Overview
The Project COMPOSLEEVE aimed to find out a way to produce a stator sleeve for stator/rotor separation in electrical motor, which need to be cooled with aggressive fluids such as Skydrol, with high internal pressure and a temperature range that goes above 200ºC. For this application possible materials were composites with high Tg resins, such as BMI or Cyanate ester, reinforced with non conductive fibres.
Production method needs to be researched but Filament Winding seems to be the right candidate process. In particular the design and manufacturing of sleeve component was targeted. Thus the project looked for a cost effective way of producing these sleeve components in these composites material while ensuring to withstand with requirements. The aim was to get a cost effective way of manufacturing.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
Due to electrical systems increase, in example landing gear, in future Aircraft, the need for more electrical power on board was envisioned. But, the weight associated to electrical rotating machine increase can be a drawback for More Electric Aircraft (MEA) architectures. Consequently, the rotating electrical machine manufacturers were looking for solutions to reduce the mass of these assemblies.
For these reason, the objectives of COMPOSLEEVE projects were:
- To find out the right materials and techniques for manufacturing a slim composite sleeve which is compliant with the constraints and requirements concerning pressure, temperature and chemical stability
- To carry out design activities (included material characterization) to get a design compliant with main constraints
- To manufacture between 5 to 10 sleeves for testing (some of them by the consortia, some of them by Topic Manager in a further motor assembly)
- To test the resulting sleeve, alone against the requirements: pressure, heat
- In a further stage the Topic Manager will test the sleeve in a corresponding motor prototype to see the behaviour under more integral operational, environmental and failure conditions.
The following main constraints and requirements were considered:
- Material shall be able to resist a temperature > 150°
- Material shall be non-conductive
- Composite sleeve shall be able to resist a pressure of 350 bar
- Wall thickness shall be not more than 2.5mm
- The composite sleeve shall withstand a stator temperature of 200°C, at teeth level, without ductile deformation or any other damages.
- Because of the build in situation at the motor there are a lot of supporting points around the contour of the sleeve which are able to absorb the pressure force.
- The sleeve will be designed, manufactured and prototype tested (pressure, heat)
- It will also be optimized the construction and technique of the sleeve for industrial manufacturing and the cost will be analysed for a serial production.
To accomplish the project objectives, the consortium assumes the responsibility for:
- The selection of the materials for the composite sleeve (resin, fibre ...)
- The selection of the detailed manufacturing process
- The Composite sleeve design
- The development of a manufacturing process for the sleeve
- The manufacturing of 5 to 10 for test some of them by the consortia and some of them in motor test at Topic Manager further development
- The performing of test concerning the requirements: temp., pressure, fatigue
- The proposal of optimization of design, materials and manufacturing process concerning quality and cost
- An estimative cost analysis (RC / NRC) concerning serial production
At the end of the project the COMPOSLEEVE had fully achieved its objectives. During the project the following foreground was generated.
- Design of sleeve for an electrical motor in composite
- Testing of sleeve in a pressure test bench as well as in testing machines
The expected impact of COMPOSLEEVE was a considerable weight saving by achieving taking into account the replacement of a complex assembly of metal/plastic part with a density in the range of 8 g/cm3 vs 1,5 g/cmm3 of the proposed composite sleeve.
As well as an innovative design and manufacturing alternative for composite tubes combining advanced polymer with nonconductive fibre and liner.