ANISOPTER: The Affordable Optimization Solution for Anisogrid Structures

Project Information

ANISOPTER

Grant agreement ID: 868615

DOI

10.3030/868615

Project closed

EC signature date 9 May 2019

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 31 August 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

EZEQ APPS SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ANISOPTER (ANISOPTER: The Affordable Optimization Solution for Anisogrid Structures)

Reporting period: 2019-04-01 to 2019-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The space industry is at the higher end of an important value-added stream of commercial and public services. The development of Space technology in the last half century not only contributed decisively to the democratization of Information Technologies, but it also provided key information about our planet, climate prediction, weather forecast, crop growth monitoring, and defence. Fostering a globally competitive and innovative European space sector is one of the priorities under H2020 framework program.
However, the access to Space prices remain extremely high, which prevents new business models from development. Even though every kilogram sent to space costs over 4 k€ for low earth orbits and 18 k€ for geostationary, there are slightly over 2,000 operative satellites orbiting Earth and over 200 tonnes are yearly sent to Space.
Despite there is a clear tendency to reduce size and weight, more than 95% of the mass sent to orbit is in form of small to large satellites (>500 kg). In 2018, over 100 of these satellites were globally manufactured and sent to Space in roughly 100 launches. On average, around 20% of the dry weight of satellites and launchers corresponds to the structures.
Most of the load-bearing structures in modern satellites and launchers are cylindrical or conical shaped. They are generally designed from sandwich composites, carbon fibre laminates, or aluminium monocoques. Although these technologies are well developed and light, the disruptive anisogrid technology offers additional weight efficiency and fabrication benefits. In such lattice structures, the optimal disposition of the crossing bars provides the required stiffness to prevent buckling failure and take advantage of the full material strength.
However, achieving the lightest configuration (optimal bars thicknesses and shell geometry) fulfilling design specifications (loads and constraints) is challenging and time consuming. To solve this problem, we have developed a specific Software-as-a-Service solution for the rapid and automated sizing of anisogrid structures so-called ANISOPTER. Our web server at http://anisopter.com is able to explore millions of configurations in minutes and obtain equal or lighter structures than the competence.
The funding received by the European Commission allowed us to identify gaps in the first approach, add new optimization functionalities, validate results in different scenarios, and define our target clients. In addition, we have defined a preliminary working plan with the tasks to be undertaken before reaching the market and the estimated funding required.
Despite our first clients belong to Space sector our ultimate objectives point to Earth. We foresee that the success of ANISOPTER in the challenging Space sector will radically facilitate the expansion of anisogrid technology. In the long run, the application of optimized anisogrid concepts to terrestrial structures like wind power or electricity transport towers will contribute decisively to save Billions of Euros and significantly reduce the cost of energy.
Please, check an ANISOPTER demo video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/j_OVnW4Dhak) or request a FREE TRIAL license at [e-mail]

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 the SME-Instrument Phase I we have assessed the technical, commercial and economic feasibility of the Anisopter web service:

TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT
We improved the web server interface and added several new functionalities to the optimization engine. Then, we compared Anisopter with its closest competitor software (HyperSizer®) using an anisogrid rocket interstage. In this comparison, we found that Anisopter is able to obtain the same results as HyperSizer® in one minute.
We also implemented Eurocode EN 1991-1-4:2005 wind model into Anisopter to estimate the weight reductions that anisogrid would provide in wind energy towers sector. We determined that an anisogrid wind tower would be around 30 % lighter than the classic steel tubular design.
In all cases, the optimized structures were validated by Finite Element Analysis to verify the quality of our analytical formulations and identify feasible improvements.

COMMERCIAL ASSESSMENT
We carried out a market research in which we have:
(i) determined the key facts and trends of our target Space sector,
(ii) identified a database with nearly all the potential aerospace clients in EU,
(iii) analysed Anisopter competitor alternatives,
(iv) described the main barriers that difficult competitors entry our market segment, and
(v) outlined some of the relevant regulations and standards.

FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT
A timeline for commercialisation has been set. It includes technology validation, consolidation in the European market and expansion to US market. In addition, we have estimated the allocation of resources that will be required to bring ANISOPTER to market by 2022, including a 24-month working plan.
Finally, an economic forecast for the first five commercialisation years has been outlined for three scenarios: pessimistic, most likely and optimistic. We have estimated that after 5 years of commercialisation ANISOPTER will report a turnovers from 1 M€ in the pessimistic scenario to of over 2.6 M€ in the optimistic, with a total investment (own resources + Ph I + Ph II) of roughly 0.7 M€. We expect to create 4 job positions during Phase II execution and up to 15 extra jobs during the 5 years after the end of the project.

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)

CURRENT APPROACHES FOR ANISOGRID DESIGN ARE EXPENSIVE AND SLOW
Optimization is mandatory to avoid material waste and take advantage of the outstanding anisogrid performance in any product or component. Now, state-of-the-art commercial software is general purpose and relies on the computationally demanding Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and manual or semi-automated optimization schemes.
By contrast, ANISOPTER is a specific on-line solution for the automated sizing of anisogrid structures. Millions of configurations are analytically tested following a non-linear optimization scheme to obtain the lightest fulfilling all specifications. Results are provided in seconds though a simple web interface and for a fraction of the cost.

ANISOPTER WILL REDUCE COSTS IN SPACE
We have studied the impact of ANISOPTER and anisogrid technology in rockets and satellites manufacture sector. We have concluded that an additional 10 % weight reduction over other anisogrid optimization alternatives would provide nearly 200 M€ in extra payload. Moreover, our rapid and easy-to-use web interface will save 5 M€ in design costs and foster anisogrid applications.
ANISOPTER WILL CREATE NEW MARKETS ON EARTH
Most load-bearing structures in commercial products contain plates, cones, or tubes that would be more weight-efficient and improve performance if fabricated in anisogrid and optimized with ANISOPTER. However, anisogrid Earth applications are yet scarce, among other reasons, discouraged by the optimization difficulties, but we foresee that our gained experience in Space sector will pave the way of new business on Earth. For example, wind or electricity transport towers, as well as, the tallest buildings are ideal candidates to increase performance and cost-efficiency if fabricated as anisogrids.

FEA validation of an optimized anisogrid insterstage for a heavy-lift rocket.

ANISOPTER web interface at http://anisopter.com (request a FREE TRIAL license at [e-mail])