MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - The Tupolev company is developing a ground bench for testing the NK-89 aircraft engine that can be propelled by liquefied gas as well as kerosene, Tupolev chief designer Vladimir Andreyev told Interfax-Military News Agency Wednesday.
"The documentation has been practically completed. This spring to summer we will have a cryogenic tank for the ground bench assembled," he said.
"Although the R&D in this domain are intended for the experimental TU-156, the main objective is to develop an operational cryogenic system for the commercial TU-204K passenger jet which is to be certified in accordance with the 2015 civil aircraft development national program," the designer said.
In 2004 the master fuel pump - the most complicated unit of the cryogenic fuel system - must be developed, he went on.
Andreyev said that the NK-89 bound for the bench might be the one currently available at Kuznetsov Samara Research Center.
The cryogenic fuel system of the TU-156 should comprise a fore fuel compartment with two tanks having one meter in diameter and six meters in length, and an aft fuel tank with a diameter of three meters and a length of six meters. The main cryogenic tank is welded from the AMG6 aluminum alloy and covered with a 50-mm layer of isocyanate foam heat insulator, which renders it operational capabilities at minus 160 degrees Celsius.