The present proposal addresses an emerging activity dealing with a new lubrication mechanism of biomimetic inspiration, called eX-Poro-HydroDynamic (XPHD) lubrication. It consists of self-sustained fluid films generated within compressible porous layers imbibed with liquids and subjected to external normal or tangential forces. The objective is to find innovative technical solutions that break with current practices, offering efficient turbomachinery guidance and support systems in terms of load capacity, damping, reliability, friction and environmental impact. The project aims to demonstrate industrial applications and to develop numerical tools capable of predicting the operating behavior of these new technologies. The scientific target deals with challenges stem from the coupling of multiple mechanisms being intrinsically inter- and multi-disciplinary. The project is at the interface of several scientific fields: solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermal engineering. It calls on multidisciplinary skills in experimental mechanics and numerical analysis. The knowledge acquired in this project can be used not only to find innovative technical solutions in turbomachinery but, in the longer term, can also be applied to studies dedicated to biological tissues or to human joints where the behavior of soaked porous materials (human cartilage) is also a key point. To achieve the objective, the project relies on the scientific and experimental expertise of three research teams covering the fields of tribology, photomechanics and modelling of fluid-structure interaction. It is organized into three scientific WorkPackages. The main objective of the first scientific WorkPackage is to understand the mechanical behavior of the porous complex structures (combination of a solid deformable structure with a high porosity, soaked with fluid), linked to microstructural properties of the solid material and interactions with the fluid. The work will be carried out in three steps intended to decouple the physical effects in order to facilitate the understanding of physical phenomena: quasi-static 3D investigation, dynamic investigation on 2D simplified sample and global dynamic characterization in terms of rigidity and damping. The experimental data acquired will serve as input parameters for the second scientific WorkPackage, dedicated to the development of two numerical models aiming to study the response to external stresses of liquid-soaked porous materials, in particular by estimating their elastic response and damping capacity. A first task will be dedicated to the simulation at the microscopic scale of the flow through the structure of porous compressible materials. A second task proposes, on a larger scale, the development of a mechanical behavior model to predict the macroscale response, in particular the fluid/structure interaction. The third scientific WorkPackage will use the experimental and numerical results obtained in the first two WorkPackages to design two lubricated elements: a thrust bearing and a squeeze damper. The work will be divided into three tasks. A first task proposes experimental studies on guidance systems supporting static axial load. A second task also deals with experimental aspects by testing the damping capacity of XPHD solutions in the presence of an unbalance. The third task concerns the development of numerical simulation models on the scale of XPHD components. Two additional WorkPackages will be respectively devoted to the management and to the capitalization and dissemination of the project findings.

4.0 modern factories strive to reorganize operation in the workplace to put Humans back at the center of the activity while preserving their health and providing better work conditions. Collaborative robotics could address these challenges by merging intelligence and skills of Humans and robots to perform complex or demanding tasks. The robot would make the work safer, more ergonomic and more productive. However, human-robot collaborative tasks are so far limited to very simple and separate actions and demand an important learning step to the operator. Scientific barriers have to be overcome to create a full collaboration, where human-robot agents would simultaneously and jointly act toward the task objective. The project aims at developing a new human-centered generic action-perception scheme to reshape human-robot collaborative works toward an effectively shared activity in 4.0 facilities. This shared-autonomy concept will rethink the levels of collaboration and interaction within the human-robot team in terms of agents’ roles, autonomy, and authority. The project will particularly focus on improving human-robot cooperation in an industrial haptic teleoperation scenario. Haptic teleoperation is a promising method to enable Humans and robots to jointly perform the activity since it naturally combines human high-level intelligence and robot physical capabilities, while maintaining safety and comfort of the human operator. We will rethink human-robot remote interaction to make the robot gain responsibility on simple actions, adapt its behavior with respect to the human intent, and ultimately act as a collaborator toward the task goal. The originality of our approach will be to build upon key psycho-cognitive mechanisms in HR collaboration to develop a human-centered framework which increases ergonomic comfort and intuitiveness of the collaborative task. Three objectives have to be addressed to develop the novel shared-autonomy method and cover key robotic and cognitive challenges: 1) We seek to study features of human-robot perception-action links and to identify multisensory integration processes involved in human-robot interaction. This human-based approach will constitute the baseline of the later developments and shape our shared-autonomy scheme. 2) We target a shared perception between the different actors, according to their sensorial data and involvement in the task. This shared perception will be based on a multimodal feedback mixture conveying information about the task, the environment, and the collaborators. 3) We aim at merging human-robot commands into a joint action toward the task goal. The human inputs will first be used to infer the operator intent and adapt the robot behavior. Then, the shared action will combine robot skills and human commands into a unified and consistent control objective All scientific findings will be integrated into a standard, open, and evolutive framework. An experimental collaborative cell will be set up to validate the shared-autonomy framework in augmented haptic teleoperation of the industrial use case. To cover the multidisciplinary challenges of the research program, the consortium relies on a close collaboration between RoBioSS team (Pprime Institute, University of Poitiers), the CeRCA lab (University of Poitiers), and AUCTUS team (INRIA Bordeaux). The synergy of the consortium members will bring transverse and complementary skills needed to reach the project objectives.

