MarinComp SymposiumConor Glennon

September 2017

• Company Overview

• Tidal Energy

• Offshore wind

• Composite blades

• ÉireComposites technology

• Epoxy powder

• Heated ceramic moulds

• Advantages of ÉireComposites technology

• Higher quality

• Lower cost

• Beyond MarinComp

• Conclusions

Overview

• Supplier to 3 aircraft programmes – Bombardier Global, IAE V2500

engine (Airbus A320 family), Airbus A400M

• Manufacturer of wind turbine blades up to 14 m

• Leader in composites testing in Europe (CTL)

• Collaborative R&D with Bombardier, ESA, SRTP, Suzlon

• Patents granted & pending in heated tooling and processes

• Started in 1997 to exploit opportunities for composites technology

• Academic origins but evolved to meet industrial opportunities

• 60 staff, including over 15 engineers

• Excellent H2020 track-record

Company Overview

Other

Wind Power

Aerospace

Selection of Customers – Testing

• An emerging industry

• Bloomberg predicts 87MW by 2020

• Several competing technologies

• OpenHydro, Andritz, ScotRenewables etc

• Cost challenges

• LCOE too high (MeyGen £51m for 6MW)

• Foundations (if applicable)

• Development costs

• O & M – maintenance vessels very expensive

• Low volumes

• Reliability challenges

• Inadequate models of currents

• Blade failures

Tidal Stream Energy • Harsh marine environment

• Currents, storm waves

• Erosion (ice, sand, floating trees)

• Water ingress degradation

• Blades require high strength

• Thick composite sections

• Difficult to manufacture in commercial volumes

• Massive resource available

• Commercially viable

• Moving to floating wind

• Mainly Europe and Asia

• Drastic cost reductions

• Driving technology innovation

• Large blades – approaching 100 m

• Hybrid blades – glass-carbon interface

Offshore Wind

• Projects on Marine Energy

• MarinComp: FP7 Carbon Fibre Tidal and Wind Turbine spars

• SEAMETEC: H2020 SME Smart Blades for Tidal Energy

• FloTEC: H2020 EireComposites to build 9m blades for

ScotRenewables floating 2MW turbine

• Powderblade: H2020 FTI 60m carbon fibre wind blades

• Key technology

• Powder Epoxy and heated tooling

• Heated mould allows processing at 180°C - 200°C so heat-

activated epoxy or polyester materials can be used.

• Demonstrated on 14m wind blades

• Ideally suited for tidal blades and offshore wind

ÉireComposites Technology

• Lower cost – similar performance to Prepreg at

reduced cost

• Eliminates need to glue sub-components together

• Higher quality – no dry spots

• Powder epoxy materials do not need to be

refrigerated during transportation and storage

Technology Advantages

Glass-fibre mechanical properties Infused* Prepreg* Powder**

Tensile Strength (MPa) 821 952 957

Compressive Strength (MPa) 511 687 666

Tensile Modulus (GPa) 37.8 42 39.15

• Very-low viscosity (<0.1 Pa.s) results in excellent fibre

wet-out even for thick laminates

• Quicker cycle-times possible due to material

properties and heated tooling

• ÉireComposites holds a patent for the epoxy powder

technology

*Comparative data from Gurit**Normalised to 53% fibre volume fraction

• FloTEC (Tidal):

• 9m tidal blade manufacture

• Full-scale blade testing at NUI Galway

• PowderBlade (Wind):

• Root section for a 54m blade

• Full scale glass-carbon demonstrator

• 30m carbon-fibre spar section

• Future proposals

• Oceaneranet – fatigue testing

• Corrosion/erosion damage evaluation

• Others?

Future Work

• ÉireComposites is developing composite blades for marine

applications

• Blades for marine energy need to be high quality to survive the

sea

• ÉireComposites can deliver high-quality, low-cost blades using

• Epoxy powder and heated tooling

• Other advantages of the technology

• Avoids gluing

• Does not need to be refrigerated for transport

• Suitable for thick sections – such as tidal blades

• ÉireComposites’ technology can reduce the cost of marine energy

Conclusions

EireComposites TeoAn Choill RuaIndreabhanCo GalwayIreland

www.eirecomposites.comPhone +353 91 505430Fax +353 91 505432

Thanks for your timeConor Glennon

R&D Engineer

c.glennon@eirecomposites.com

• 60,000 sq.ft. facility in Galway• Fully-accredited aerospace manufacturing facility• Accredited mechanical testing facility• Aerospace design facility• Research and Development facility

Company Facilities

• Autoclave 1: 450ºC, 10 bar 1.5m Ø x 3m• Autoclave 2: 250ºC, 10 bar 2.5m Ø x 6m• 100k Class Cleanrooms (264 sq m for

prepreg layup; 250 sq ft for dry fabric layup)

• Calibrated ovens (2m x 2m x 2m)

Aerospace Equipment • Thermoplastic compatible press platen size: 1.5m x

0.5m• Liquid processing equipment (RTM)• Paint booth• Non-destructive testing pulse echo & through-

thickness-transmission

•PRI Nadcap accreditation for composites manufacturing

•PRI Nadcap accreditation for NDT

•PRI Nadcap accreditation for composites testing

•AS/EN 9100 for aerospace manufacturing and design

•ISO 17025 for composite materials testing in CTL

•ADS SC21 approval

•Additional OEM and Tier One approvals

Quality System Approvals

• Future Launchers Preparatory Programme 2.1

– Composite Cryogenic Upper Stage Tank (with ESA)• Future Launchers Preparatory Programme 2.2

– Composite InterStage Structure (with ESA)• Automated Tape-Placement of Thermoplastic Composites

– Collaboration with Astrium ST & EADS CASA, GSTP)

• Development of Thermal Welding of TPC Aircraft Structures

– Collaboration with Bombardier Aerospace (Northern Ireland)

• EU Framework 7 YBRIDIO Programme

– Joining of Dissimilar Materials

• Design and development of TPC Helicopter Structures

– Collaboration with Eurocopter Deutschland (Germany)

– Clean Sky Helicopter Door

Other R&D Projects