On 22 and 23 May the closing meeting was held in CESA for the NIPSE (Novel Integration of Powerplant System Equipment) project, which was completed on 31 May. In this meeting, all members of the consortium were able to share their final results and start preparing the project review meeting with the representative of the European Commission, which is expected to take place in July in Brussels. The meeting in Madrid was attended by representatives of the Advisory Group, an independent organisation formed by experts assigned to the project to monitor it and advise its members on technical matters.
Nipse is a project financed by the European Commission as part of the European Programme H2020. It was launched in June 2015 and has run for 3 years, in which time it was led by SAFRAN Nacelle. The main goals of the project, from the development of civil turbofans of the Ultra-High Bypass Ratio (UHBR) type and new engine architectures (Open Rotor), are to reduce the development time for future engines, improve fuel burning efficiency and reduce emissions. To this end, the aim is to reduce the size and weight of the equipment needed to lower the temperature in the engine and fairing, allowing for optimisation and integration of the motor and fairing equipment in shorter periods and improved access for maintenance.
CESA led two tasks with outstanding results. Firstly, it successfully developed an electric actuator (Hold Open Rod) that allows the door of the engine nacelles to be locked and released with a single apparatus. This novel design has been patented by CESA. Secondly, CESA redesigned and, through additive manufacturing, obtained a shut-off valve with the corresponding reduction in manufacturing time and weight. Both of these devices have been tested successfully, verifying that all of their functionalities are working properly.
The meeting was attended by the nine participants in the project: ARTICC (France), SAFRAN Nacelle (France), British Aerospace (UK), SAFRAN Electrical and Power (France), Meggit Aerospace (UK), NLR (Netherlands), SNECMA (France), Thermocoax (France) and Archimedes Center for Innovation and Creation (Greece). They all presented their results to the consortium and to the members of the Advisory Group, who witnessed the success of the project.
