The aerospace future is embracing the hybrid technology, but not as you think
Quick question
Why Full Electric is not yet competitive at all with conventional thermal engines? Simply because the energy density ratio between jet A1 fuel and the best battery in the market is 1 to 30. Means that the energy stored in a kg of jet fuel needs to be replaced with 30kg of battery. So the ‘fuel’ will weight 30 times the current one.
Quick conclusion
If we want to build a full electric airplane, and we expect to have the same range of a normal jet airplane replòacing the thermal engine with electric engine… simply we will build an airplane that cannot fly because its weight is over what it can lift up.
By the way
Some innovations are anyway possible, like the one we are bringing ahead, in order to increase the efficiency of the current state of the art, like using system able to convert all the energy wasted in heat, turbulences, and other in electric energy available for the services.
Durante reveals the new fine artworks totally handmade on recycled carbon fibres in artistic collaboration with the Whiteblood Foundation
26 April 2022
The “Seven Seas” is a new fine artwork concept made by hand entirely in recycled carbon fiber (the live carbon).
The artwork is the exclusive result of the artistic merging of design, materials and prototyping of our artist and technicians. The Collections is a masterpiece of combination of art, technology, experience and specialized hand manufacture, whose extraordinary workmanship, unique and of rare stylistic value is manifested in every detail, starting from the chromatic balance to the harmony of lines and contours.
The work is thus capable of enhancing the table and the foods offered and presented to the guest in a unique setting capable of enhancing the colors, textures and shapes of the food, allowing the chef a unique and unattainable stage.
The collection could be created on demand, using motifs or hand painting that act as a reference to art plovers , thus rediscovering spaces, emotions and sensations of nautical contexts characterized by a stylistic and cultural caliber.
Our group, an active member of the Whiteblood Art Foundation, has been engaged for many years in the fields of advanced research and high-tech materials and, in the spirit of its founders, pursues and pursues with its work an artistic aim capable of embellishing and emblazoning every single realization.
‘Art leads us with kindness and passion, through high technology, towards new exemplary beauties of circular economy’
Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante presents new artworks made on recycled carbon fibres in collaboration with Cracking Art and the Whiteblood Foundation
26 April 2022
The link between Technology and Sustainability that has always accompanied Durante industries strategy, married the Cracking Art philosophy, in an even more intense commitment.
Today we need to work by minimizing waste, reducing the environmental impact, following the Circular Economy, creating new models of production and consumption that involves sharing, lending, reuse, repair, reconditioning and recycling of existing materials and products for as long as possible.
This pushes the artistic collective towards the use of the second life of some high-performance materials.
The message of Durante and Cracking Art is now even stronger and sees the launch of a new super exclusive collection of limited-edition Artworks in Recycled Carbon.
PLASTIC AND CARBON: A COMMON ORIGIN
Just like Plastic, Carbon also sees its origin from oil.
Acrylonitrile is, in fact, a chemical produced through a complex oil-based process on an industrial scale. The fibers are obtained from synthetic chemical compounds derived from coal and petroleum reduced to filaments of various lengths.
Among the characteristics of carbon fiber stand out the high mechanical strength, lightness, thermal insulation capacity, resistance to temperature changes and to the effect of chemicals.
RECYCLED CARBON AND ARTWORKS
The process of creation of the Artworks in recycled carbon fiber is particularly complex, both in terms of materials, know-how and handwork skills; it is in fact carried out by gifted specialised personnel that follows the process in its entirety, from the realization of the components to the operations of recovery of the fibers and, together with the collaboration of the artists , works in the creation of Artworks in limited edition.
FROM CATALYTIC CRACKING TO A PHYSICAL RUPTURE.
The term Cracking Art comes from the English verb “to crack” and describes the act of breaking, collapsing. With the name of catalytic cracking is also called the chemical reaction that transforms crude oil into plastic: for the Artists this is the moment when the natural becomes artificial, the organic is transformed into synthetic, and it is this process that they intend to represent through their art.
