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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AERO (Improving jet fuel efficiency through automated, high-precision and performance of engine manufacturing)

Teaser

Summary

Aviation contributes 2.1% to EU GDP and 5 million jobs, and is to grow 45% by 2035. It is also a great polluter, as GHG emissions are released into the atmosphere as fuel burns. To address it, global and European measures are enforcing obligations for aircraft manufacturers to meet emission limits by 2023.
Increasing jet engine efficiency requires higher temperatures, exposing materials to more aggressive environments. Moreover, to reduce engine weight, hot-gas-path components with thinner wall sections are being designed and introduced in the next generation of jet engines. There is a need for a process able to produce a new family of thin walled structural components that are in the hot-gas-path (HGP) and are cast in heat resistant super alloys.
AERO is a specific casting technology that will facilitate industrialization of a new family of thin walled hot-gas-path jet engine components. Retrofitting the existing foundry and introducing new automation solutions, integrated process control methodologies, computerized modelling and rapid prototyping.

Work performed

We have analyzed different super alloys suitability for structural applications in the hot-gas-path of new engine generations according to their mechanical and thermal characteristics as well as identified requirements in terms of technical approach, infrastructure and certification procedures to implement our remaining steps towards industrialization of the innovative process. We have extended into the aircraft engine manufacturers market and potential secondary markets. The frame of contract terms and conditions as well as payment structure to adequate our commercial strategy and risks contingency measures are analyzed and our key supplierÂ´s base related to AERO project extended. Any potential conflict from the FTO perspective while drafted the overall IPR strategy has been explored. We have conducted a risk analysis including contingency measures. Also, we have estimated 5-year financial projections including a sensitivity analysis for different scenarios.

Final results

Aero is an innovative methodology that will support jet engine manufacturers in creating lighter, more fuel efficient engines as well as optimize components for high volume manufacturing methods. Aero will improve the efficiency with which large-surface-area, thin-walled structural components for jet engines such as RTFâ€™s can be manufactured by decreasing development lead times and improving the ease with which smaller cast segments can be welded into larger assemblies.
Aero will allow reduction in design-to-pilot lead times by 50% and one-time development costs by implementing an innovative method to produce prototype castings that does not require hard tooling. This makes possible rapid evaluation of a number of design generations when optimizing a component design with short lead-times between each generation and lowers costs.
The other innovative element in Aero is the ability to maintain a high degree of accuracy in positioning of the edges of a cast thin-walled component with a minimum of mechanical straightening. This will significantly improve the ease of manufacture by welding of larger assemblies from smaller cast segments which is a manufacturing strategy being implemented by jet engine manufacturers as they convert to larger scale production methods borrowing technology from automotive manufacturing.