SAM|XL receives grant for composites research towards sustainable aviation

SAM|XL (Delft, Netherlands) and TU Delft Faculty of Aerospace Engineering have been awarded three projects to help fast-track technology development for sustainable aviation by the RDM “Mobility Fund” administered by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO (Assen). These projects comprise public-private partnerships and include:

• Composite Liquid Hydrogen Tanks for Civil Aviation
  Development of liquid hydrogen tanks from composites for civil aviation with Toray Advanced Composites (Nijverdal, Netherlands) will focus on both innovative materials and intelligent manufacturing automation. TU Delft contact: Prof. Rinze Benedictus.

• Thermoplastics for Sustainable Aviation
  Thermoplastics for sustainable aviation with Fokker Aerostructures B.V. (Hoogeveen, Netherlands) will pursue product development and manufacturing automation of structural aircraft components and quantifying sustainability improvements. TU Delft contact: Prof. Rinze Benedictus.

• Brightsky —  ‘Smart MRO’
  Led by KLM Engineering & Maintenance (Schiphol, Netherlands) with JetSupport B.V. (Schiphol) acting as coordinator:
   
  • Package 1: Advanced inspection and repair techniques for aircraft engine components. This also involves cooperation with TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, The Hague) on automation and digitalization of the core processes and the development of an advanced human-machine interface (HMI) by TU Delft Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. TU Delft contact: Dr. Kjelt van Rijswijk.
  • Package 2: “Smart Availability,” development of digital tools that provide decision support for maintenance and planning, including predictive maintenance. TU Delft contact: Bruno Santos.

SAM|XL and TU Delft will receive €4.9 million for these projects. “In these joint submissions,” says Dr. Kjelt van Rijswijk, managing director of SAM|XL, “high-quality engineering and scientific excellence are combined to fast-track the transition to sustainable aviation.” In total, eight projects will receive funding from RDM. More information about the grant program and an overview of the winning calls can be found on the RVO website.