The aim is to reduce weight of metallic parts but keeping conductivity properties. Potential application is a valve actuator body for which EMI protection and bonding is required. Additionally it will be explored various manufacturing process with thermoplastic composites reinforced with short or long fibres. Nevertheless these solutions cannot be simply achieved by a direct paradigm change from aluminium alloy towards thermoplastic composite (black metal approach). They actually require some innovative concepts in terms of material formulation and functionalitation strategy in order to meet both electrical conductivity and EMI protection requirements. The innovative solution proposed by the ECOFUNEL consortium is focused onto the use of conductive electrically thermoplastic-based composite materials as an alternative solution to metallic materials keeping constant the final conductivity properties of the actuator body. The thermoplastic-based composite materials provide some major advantages as compared with thermoset-based composite materials: a wide range of functionalization, a high production rate and recyclability. Some high performance thermoplastic resins will be used in order to ensure high mechanical properties and strong chemical resistance versus aeronautic fluids or other aggressive chemical products. To improve mechanical properties, some chopped or continuous carbon fibres will be used according to the technical solutions proposed and the processing methods related to. The technical solutions developed by the ECOFUNEL consortium will provide: - high mechanical properties thanks to both carbon fibres (short or continuous) and high performance thermoplastic resin, - high level of electrical conductivity thanks to both carbon fibres (short or continuous) and carbon conductive particles (CNT or graphene), - EMI shielding efficiency.

The RADIANT Project has for ambition to create the smartest self-limiting heating system integrated on cabin panel to revolutionize the thermal comfort of Aircraft while contributing to the competitiveness of our industry. The consortium members are HUTCHINSON, a world leader for Cabin solutions, CANOE is a R&T centre with more than 5 years of expertise in the field of cost-effective carbon fibrous materials and smart composites especially for aeronautics market and CTAG a non-profit technology Center with years of expertise in the numerical simulation for thermal efficiency active in the automotive industry. The RADIANT PANEL project offers a disruptive innovation proposal based on three main pillars: A new positive temperature coefficient (PTC) textile coating made of ex-cellulose carbon fiber and a PVDF-based polymer, A heated multi-functional cabin panel A fully robotized manufacturing cell for the cabin panel assembly. During the project, 2 type of coating will be tested. The textile coating will be assembled with their connectors on the top layer of the cabin panel by a collaborative work between a Cobot and a 6 axis robot. It is also proposed to carry out the full cabin temperature and air flow simulation using a specific software (TAITherm) coupled with the Human Thermal Module for the comfort prediction. Functionnal test and certification test will be validated the soltuion. The RADIANT project has a 36 months duration and a budget of 702,516€. The consortium aims to take 10% market share of the cabin panel business, evaluated at 90 M€.

The project aims to provide and commercialize a self-adjusting bead forming process able to control the quality of the sealing material in car manufacturing industry. LICORNE (LIssage de COrdons Robotisé Novateur Expert) is an innovative automatic vacuum forming solution able to control and adjust itself in front of the variability. The robotized forming operations are repeatable and 100% certified. They will use a standard sealing material and be used on forming operations on all parts of the car. Key assets of this innovation will be: certifying autonomously every vehicle providing to each car a level of quality guaranty never known before, analyzing in real time the slow derivations, providing recommendations for a better installation management, allowing to anticipate non conformities and avoiding defects revision thanks to the communication of data between the positioning, forming and control steps that are integrated in a Big Data system. All manual operations causing MSD occupational diseases are avoided with the LICORNE solution. The paint shop is responsible for the sealing process guaranteeing car waterproofness. To do so, most of the operations imply the positioning of a PVC material sealing compound on all car junctions. The solution will be installed as an industrial pilot at PSA plant to upgrade it to an industrial Plant of the Future and duplicated after 24 months of validation to 3 plants in Europe. The LICORNE consortium will promote the demonstration of the vacuum forming process to other car manufacturers in the European market. A detailed specification of the automatic vision & control system will be published. This will enable car manufacturers to test prototypes of the robot. Further development of commercial prototypes and reproduction of the robots are addressed in the exploitation plan. Results will be disseminated to the car industry through industry fairs and workshops, and car manufacturing associations such as ACEA.

Driving style is seen not only to become a significant cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air pollutant emissions but also a critical parameter regarding road safety, with huge social & financial adverse effects. GamECAR aims to develop a highly innovative and interactive Serious Games platform that will empower and guide users to adopt an eco-friendly driving style. This will be achieved, without distracting users from safe driving, through a multidisciplinary approach aiming at the development of a user friendly, unobtrusive multi-player gaming environment, where the users will not only play collaboratively/competitively using their mobile device but also using the car itself and their own bodies, thus turning eco-driving into an immersive and highly motivating experience. The sensing infrastructure of GamECAR will not only acquire data related to driving from an OBD sensor that will capture a complex set of parameters related to eco-driving, but will also sense environmental and physiological parameters of the driver, so as to better position the state of the system (car) in context (environment, user). The use of virtual user models and cognitive modeling of the users, will further boost personalization and adaptation of the game itself with respect to the needs of the individual driver. The GamECAR system will be quantified and evaluated in test campaigns with drivers in three different sites. Quantification campaigns serve system development and evaluation campaigns demonstrate usefulness and exploitation potential. Finally, the project has a clear exploitation plan through a balanced and highly complementary composition of SMEs that have specific roles in the development of the integrated GamECAR system. The impact of such a holistic and innovative approach is huge and the foundations laid here are expected to result in a widespread adoption of sensor-based gamification platforms in areas going far beyond eco-driving.