The simultaneous recovery of CH4 and CO2, the main constituents of biogas, is of great interest and is fully in line with the issue of global warming linked to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas obtained by anaerobic fermentation of agricultural waste is widely used in Europe to locally supply heat or electricity delivered to the grid. Also, when energy needs are lower, it becomes important to offer other outlets for biogas, such as the production of chemical compounds (methanol or hydrocarbons) which is considered as an alternative to the use of fossil carbon. However, the cost of the on-site process requires significant advances and breakthrough processes are sought after, among them the use of a non-thermal plasma (PNT) is of great interest. In a non-thermal plasma the gas is partially ionized, it is made up of ions, radicals, electrons and excited species. It is particularly suited to the operation of relatively small units and can therefore be perfectly combined with anaerobic digestion. It also has the advantage of operating at atmospheric pressure and room temperature in "on / off" mode. The synthesis of methanol under plasma discharge was demonstrated at the end of the 90s, therefore the proof of concept of the project exists. However, there are many challenges to be taken up in order to improve energy efficiency and increase the selectivity in high added value products, this last aspect requires coupling plasma and solid catalyst. Numerous studies have been carried out but the development of new catalysts and the understanding of the interactions between plasma and solid must be deepened. It is in fact expected that an optimal catalyst under plasma discharge is not the most efficient in conventional thermal catalysis since the presence of a solid in the plasma zone modifies the discharge and vice versa. Furthermore, the use of materials in powder form, conventionally used in catalysis, is poorly suited to plasma-catalysis coupling because the gas volume (in which the plasma is generated) is limited to the space between the catalyst grains. Therefore, we consider that the use of shaped materials is necessary in order to make the most of the plasma-catalysis coupling. This is also based on work which has shown the good stability of the discharge in foams or monoliths. In this project, the teams of IRCER in Limoges, PPrime and IC2MP in Poitiers propose to coordinate their research work in order to propose a route for the direct synthesis of methanol from methane and carbon dioxide using an original route coupling non-thermal plasma and geopolymer foams. In fact, geopolymer materials are promising candidate for this application due to their synthesis at low temperature with adaptable porosity and easy shaping. The present project aims at acquiring new insights into the coupling of plasma and a catalyst by using ceramic geopolymer foams possessing macro-porosity thought to favor the transformation of biogas into methanol. The ambitiousness of the project relies not only on the use of new shaped macro-porous catalyst but also on the development of numerical simulation for a better understanding of plasma-catalysis interaction. To reach such a target, an interdisciplinary approach will be used, mobilizing chemists and physicists. The simultaneous research efforts will be developed within three tasks (i) synthesis of new shaped catalytic geopolymer materials, (ii) evaluation of catalytic performances and kinetic data acquisition (iii) thorough analysis of the basic physical mechanisms involved at the plasma/catalyst interface.

