Overview
This proposal supported the supply of an innovative scoop and NACA divergent intake, qualified to a sufficient level to support flight trial activities. With a successful pedigree in intake design, coupled with a wealth of experience in complex structures and having gained a detailed understanding of scoop intake design from successful delivery of the original JTI funded scoop program, GKN and its partners are very well positioned to optimise design solutions and provide the most appropriate design for icing performance, acoustic design and application, manufacturing techniques and optimisation of the novel technologies employed in the previous programme.
Key to programme success was evaluating material selection early to meet the harsh environmental requirements encountered by the scoop. Material selection directly effects ice protection efficiency, structural capability, weight and validation of system performance. Component manufacture incorporated the novel technology approaches applied in the previous program including lessons learnt and process capability. Within this partnership a wealth of composite manufacture in complex structures existed to optimise robust manufacturing solutions that can be converted into production solutions with ease.
As a supplier of electro thermal ice protection systems for a multitude of applications, such as wing ice protection and engine intake systems, coupled with a high pedigree of successful acoustically optimised nacelle application technology, GKN has a foundation in providing design solutions for key technologies that support bleed less technology application and see the scoop ECS divergent intake system as a key step in providing all electric aircraft ice protection systems to support a change in systems architecture for future generations of aircraft. The scoop technology was also seen as a potential enabler for improved systems on derivative aircraft in the shorter term.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
This programme supported the supply of an innovative, composite “scoop” intake for an aircraft Environmental Control System (ECS), qualified to a sufficient level to support flight trial activities. The intake was required to have integrated ice protection heaters and acoustic attenuation technology.
In SANDIT (Scoop And NACA Divergent Intake Trial), the objective was to design, manufacture and qualify a flight trial demonstration intake assembly for flight trial use. This activity will enable flight validation of the overall electric ECS and the intake technology that supports it, with an overall aim of enabling more efficient aircraft systems.
In the initial design and research phase, GKN used preliminary data to carry out trade studies of suitable materials and processes for the manufacture of the scoop intake. Work also took place to evaluate the mould tooling technology that would be used to produce the relatively small and highly complex intake geometry (tooling provided by EPM Technology).
AeroTex used its suite of aircraft icing design software tools, together with results from previous icing wind tunnel testing to identify the number, location and intensity of ice protection heating zones necessary to provide efficient anti-ice protection of the scoop intake. Thermal modelling was also carried out to determine the maximum structural temperatures.
GKN used its powder-bed Additive Manufacturing (AM) process to produce a net-shape acoustic liner sub-component. A design was proposed for integration of the acoustic liner with the ice protection heating, so that acoustic panels could be applied to areas of the design which were also subject to icing. The innovative, additively manufactured and heated acoustic liner concept was further developed during this phase and was fully integrated with the scoop design and manufacturing process.
GKN also evaluated ‘sprayed on’ erosion protection, previously demonstrated on the previous wind tunnel test article. However, the selection made for the scoop erosion protection was an electroformed nickel pre-formed component.
One of the most significant challenges of the programme was the integration of the SANDIT scoop with the aircraft belly fairing panel on which it was mounted. During the detailed design and analysis phase the first round of structural analysis was performed by Altair. This highlighted a potential failure of the modified belly fairing panel under the critical load case. In order to mitigate this issue a further design loop was completed between GKN, Altair and EPM Technology, in collaboration with the topic manager.
Two complete intake assemblies were manufactured in a sharing of work mainly between GKN and EPM Technology. One unit had fully functional ice protection heaters and heated acoustic liners. The second unit was a hard-walled, structural part only (no heaters or acoustic liners). The tests were passed and both units were successfully delivered to the topic manager in time for the flight test activities.
The project results will benefit the environmental impact of future aircraft design through enablement of electric systems architectures, reduction in aircraft noise levels and reductions in manufacturing waste.
The project developed technology equivalent to a Technology Readiness Level 5 status (TRL5).