Sonaca WING flap process Development

Project Information

SWING

Grant agreement ID: 864453

DOI

10.3030/864453

Project closed

EC signature date 27 September 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 30 September 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 1 170 467,50

EU contribution

€ 941 535,50

Coordinated by

CENTRE TECHNIQUE DES INDUSTRIES MECANIQUES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SWING (Sonaca WING flap process Development)

Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

SWING project aims to develop a material/process/design solution for a shielding flap for hybrid laminar flow control on wings of large passenger aircraft. The project target is to develop an In Situ Consolidation thermoplastic process to outperform existing process in terms of structural and economic performance. Indeed, Hybrid Laminar Flow Concept will lead to more complexity in the structure of the wings and their accessories, and therefore an efficient process to manufacture flaps are needed to enable implementation of such system with an acceptable cost.

This type of new flap should help civil aircraft to be lighter and more efficient (i.e. having less consumption)

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

From a technical point of view, several challenges stay on the development road :

• Selection of a thermoplastic composite pre-impregnated tape that fulfil both the design, the process and the economic requirement.
• Process parameter control strategy to guarantee in situ consolidation of composite with the nominal performance of the material for the targeted complex geometry
• Efficiency of tape laying to match with the economic equation. Efficiency includes the maximum laying speed and the gestion of start and stop (loss of time, scraps…)
• Assembly solution to create a closed wing section that include the ribs and possibly other reinforcement (for mechanical fastening, at trailing edge….).
SWING aims at overcoming these challenges with significative achievement to allow the integration of the thermoplastic flap in demonstrator wings of hybrid laminar flow control.

To manufacture the Krueger-Panel, Loiretech and the SWING consortium agreed on and set up the following tooling concept: A rotative tooling with the following functions:
- Cells winding on 200°C rotative mandrels
- Cells bonding at room temperature adjustable tooling
- Skin winding at room temperature and rotative tooling

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Krueger flap develop inside the project will impact the CO2 emissions of the Large Passenger Aircraft demonstrator through two ways : by reducing the weight of the flap thus the fuel consumption and by allowing aerodynamics optimization.

From a manufacturing point of view, it has been demonstrated that an aircraft flap (here a Krueger flap) could be manufactured by tapes winding with a better quality (better positioning of the tapes, no need to go through the autoclave because of the fusion of the thermoplastic as soon as it is positioned). It has been proven that this technology could also be used to manufacture volumes with concave and warped surfaces; This pave the way to a new manufacturing process of very light wing component for Large Passenger Aircraft.

Krueger flap

first test of Krueger flap realization