The ADELINE project aims to develop a new generation of very low energy lamps where the fluorescent discharge between cathode and anode is no more initiated and sustained, as in the present lamps, by a very energy costly thermo-emissive hot cathode (cathode heating, extraction and acceleration of electrons for producing the cathode plasma), but by about 1 cm surface-wave plasma produced at the cathode with a microwave electric field, at a power below one watt. The expected gain in electric power is higher than a factor of 2. The absence of hot cathode also allows for the substitution of mercury by sulfur, very reactive at high temperature, but whose UV spectrum (280 - 400 nm), close to the visible domain (in contrast to the resonant peak line of mercury at 253.7 nm) provides an additional gain of factor 1.4 on the conversion of UV photons into visible photons by using optimised phosphors. So, by direct comparison with commercially available mercury tubes of 100 lm/W, one may, from now, anticipate light efficiencies of the order of 100 × 2 × 1.4 = 280 lm/W. Furthermore, with the direct control of the cathode plasma density (and consequently of the discharge current) by microwaves, ballast become useless, hence significant gains in terms of electric power reduction (of the order of 17% at equal discharge powers) and cost reduction. At last, by initiating the plasma with microwaves, instantaneous lighting of the discharge lamp can be obtained, as also the modulation of the discharge current by using a dimmer or by remote control of connected lamps. A second challenge of the ADELINE project is the study of N2/O2 gas mixtures at low oxygen content (< 1%) as a potential alternative to sulfur (of low volatility at cold temperature) for the production of UV photons close to the visible range. When, in the case of sulfur, UV photons come from the molecular spectrum of S2, it is, in the case of N2/O2 gas mixtures, the formation of NO molecules in the excited states NO(A) and NO(B) which is responsible for the important emission of UV photons, in particular in the 200 – 275 nm domain for the NO_gama system and in the 280 – 400 nm domain for the NO_beta system. It is this last spectral domain, contiguous to the visible domain, that should be promoted (by adjustment of discharge operating conditions) in order to obtain a maximum efficiency in the conversion of UV photons into visible photons with optimised phosphors. The last challenge of the ADELINE project deals with the choice of phosphors. The conversion of UV photons into white light requires to associate at least 3 phosphors emitting in the red (R), the green (G) and in the blue (B), thus constituting a RGB system such as the sum of their emission spectra covers the whole visible domain. The choice of inorganic phosphors exhibiting high stability under thermal or photonic stress and especially chemical stress (with regard to sulfur and oxygen) forces itself. The excitation domain of phosphors must also fit in with the UV spectrum of S2 or N2/O2 emitters and their quantum conversion efficiency be close to unity. The program includes the design and production of a series of models and prototypes with different parameters (e.g., phosphors or formulations of RGB systems) at the successive stages of the project progress, from pre-models of hybrid discharges up to lamp prototypes in order to determine their colorimetric characteristics (rendering colour index RCI and correlated colour temperature CCT index) and to measure their nominal values, electric power in W and light flux (or light efficiency) in lm (or lm/W). The valorisation strategy mainly focuses on tertiary and domestic lighting sectors with the fluorescent tubes and the fluorescent compact lamps where the absence of ballast and hot cathode strongly facilitates miniaturisation.

The ARCHITEC – Antireflective Reinforced nanostruCtures by HybrId TEChnologies – aims to improve antireflective (AR) optical coatings elaborated by Oblique Angle Deposition (OAD). This project follows Florian Maudet's PhD thesis work where ultra-high performance coatings were developed using gradient index multilayer stacks for applications in both the visible-SWIR [400-1800]nm and MWIR [3.5-5]µm spectral bands. The various solutions identified, although very efficient from an optical point of view (in terms of transmission) suffer from robustness problems. Thus, the main limitations of the current process are: (i) the poor mechanical strength of nanostructured layers for vis-SWIR applications, where layer degradation is noticed during handling or cleaning steps, (ii) chemical pollution within the nanostructured layers for MWIR applications, including oxidation of the semiconductors used, which leads to a decrease in optical transmission. The ARCHITEC project proposes to address these issues through hybrid technologies by bringing together three partners whose core expertise are linked to innovations in the fields of materials science and optics, namely: - the Ppna team at the Pprime Institute, - the R&T team at SAFRAN Electronics and Defense, - the SME RESCOLL. The solutions considered in this project to overcome the problems identified involve the deployment of new deposition tools and post-deposition encapsulation processes. The new deposition tools will allow samples to rotate and tilt in situ during OAD runs. Consequently, the development of complete stacks can be achieved in a single step, at constant temperature and without returning to atmospheric pressure, possibly improving the mechanical resistance of the treatments and significantly reducing pollution problems. Moreover, the in situ control of inclination and rotation means that numerous and complex architectures can be obtained. The modification of the morphology of the columns towards chevrons is a solid approach to the mechanical reinforcement of the nanostructured layers. Hybrid solutions for improving the mechanical resistance of deposits for visible-SWIR applications consist in reinforcing an AR stack structured by OAD via a Sol-Gel post-deposition, with high optical performance. This post-deposition, whether or not penetrating into the nanostructured layers, must be taken into account when developing the optical design. The Sol-Gel or aerogel solutions considered consist of: (i) fill the pores of the porous structure to reinforce it without significantly altering the optical index of the structure, (ii) apply a very thin surface layer to improve the resistance properties to mechanical aggression. In addition, it is also planned to bring new functionalities to AR stacks through Sol-Gel layers such as anti-fouling, hydrophobicity and so on. The improvement of the chemical robustness of nanostructured layers for MWIR applications consists in the addition of a dense surface layer via PVD included in the optical design. Another avenue explored will be the addition of an ultra-fine conformal and penetrating layer within structures even with a very high aspect ratio using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology. The economic and societal benefits associated with the industrialization of the solutions developed under this project are significant from both a civil and military point of view.