Overview
TRINITI aims at developing and demonstrating concepts and methodologies enabling the realization of an integrated multi-material airborne pressure vessel for long-term storage of nitrogen, in particular, a halon-free fire extinguishing system employing water-mist and nitrogen.
TRINITI’s tank has been conceived to fulfil technical requirements foreseen by the CfP e.g. very low permeation of gases, mechanical loads according to RTCA Do160 Rec. G, good fire-smoke-toxicity (FST) properties, survival of high temperatures, large temperature gradients, as well as resistance against various chemical media.
Demonstration multi-material thermoplastic tanks will be fabricated through a combination of processes such as co-extrusion of thermoplastic materials to form a multi-layer and multifunctional thermoplastic material, followed by In-situ consolidation Laser-Assisted Automated Fiber Placement process.
The application of highly performing thermoplastic materials combined with advanced automated and out-of autoclave technologies on the one hand will answer to the need for less consuming and faster manufacturing processes (1 stage process), while on the other hand it will ensure reduced weight of the tank, reduced operational costs as well as reduced fuel consumptions and emissions of an aircraft.
TRINITI's linerless tank, thanks to the versatility of the Laser assisted AFP antropomorphic robot and possibility to use a dedicate simulation tool to optimise the design of the vessel, is expected to range not less than 10% lighter than their nearest Type IV tanks.
A better weight-to-tank capacity ratio, however, is not the only advantage of the high-pressure vessel, in fact a significant manufacturing cost flow reduction is expected mainly because the chain of manufacturing processes will be optimized and number of fabrication stages will be reduced.
Consortium will aim to reach at the end of the project TRL 6.