ACE: Airborne Clean Energy systems
Funding detail
Total Budget: 1 515 000.70 € CEFT funding: 233 938.35 € Program: P2020|COMPETE - Projetos em Copromoção Funded by: Agência Nacional de Inovação S.A. Coordination: Alexandra Rodrigues Pinto
Short Description
The worsening climate change due to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is viewed with concern by society, impacting several industrial sectors, including the aeronautics industry, which is making efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of aircraft. Currently there is a trend to replace traditional form of propulsion, such as internal combustion or jet engines, with electrical or hybrid solutions, however, this transition is not easy and is encountering several obstacles. One of the biggest problems is the low energy density of the batteries currently available on the market, which makes it necessary to introduce a high weight battery to meet the energy needs of an aircraft, impairing autonomy and performance.
The ACE project aims to speed up the migration process from combustion engines to electric motors with the development of new energy solutions for aeronautical applications. The proposed solutions include the development of a high capacity battery, using cells with a high energy density, a light and strong structure and an optimised cooling system; a battery developed from additive methods and, the development of small fuel cells with the ability to power unmanned aircraft in order to extend their autonomy.
Once the development and manufacture of the solutions presented has been completed, they will be subjected to a bench test battery in order to guarantee their capacity and quality. Later, these solutions will be integrated in unmanned aircraft of the TEKEVER group which will perform flight tests in order to test them in a real environment.