Darmstadt: An aircraft wing immediately responsive to damage

Licensing opportunity

The Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability in Darmstadt has developed an aircraft wing that immediately detects damage to itself. The technology, which is based on piezoelectric materials, was demonstrated in Paris at the beginning of April at the JEC Composites show and is now available for licensing.

The piezoelectric actuators emit acoustic signals which elicit a structure-borne noise pattern on the aircraft wing, and the resulting vibrations are recorded by piezoelectric sensors. Ursula Eul from the Fraunhofer said: “This system enables the damage to the material, caused by impact for instance, to be detected at a very early stage – practically as it arises.”

The particularity of this technology, says the Fraunhofer, is its integrated sensors, which don’t affect the fatigue strength of the component or the normal performance of the wing. This initiative will contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions by 50 per cent, NO^_x emissions by 80 per cent and cut perceived noise by half.

The Fraunhofer Society, a non-university research organisation, is a member of the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative, a European consortium, which aims to reduce aircraft-induced air pollution by creating reliable structural health monitoring systems able to operate continuously without affecting structural durability.