Similar process happens with the recycled carbon fibres, where the end-of-life components are reduced to their original basic materials through a complex process.
Every sculpture is unique and special because it comes from a physical break, from the piece of a car, the wing of an airplane, or from the mast of a competition boat, to cite some examples.
Each piece is totally handmade, supervised at each stage and customized. Starting from the material of origin and the artistic flair that intervenes from time to time, we witness the birth of a modern Prometheus that through its uniqueness becomes the vehicle of a powerful message.
THE PENGUIN, THE FIRST ARTWORK
The first artwork is the famous Cracking Art Penguin, chosen for its strong symbolism: it is a social animal whose survival is linked to the problem of global warming and the consequent melting of the ice.
The Penguin, a much-loved animal but constantly endangered, reminds us of the fundamental commitment to reduce CO2 emissions.
The material that composes it comes from a Porsche Prototype race car.
The Penguin in recycled carbon is a limited edition artwork realised in 8 copies, signed and numbered.
49 x 48 x 120 cm 19,2 x 18,8 x 47,2 in
THE CAR DONOR OF THE CARBON FIBRES
This car has a rich history of events and emotions.
Born as a road sports car in 1999 it was acquired by Ing. Sergio Durante after a few years of life in traffic, to be transformed into a race car for ice rallies and uphill races.
The original body has been completely rebuilt in carbon fiber to drastically reduce the weight, essential in ice racing, the enhanced engine and all internal parts modified for the safety of drivers. The car has distinguished itself with results of extreme value.
It participated and succeeed in famous endurance races such as the Ronde Hinvernale. It competed also in the 12Hours on Ice, in France on famous circuits such as Serre Chevalier, winning events, and shone in the Ice Series on the Italian and Austrian Alps. During the summer season it won the famous European Mountain Championship of Cesana Sestriere three times in a row in its extreme category.
The most stressed pieces, such as the bumpers and the rear wing were disassembled and subjected to the process of recovering carbon fibers, and then reused in the creation of an iconic animal such as the penguin Cracking Art.
AMRC with Boeing Board Meeting in Philadelphia at Hangsterfer’s
Hangersterfer’s&Group hosted on the 8th May the AMRC with Boeing Board Meeting in its premises in Philadelphia.
Representatives of the biggest aerospace companies and their suppliers came from all the corner of the Earth. Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Starrag Eckert, Messier Bugatti Dowty, BAE Systems, DELCAM, OSG, D4S Motorsport, MetsoftPro, Sandvik, Maegerle, Spirit Aerospace, KCT Group, DMG-Mori, McLaren, Renishaw, StarGB, Techicut, SECOTools top managers came from all over the world to join this important annual event.
The Board decided the new strategies for the next period. As usual, in the evergreen spirit of the AMRC, this occasion was a fantastic opportunity to empower relationships and business opportunities. The event has been magisterially organised by Ed and Nicolette Jones, the family owning the company Hangsterfer.
The meeting offered the opportunity to visit the production line of Hangersterfer’s and some beautiful corners of the USA.
AMRC with Boeing Board Meeting in Nagoya at OSG Corporation
Thursday and Wednesday, 18th, May, 2017
The nice view of the center of Nagoya (Japan)
OSG Group hosted on the 18th May the AMRC with Boeing Board Meeting in its premises in Nagoya.
Representatives of the biggest aerospace companies and their suppliers came from all the corner of the Earth.
Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Starrag Eckert, Messier Bugatti Dowty, BAE Systems, DELCAM, OSG, D4S Group, MetsoftPro, Sandvik, Maegerle, Spirit Aerospace, KCT Group, DMG-Mori, McLaren, Renishaw, StarGB, Techicut, SECOTools top managers came from all over the world to join this important annual event.
