. (2018). "РАЗРАБОТКа ДВИГАТЕЛЕЙ "НК" БОЛЬШОЙ ТЯГИ НА БАЗЕ ЕДИНОГО ГАЗОГЕНЕРАТОРА" [Development of 'NK' large thrust engines on the basis of a single gas generator] (PDF). Dvigatel (in Russian). Vol. 115, no. 1. pp. 20–24.
  7. ^ Abidin, Vadim (March 2008). "ОРЛИНЫЙ ГЛАЗ ФЛОТА Самолет радиолокационного дозора и наведения Як-44Э" [Eagle eye fleet: Yak-44E radar patrol and guidance aircraft]. Oboronnyy Zakaz (Defense Order) (in Russian). No. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 18, 2019 – via A.S. Yakovlev design bureau, Kryl'ia Rodiny (Wings of the Motherland) magazine.
  8. ^ a b "NK-62, NK-63 - Kuznetsov, USSR" (in Czech).
  9. ^ "Авиационная система МГС-многоцелевой самолет М-90.ОКБ Мясищева" [Aviation system MGS-multipurpose aircraft M-90.OKB Myasishchev.] (in Russian). Archived from the original on August 18, 2013.
  10. ^ "Tu-330 variants". GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  11. ^ "NK-110" (PDF). Ulyanovsk Higher Aviation School of Civil Aviation (in Russian). p. 48.
  12. ^ Turini, Moira (December 2010). Configurazioni innovative di turbine di bassa pressione per motori aeronautici: studio preliminare aerodinamico e analisi affidabilistica [Innovative low-pressure turbine configurations for aircraft engines: Preliminary aerodynamic study] (PDF) (PhD thesis) (in Italian). Università degli Studi di Firenze. pp. 84–86.
  13. ^ Taverna, Michael (June 1994). "Russian engine industry in turmoil". Finance, Markets & Industry. Interavia. Moscow, Russia. pp. 26–28. ISSN 1423-3215.
  14. ^ a b c "Conversion: Aviation engine building industry". Aircraft, Missile, and Related Industries. Central Eurasia: Military affairs (Report). JPRS Report. Translated by Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) (published May 11, 1993). Tekhnika I Vooruzheniye. November 1992. pp. 62–64. OCLC 831658655.
  15. ^ a b Lindroos, Marcus. THE SOVIET MANNED LUNAR PROGRAM MIT. Accessed: 4 October 2011.
  16. ^ "NK-33 and NK-43 Rocket Engines". 20 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Antares". Orbital.
  18. ^ Clark, Stephen (March 15, 2010). "Aerojet confirms Russian engine is ready for duty". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  19. ^ a b Bill Chappell (21 April 2013). "Antares Rocket Launch Is A Success, In Test Of Orbital Supply Vehicle". NPR.
  20. ^ Zak, Anatoly. "The Soyuz-1 rocket". Russian Space Web. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  21. ^ a b "RD-107, RD-108". JSC Kuznetsov. Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2015-07-17.