credit: Lufthansa
A collaboration between engineers at Lufthansa Technik and chemicals and coatings manufacturer BASF has resulted in the creation of AeroShark – a thin film coating that can be applied to the outer skin of an aircraft to reduce drag and thus fuel consumption and carbon emissions. it happens. Swiss International Airlines posted a blog entry on its website describing the film and its benefits for the company. Lufthansa Technik has also posted a blog entry detailing the development of AeroSHARK.
The thin film was developed by engineers at Lufthansa as part of an effort looking for ways to reduce fuel costs for their aircraft. For this, he looked to nature, and more specifically, to sharks—creatures that have been streamlined over millions of years of evolution. Researchers found that sharks’ skin is covered with millions of “riblets,” which are protrusions that run the length of their bodies. Engineers then worked with a group from BASF to design a similar type of skin for the aircraft. The result was the formation of aeroshark, a clear, thin skin containing millions of riblets, each only 50 micrometers high. Testing showed that the material reduces drag.
Researchers found that by applying skin to the entire fuselage and engine of a Boeing 777, they could reduce fuel consumption by up to 1.1%. Swiss estimates that the skin will result in a 4,800 metric tonne per year reduction in fuel consumption in its fleet, resulting in a 15,200 metric ton reduction in carbon emissions. They suggest that this amount is equivalent to 87 long-haul flights from Zurich to Mumbai. Swiss plans to coat all 12 of its 777-300ER airplanes with AeroShark starting this summer. Meanwhile, Lufthansa has begun coating all of its large cargo planes with new skin.
credit: Lufthansa
The Swiss also notes that they are using Lufthansa Technique to collect data on the benefits of using AeroShark to further improve the performance of the skin and to find out whether it can also be used on feathers. and will work with BASF.
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blog.swiss.com/en/2022/02/aero… – reduce-english/
www.lufthansa-technik.com/aeroshark
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Citation: AeroSHARK thin film reduces drag on airplanes (2022, February 25) Retrieved 29 March 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-02-aeroshark-thin-airplanes.html.
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