The Board decided the new strategies for the next period. As usual, in the evergreen spirit of the AMRC, this occasion was a fantastic opportunity to empower relationships and business opportunities.
The event has been magisterially organised by the OSG Group.
The meeting offered the opportunity to visit the incredible production line of OSG and some breathtaking corners of Japan.
Dr. Nickolas Ridgway and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante participated at the International Conference TRAM (Trend in Advanced Machining, Manufacturing and Materials) in Chicago at the IMTS 2014, the famous Machine Tool and Robotic fear in USA. They presented a new approach on the manufacturing of high quality components for motorsport and aeronautic sector, based on a life cycle approach. This permits to achieve better, faster and less pollutant components with respect to the previous technologies. Some of the technologies and results were developed and tested in the European Funded Project REFORM, dealing with advanced composites materials.
Invited Keynote lecture at TRAM 2009 worldwide Conference
Wednesday, 9, September, 2009
New methodologies for development of high efficient Machining of difficult to cut materials
Authors:
Sergio Durante, Mauro Comoglio
1D4S Motorsport, Mar Adriatico 2, 38612 Granadilla de Abona, Spain,
2DIAD , Str. Della Praia 12/C, I-10090 Buttigliera Alta (TO) Italy,
In Sheffield at the AMRC with Boeing facilities, Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante presented a paper on high efficient machining.
The article and the keynote focuses on the automotive and aerospace industries. In these industries the need for enhanced materials performance is necessary if they are to remain competitive in global terms. Unfortunately the material properties, which make them so attractive to the aerospace and automotive industry can also make them difficult to machine. This paper will discuss integrated developments in machining techniques and cutting tools, which are emerging to cope with difficult to cut materials.
Introduction
Due to the increasingly competitive nature of the commercial aircraft and automotive markets, environmental issues and affordability are the prime market drivers.
In the aerospace sector, the implication of this is a market requirement for faster, cheaper, quieter aircraft. There is also a need to reduce operational costs by producing, more economical and reliable aircraft with an increased operating life. To meet these requirements the aircraft designers are producing larger, thinner complex (monolithic) parts, which can be assembled more easily without the recourse to jigs and fixtures. This is forcing manufacturers to consider using more exotic alloys, composites and mixed metal matrices, with a large impact on machining technology. Similar trends are occurring in the military aircraft sector where, in addition to affordability, stealth technology is forcing the use of new materials and design techniques.
In addition to the technological issues the aerospace industry is now moving towards the model of the automotive with the large OEMs concentrating on large system integration with component manufacture moving into the supply chain. This is having an impact as the companies now machining difficult to cut materials are unaware of the materials research being carried out at the OEM level and they can be faced with a machining problem on a material where they have little previous experience.
In the automotive sector new products now face stringent economic and environmental demands. In Europe emission legislation and the demands for higher performance from smaller engines have together driven the development of diesel engine technology over the past 10 years.
Integrated development of high performance tools for efficient machining of difficult to cut materials in automotive and aerospace applications
Authors:
Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante – DIAD (IT)
Prof. Keith Ridgway – AMRC with Boeing
Dr. Eng. Mauro Comoglio – Centro Ricerche FIAT (IT)
On October 25th, Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante presented a Keynote Address in the Frankfurt AIRTEC2007 Plenary Session International Conference.
Airbus 380 – Courtesy of Airbus, Our Partner in the AFFIX Project:
Aligning, Holding and Fixing Flexible and Difficult to Handle Components
The speech focuses on the automotive, aerospace industries. In all these industries the need for enhanced materials performance is necessary if they are to remain competitive in global terms. The aerospace industry is currently under-going the changes originally experienced in the automotive industry with increasing acceptance that the OEMs are large system integrators and increasing use of sub-contractors.
