JD'C Innovation is a company with a social purpose (integration into working life of people with disabilities or reduced school career) active in the fields of aerospace, defense, medical, automotive , ... In these sectors, the company realizes composite parts.

In order to provide a more comprehensive service to its customers or additional outsourcing services, JDC will acquire the skills needed for Non Destructive Testing (NDT) for manufactured parts without undermining their integrity.

The research on weight reduction led Techspace Aero to develop a new type of rotor for its low pressure compressors, the Bladed druM, abbreviated BluM®. Lightweight and innovative, this rotor will participate in the preparation of new generation boosters which the Walloon company has made a specialty for.

The objective of the project is to combine the competences of various Walloon partners to conduct research for the development of a Smart-Pod System : it refers to an embedded container for aircrafts, carrying a machine gun and 12.7mm guided rocket tubes .

This development will be done in parallel with the development of the viewfinder Hudi, launched by FN Herstal, and its functional connection.

Regarding Smart-Pod, the lines of research are: 

The project's objective is to achieve a greater integration of composite materials in the low-pressure compressor , major product of Techspace Aero. Research will be conducted through three axes covering the entire lifecycle of the product.

A first axis "Design & Integration" is oriented towards an extension of the composite technology for  large size engines. These activities will open the market of large (commercial) engines and therefore large compressors, where the impact of the contribution of composites is the most spectacular in terms of weight reduction.

The market covered by the project is currently experiencing a strong growth. On one hand, the economic environment is very favorable to the development of more automated means of production in the sector of aeronautical composites, specifically of manufacturing processes in out-of-autoclave closed molds. Both engines (CFM Leap, etc.) and aircraft structures (A350, B787 ) are covered by these innovative means of production.

The TECCOMA project focuses on :

• the development of useful tools for the large-scale substitution of metal parts with composite parts
• the design of integrated parts and the development of composite technologies and their related tools to shorten production cycles.

This will be achieved by improving the automation of implementation, optimization of tooling concepts and industrialization concepts for high speed pace.

The project will also address :

Within the FASOPT project, the Walloon SME’s involved in the project aim to develop a new generation of optical systems for earth observation embedded on micro-satellites. 

These optical systems are designed and optimized to be manufactured by 3D printing technology (metallic and ceramic materials). This allows the production of very innovative shapes of extremely light mirrors integrating several functions.

One of the major challenges for aeronautics is the reduction of engine specific fuel consumption by increasing the engine bypass ratio. This involves :

• to use complex transmissions requiring greater oil cooling
• to preheat the outside air with the energy recovered from the exhaust gases.

It is therefore necessary to optimize the performance and the control of heat exchangers

MOCKEL wishes to invest in its production equipment but also in its internal processes in order to improve its competitiveness. 

Following modernizations that occur in 2015, MOCKEL wishes to offer yet improved service to its customers through the acquisition of a 2nd turning and milling center (4-axis). 

Also, MOCKEL wants to improve work conditions by investing in 3 vacuum tables, in brand new LED lighting for offices and production halls and in Quality Management software. 

In order to meet its future customers requirements, V2i must invest in the extension of its services portfolio.  

In particular, the severity of the vibrational tests conducted will be increased.  To achieve this, V2i will acquire a new large electro-dynamic shaker, equipped with a unique dual test tables capability. This device will allow to reach very high level of acceleration on small components whilst keeping capabilities to test much  larger devices (above 1T).