Ivchenko AI-20

AI-20
Ivchenko AI-20M turboprop engine
Type Turboprop
National origin Soviet Union
Manufacturer Ivchenko/ZMKB Progress
Major applications Antonov An-12
Ilyushin Il-18



The Ivchenko AI-20 is a Soviet turboprop engine developed by the Ivchenko design bureau in the 1950s. It has been built in large numbers, serving as the powerplant for the Antonov An-12 transport and the Ilyushin Il-18 airliner.

Design and development

The AI-20 was the first gas turbine engine developed by the design bureau led by Oleksandr Ivchenko based at Zaporozhye, Ukraine, which had previously concentrated on small piston engines such as the Ivchenko AI-14 and AI-26 radials. It was designed as a prospective powerplant for the new large Ilyushin Il-18 airliner and the Antonov An-10, to be powered by four turboprops, in competition with the Kuznetsov NK-4.[1] Both engines were tried out on the pre-production batch of 20 Il-18s, but the Ivchenko engine was chosen for full production,[2] possibly due to a crash caused by an in-flight failure of an NK-4 engine, and possibly due to the desire for the engines of the Ukrainian An-10 to also be built in Ukraine.[3]

The AI-20 is a single shaft turboprop with a ten-stage axial compressor and a three stage power turbine, and is designed to run at a constant speed.[4] The overhaul life of the engine was initially poor compared with contemporary western engines, being reported as 600–750 hours in 1964,[5] but was later improved to 6,000–7,000 hours, with a service life of 20,000 hours.[1]

It entered production at Zaporozhye and at Perm, USSR in 1958, also being built under licence in China as the WJ-6.[6] About 14,000 AI-20s have been built in total.[7]

Applications

AI-20

WJ-6

Specifications (AI-20M)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1993–94.[1]

General characteristics

Width: 842 mm (33.15 in)
Height:1,180 mm (46.46 in)

Components

Performance

See also


Comparable engines
Related lists

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lambert 1993, p. 650.
  2. Stroud 1968, p. 113.
  3. Alexandrov, Nikolai."Тот самый "НК"". (in Russian) www.aviation.ru. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  4. Gunston 1986, p.81.
  5. "Under the Il-18's Cowlings". Flight International 16 January 1964, p. 85.
  6. "Ivchenko-Progress AI-20 (Ukraine), Aero-engines - Turboprop". Jane's Aero Engines 2010 (extract), Janes Information Group, 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  7. "ZAPOROZHYE MACHINE-BUILDING DESIGN BUREAU PROGRESS STATE ENTERPRISE NAMED AFTER ACADEMICIAN A.G. IVCHENKO (SE IVCHENKO-PROGRESS): HISTORY OF SE IVCHENKO-PROGRESS". Ivenchko-Progress. 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2010.

External links

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