The aim of the DREAM project was to develop and manufacture the main elements constituting the engine compartments of the High Speed Rotorcraft (Cowlings, Air Intake, Engine Bay Ventilation).
Development in the field of rotorcraft and parallel improvement of a fixed-wing aircrafts, resulted in new concepts, that were designed to combine airplane and rotorcraft capabilities, giving birth to a VTOL aircraft that will reach speeds greater than helicopters and that will be able to hover. Creation of different concepts and prototypes speeded up in 40's, since that time many projects were initiated, however most of them ended up on the prototype phase. The latest achievements in this field belong to Sikorsky and Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) companies. Eurocopter in the recent years successfully built and tested the X3 compound rotorcraft (first compound rotorcraft built in Europe since the 1950', when the Fairey Rotodyne was flown).
RACER demonstrator will help to improve industrial and scientific capabilities in the field of compound rotorcrafts giving Europe opportunity to stay on a predominant position in the rotorcraft industry across the globe. It is worth to emphasize, that within completion of the RACER project, not only industrial but also societal and environmental aspects shall be taken into account. Continuously increasing number of flights and predicted further growth of air travel, results in increased impact on environment and is a challenge facing aviation industry in terms of finding new and more environmentally-friendly solutions that can enter into service in a relatively short period of time, taking into account dynamic (observed and predicted) congestion increase in the airspace. The above is confirmed by the Clean Sky 2 Factsheet: "Air transport contributes today about 3% to global greenhouse gas emissions, with traffic expected to triple by 2050. Although other sectors are more polluting (electricity and heating produces 32% of greenhouse gases), this expected growth makes it necessary to address aviation’s environmental impact. Meeting the EU’s climate and energy objectives will require a drastic reduction of the sector’s environmental impact by reducing its emissions. Maximising fuel efficiency, using less to go farther, is also a key cost-cutting factor in a very competitive industry – and as air traffic increases, better noise reduction technologies are needed.". Moreover increasing expectations in terms of door-to-door mobility underlines the need of searching for more affordable and better performance solutions.
Realisation of the DREAM project included searching for cutting-edge solutions in aviation engineering field, allowing to:
• manufacture innovative engine compartments of the Compound Rotorcraft demonstrator
• find the best solution especially in terms of weight, costs and shape fidelity of the parts.
The final parts were manufactured almost entirely of composite materials, including parts of the engine bay and those exposed to high temperatures thanks to use of high temperature composite materials. All the parts were designed with the aim to meet certification requirements and to be maintenance-friendly: the applied solutions were often reconsidered in order to assure easy access to interior of the cowlings as well to assure fast assembly/ disassembly.
