Recently, Dr. José Antonio Dieste (AITIIP) dedicated part of an illustrative scientific publication to the HERON project, considered one of the most disruptive initiatives in industrial manufacturing. HERON, part of the European Clean Sky 2 JU program, offers a methodology that combines two innovative technologies (RTM and ALM) with the aim of making the production processes in the aeronautical industry profitable energetically and economically. The HERON system will be used to make effective a more sustainable aircraft wing demonstrator, which is continually being developed by the British company ALQUEMIE and AITIIP.
The aeronautical sector itself requires new sustainable manufacturing processes where 3D printing opens doors to the manufacture of products and geometries that until now were not feasible. In this sense, Dr. Dieste explains in his article that the HERON project (H2020-CS2-CFP08-2018-01 nº 831751) proposes a technological advance through the application of 3D printing to large pieces to make the trailing edge of a wing, as well as large metal 3D printing components that are integrated into the composite manufacturing tooling to manufacture the rest of the wing elements.
The final objective pursued by HERON is none other than reformulating the concept of production, incorporating the circular economy throughout the aeronautical value chain, so that the aircraft of the future consume less fuel in flight and reduce their CO2 emissions by 30%. . The technologies and tools that are being developed at HERON seek to improve processes and structures, also reducing the production cycle time by 30%. This, in turn, reduces manufacturing costs by 20%, energy consumption by 25%, and environmental impact both in the production environment and in the air.