Perhaps it's just a more historied company, but I found this episode (which focuses on the aviation arm of Rolls-Royce) to be the most interesting installment of the 3-part "How to Build..." series.
This episode focuses on the Trent-700, one of the most popular turbofan engines in the world, and the newly developed Trent-1000 jet engine, designed for the high fuel efficiency Boeing Dreamliner. But the program also touches on the company's heritage, which is tied to the Trent family engines' original ancestor, the RB211--the first true three-spool turbofan jet engine in the world, and the engine that put Rolls-Royce in the jet engine big leagues.
I'm not a huge fan of the reality-TV style of engineering/construction documentaries that many educational networks have switched to. They do give you a look at the very personal side of the industry, showing you the real people behind these amazing machines, but there's less informational content usually than traditional science documentaries. However, this episode is a nice blend of science/engineering, history, and the human interest side of the story.
Unlike the other two episodes, even though there are still top secret proprietary processes involved, there's more detailed explanation of the manufacturing processes and engineering techniques put into the product. For example, how are super light, super strong titanium fan blades manufactured? How is a turbofan different from a traditional jet engine? How do the internal components withstand the tremendous forces and heat produced by the engine? How does Rolls-Royce support the fleets of airliners that employ their engines, preventing failures before they happen? All of this and more is answered by this hour-long documentary.
This episode focuses on the Trent-700, one of the most popular turbofan engines in the world, and the newly developed Trent-1000 jet engine, designed for the high fuel efficiency Boeing Dreamliner. But the program also touches on the company's heritage, which is tied to the Trent family engines' original ancestor, the RB211--the first true three-spool turbofan jet engine in the world, and the engine that put Rolls-Royce in the jet engine big leagues.
I'm not a huge fan of the reality-TV style of engineering/construction documentaries that many educational networks have switched to. They do give you a look at the very personal side of the industry, showing you the real people behind these amazing machines, but there's less informational content usually than traditional science documentaries. However, this episode is a nice blend of science/engineering, history, and the human interest side of the story.
Unlike the other two episodes, even though there are still top secret proprietary processes involved, there's more detailed explanation of the manufacturing processes and engineering techniques put into the product. For example, how are super light, super strong titanium fan blades manufactured? How is a turbofan different from a traditional jet engine? How do the internal components withstand the tremendous forces and heat produced by the engine? How does Rolls-Royce support the fleets of airliners that employ their engines, preventing failures before they happen? All of this and more is answered by this hour-long documentary.