This approach has a wide-ranging impact on future developments as the OEMs are pushing research down the supply chain. This creates the risk of creating a major discontinuity between the performance requirements of the OEMs and the manufacturing capabilities of the supply chain. As the OEMs require increasing performance it is essential that the supply chain have the manufacturing capability to cope with the enhanced material properties required. This discontinuity is addressed in this proposal as new production processes will be developed to cope with the new materials and also the major design changes occurring in the industries considered.
The aerospace and automotive factories of the future will involve jig less assembly and more responsive manufacturing processes.
This will include increased flexibility, including intelligent work-holding devises and fixtures, adaptive machining, active damping. These will be required to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the accuracy required for jig less assembly.
Al of these aspects have a major impact on machining tool.
In the always dynamic environment of London, it was held the meeting between Prof. Jianguo Lin, director of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Imperial College of London and Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante. Some high tech industrial projects are already running between D4S Motorsport and this important UK institution. Target of the meeting was to explore future possible collaboration in the field of the advanced engineering, with a special attention to application of innovative manufacturing process for the production of a future generation of low-inertia powertrain components.
In the same days the meeting of the international project MMTECH was held at the Imperial College. This project relates with the setting up of a new concept of additive manufacturing process for aerospace components.
Industries, research centres and companies from UK, France, Italy and Spain are involved in this international collaboration. MMTech will develop technologies and methodologies to process the gamma-Titanium material, which have the potential to save time and cost across the aircraft lifecycle (design, production, maintenance, overhaul, repair and retrofit), including certification aspects. It will target the integration of new and novel materials in aero-engine and aircraft structural components.
Building the basis for future collaborations with the famous City University of Hong Kong In the fascinating environment of the always dynamic Hong Kong was held the first important meeting between the worldwide famous City University of Hong Kong, represented by Prof. Jian Lu, Executive Vice President of Research and Technology, and Dr. Sergio Durante, Executive Vice President of the multinational company D4S Group.
The topic of the meeting was focused on the future collaboration between the two institutions. The fields of interest discussed are mainly related to the application of advanced materials to the future mobility automotive sector, with a particular interest on a novel generation of energy absorbers, ultra high strength nano-structured metals and innovative surface engineering treatment.
The City University of Hong Kong, in the Department of Advanced Structural Materials sport a state of the art equipped laboratory and top level researchers.
The number and the quality of the publications permit the University to be ranked among the best-in-class worldwide.
More in details the Primary mission of the Centre for Advanced Structural Materials of Prof. Jian Lu is to develop a future generation of materials scientists, mechanics of materials researchers and design engineers to bring advance fundamentals and technologies in advanced structural materials.
Innovative solutions are created for different key industrial sectors, such as the biomedical, the automotive, the aerospace, and the sustainable energy.
The Centre’s objectives are to build a common research platform to attracts various members in the field of mechanics of advanced structural and functional material. Technology transfer is created by working with national and international leading companies; training top level multi-disciplinary researchers for the region; developing high value-added products to support economic developments of Hong Kong and the Pearl Delta Region.
The current major research areas are:
• Prestressed engineering materials and devices
• Advanced Bulk Metallic Glasses (BMGs) and Multicomponent Metallic Alloys
• New Advanced Composites
• Radiation Damage in Reactor Materials
• Integration of advanced structural materials in product design
The new materials under development in the Prof. Jian Lu Centre for Advanced Structural Material, show high potential of application in the future electric and hybrid cars, that represent exactly the focus of the current business of D4S Motorsport The two organizations found a lot of complementarity points that will converge in the joint participations to both industrial and government high tech Asian and European projects, where the City University of Hong Kong will bring in the material technologies while D4S Motorsport will develop the manufacturing and extensive automotive testing of parts.
The modern architecture sport by the City University of Hong Kong, which is ranked one of the best universities Worldwide
Picture: Prof. Jian Lu, Executive Vice President of the Research & Technology at the City University of Hong Kong with Dr. Eng. Sergio Durante, Executive Vice President of the D4S Group. The Hong Kong University.
