[Research activities at ECOMAT]
ECOMAT is where the future of aerospace and aviation is taking shape. It is where experts from research and industry are creating sustainable methods for transforming this sector. To achieve this, they have access to a modern infrastructure and work closely together, across clusters of expertise and disciplines.
The aircraft of the future will be fundamentally different from those of today. Sustainable fuels such as hydrogen need completely new propulsion designs. For this reason, aircraft are undergoing a complete redesign. All this needs innovative materials that are robust enough to handle these demanding challenges. However, new materials also mean new manufacturing processes for aircraft producers and other industry branches, along with new methods for testing those materials.
At ECOMAT, the different partners are able to combine their areas of expertise, set the course for materials, processes and testing and put the necessary underpinnings in place to guide aircraft manufacturing into the future. Expert knowledge of additive production and material development for 3D printing is also a vital element of this strategy.
Example projects
- CRYOMET: processes, procedures and testing for everything to do with cryogenic tank systems
- NaMat: sustainable composite materials
- LH2-Tank: develops welding processes and test procedures for hydrogen tank systems for the commercial aircraft of the future
- WeserCAD: development and testing of new process technologies
- 3D-strain-sense: structural health monitoring using printed resistive sensors on complex bionic free-form surfaces
Areas of expertise
- Composites
- Aluminium materials
- Additive manufacturing
- Process models
- Multi-material solutions
- Organic mechanical engineering/design
- Metal composites
- Ferrous, copper, titanium and nickel materials
- Testing (X-ray, computer tomography, destruction testing processes, geometric measurement technology, lensless microscopy)
- Process monitoring (thermography, topography, acoustics)
- Laser-based additive manufacturing (PBF-LB, DED)
- Laser welding, soldering
- Laser-based surface structuring
- Laser polishing
- Laser drilling
The Bremen site plays a leading role in the Airbus group when it comes to high-lift systems (“Moveables”). In addition to manufacturing components, Bremen is also home to the group’s development centre. As part of the sustainable transformation of the aviation industry, new materials and designs will also be needed for high-lift systems.
At ECOMAT, Airbus and its research and industry partners are working on further developments in manufacturing processes, designs and testing methods. This competence cluster is a unique gathering of expertise and is of great benefit to the open interdisciplinary community that is working together at ECOMAT.
Example projects
- Clean Aviation UPWing
- LuFo6.3 AirTiMe
Digitalisation offers an opportunity to make the development cycles in high-tech industries such as aircraft manufacturing more efficient. Using digital interfaces, digital “twins”, the very latest virtualisation and simulation technologies, and artificial intelligence, to connect all the areas and development stages involved in building an aircraft, significantly speeds up both the design, production, testing and approval of more environmentally friendly technologies and components and also their integration in new aircraft programmes.
At ECOMAT, specialists are working on these issues in the Virtual Product House (VPH) run by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)). The VPH is an integration centre and platform involving a number of DLR institutes, partners from industry and the EASA licensing authority. In the VPH, the main areas of focus include a digital end-to-end simulation process that links together the areas involved in virtual design, virtual manufacturing, virtual testing and approval in a single coherent process which also includes physical tests and trials for validation and demonstration. The primary aim is to accelerate the development of highly efficient wing and moveables components and cryogenic hydrogen tanks.
Example projects
- CRYOMET: Processes, procedures and testing for everything to do with cryogenic tank systems
- VPH-Startprojekt „Multi-functional control surface“
- VPH 2.0: Virtual Product House 2.0 im ECOMAT: Multi-functional control surface
- Clean Aviation UPWing
- LuFo6.3 AirTiMe
Areas of expertise
- Virtual product development and approval
- End-to-end process: (virtual) design -> production -> tests/approval
- Development of climate-friendly aircraft components: elongated wing/moveable designs, cryogenic hydrogen tanks
In future, green hydrogen will play a vital role in aviation. In its cryogenic form (cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius), it acts as a sustainable energy source. However, the use of hydrogen in the aviation industry is something new and, as a consequence, every process, from design and manufacturing up to day-to-day handling, must undergo further development.
ECOMAT is where partners from industry and research come together to master the challenges involved, as a team. Experts from the fields of aviation technology, process and manufacturing planning and many other areas are involved.
Example projects
- CRYOMET: processes, procedures and testing for everything to do with cryogenic tank systems
- CRYOLAB: test laboratory for hydrogen applications
Areas of expertise
- Cryogenic Testing (structural, leak tightness, sloshing)
- Laser welding
The fields of aerospace and aviation are closely allied. Not just in Bremen, because of the city’s acknowledged expertise in both sectors, but also technically. These industries face many of the same challenges and also have technical solutions from one discipline that can be adapted for use in the other. An example of this is using hydrogen as a fuel, which is something the aerospace industry has relied on for decades. Everyone benefits from these mutual exchanges.
At ECOMAT, one of the focal points of research is on aerospace and its transferrable applications to other sectors, first and foremost aviation.
Example projects
- Space-Debris (design phase)
Areas of expertise
- Orbital forecasts
- Life cycle analysis
- Integrated condition monitoring
Aviation research projects, including those involving the application of hydrogen technologies, play a decisive role in transforming these transport systems for use in a sustainable future. By giving targeted financial support to research projects, the public is investing in innovative technologies of the future that will reduce impacts on the environment and lead the aviation industry into an emission-free era. Having local, national and European funding for projects and initiatives is an essential prerequisite, especially for research activities that carry substantial project risk.
At ECOMAT, funding projects are initiated and support is given to technical expertise and strategic partnerships and collaborative research projects, some of which are managed at European level. These endeavours actively bring expertise to Bremen, where it can be guided and development can continue even further. The provision of on-site coworking spaces at ECOMAT adds to the collegial atmosphere in which customers, project partners and suppliers can cooperate.
Example Projects
- EU Clean Aviation ACAP – SMR aircraft architecture and technology integration project
- Clean Aviation UP Wing – Ultra Performance Wing
- CleanSky2 LPA – Large Passenger Aircraft Innovative Aircraft Demonstrator Platform
Areas of expertise
- Initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, control and completion of funded research projects
- On-site co-working spaces
If you have any questions about the research activities at ECOMAT, simply contact:
Moritz Steinhardt
Project Manager Clustermanagement ECOMAT
Bremeninvest (WFB Wirtschaftsförderung Bremen GmbH)
+49 (0)421 9600-321