| Apr 25, 2013 |
Developing innovative technology for green air transport
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(Nanowerk News) The creators of a new green air transport system believe innovation is absent in the development of new models of the future, and aim to change this.
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The ACHEON ('Aerial Coanda High Efficiency Orienting-jet Nozzle') project has EU-funding of EUR 599 630 under the FP7 Transport programme. The main objective is to develop innovative breakthrough industrial propulsion technology, for green air transport.
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ACHEON is a consortium of companies, universities, and research and technology organisations from Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Belgium. The scientific coordinator of the project is Professor Antonio Dumas from the Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Unimore), Italy.
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They are studying aircraft design and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in an effort to develop more effective jet nozzles for propulsion. It is expected that the first technology evaluation aimed at the proof of principle will be ready soon, which will set out targeted and suitable aircraft configurations.
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The project also hopes to explore different functionalities in design configurations, which will then be performed in various software and multi-physics simulations. The hope is that by the end of the project, videos and animations will be publicly available to provide proof-of-concepts of the ACHEON system.
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Other areas in which the ACHEON will focus on include cargo and passenger aircrafts, fast jets, small aircrafts, and advancing airships for transport.
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Currently, the consortium is establishing industrial collaborations with engine and aircraft manufacturers, and system integrators. This will enable them to move the project beyond scientific feasibility and towards their goal of technological advancement in developing and validating their ideas.
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The project will be detailing their vision for the future at the MAAT Consortium (Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport), which is organising a press conference and workshop entitled 'Cruiser/ feeder airship and innovative propulsion for greening the future EU transport.'
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Topics discussed will include high altitude hydrogen airship, the future of the green aeronautics, renewable energy system for airships, and computer modelling and optimisation methods in green air transport development.
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The workshop is jointly organised with ACHEON and CROP ('Cycloidal Rotors for Propulsion of Future Air-Vehicles').
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