MULTIFUNCTIONAL HEATED AUTOREGULATED PTC RADIANT PANEL

Project Information

RADIANT PANEL

Grant agreement ID: 821339

DOI

10.3030/821339

Project closed

EC signature date 22 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 31 October 2021

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 700 585,00

EU contribution

€ 599 051,50

Coordinated by

HUTCHINSON SA
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RADIANT PANEL (MULTIFUNCTIONAL HEATED AUTOREGULATED PTC RADIANT PANEL)

Reporting period: 2020-05-01 to 2021-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The RADIANT PANEL Project has developed a self-limiting heating (PTC) system integrated on cabin sidewallpanel to revolutionize the thermal comfort of Aircraft while contributing to the global energy efficiency in the Aircraft by adding radiative heating contribution to the ECS system.
The RADIANT PANEL project offers a disruptive innovation proposal based on two main pillars:
- A heated multi-functional cabin sidewall panel
- A model and simulation oriented for thermal comfort of passengers
However, the development of a new positive temperature coefficient (PTC) textile coating made of ex-cellulose carbon fiber and a PVDF-based polymer has not shown sufficient maturity to be integrated and the multifunctional sidewall panel has been developed based on existing PTC technologies. For the first time in Aerospace, it has been carried out the full cabin temperature and air flow simulation using a specific software (TAITherm) coupled with the Human Thermal Module for the comfort prediction.
A full scale1 demonstrator cabin mock up installed based on A330 sidewall has functionally validated the development and has shown the thermal confort impact on test passengers.

The consortium members are HUTCHINSON, a world leader for Cabin solutions, CANOE is a R&T centre with more than 5 years of expertise in the field of cost-effective carbon fibrous materials and smart composites especially for aeronautics market and CTAG a non-profit technology Center with years of expertise in the numerical simulation for thermal efficiency active in the automotive industry.

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

During Period 1, the set of planned Milestones have been successfully completed:
- M1 Kick-Off meeting has been passed Nov 6th, 2018
- M2 Spec Review passed Dec 2018: Requirements & Compliance Matrix validated with Topic Leader
- M3 Preliminary Design Review for Conductive Coating Layer passed May 2019
- M5 Evaluation Test Readiness for conductive coating/layer passed in Bordeaux, November 21st 2019.
- M9 Thermal Simulation Baseline passed, February 7th 2020.

During Period 2,
One milestone has been deleted and extended for mitigation measures:
- M4 CDR Conductive Coating extended to the end of the project (December 21st, 2021)
the set of planned Milestones have been successfully completed:
- M6 Evaluation Readiness Review passed, October
- M7 CDR Hardware Demonstrator passed, March 9th 2021
- M8 Evaluation Test Review passed, December 21st 2021
- M10 Thermal Simulation Results passed, March 29th, 2021
- M11 Final Review done, December 21st 2021

As a conclusion all objectives have been achieved except the integration of a ex-cellulose PTC film which maturity was too low (hot spots, repetability for large areas).
Thus, RADIANT PANEL project achieved in designing an optimized architecture to integrate radiative PTC heating layers on sidewall panels; manufacturing a scale 1 demonstrator based on A330 design; installing a complete Cabin Mock-up to implement the PMV model on percieved comfort by passengers, and confirming the themal simulations.

Airbus (TM) is "very interested in the development of a PTC heater. Several possible applications on a passenger aircraft have been identified".

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)

PTC effect has been demonstrated on exPAN CF veils.
Heating effects on cabin panel lab scale samples have been demonstrated
Simulation for themal comfort on A320 and A330 cabins have been performed
RADIANT PANEL scale 1 demonstrator has been manufactured on A330 basis, and tested at lab level and on a scale 1 Cabin Mock-Up
PMV model has been performed in a test campaign at scale 1 Cabin Mock up

Radiant Panel Demonstrator IR (HUT)

ThaiTherm (CTAG)

PTC Sample (ADERA-CANOE)

PTC Coating (ADERA-CANOE)

Radiant Panel Demonstrator (HUT)

Laboratory Test Equipment (HUT)

Cabin Mock Up (CTAG)

PMV Model (CTAG)