Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse, Liebherr’s centre of excellence for environmental control and thermal management systems, and ISAE-SUPAERO (Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace), have joined forces to create an industrial chair.

This initiative, co-financed by the French National Research Agency (ANR), aims to stimulate cooperation between public and private research stakeholders.

The CASTOR Chair for Radial Turbomachinery Aerodynamics started on January 1, 2024, and will run for 4 years.

It will result in 3 theses, 2 post-doctorates and the creation of a research engineer position. The total amount of €1.250m (50% from Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse and 50% from ANR, the French National Research Agency) will be used to finance equipment and subcontracted work.

The aim is to make progress on the design of radial turbomachinery stages, which are at the heart of Liebherr-Aerospace’s air systems, and in which ISAE-SUPAERO has cutting-edge skills and research infrastructures.

This collaboration will enable Liebherr to continue proposing key technologies for the decarbonisation of aviation, with more efficient air systems that consume as little energy as possible for future aircraft.

The radial turbomachine is a key component of the air-conditioning system manufactured by Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse.

In the turbine of the compressor, the shape of the blades must be finely optimised to provide the best energy efficiency and expansion or compression ratios – independently from the flight phases of the aircraft.

This design phase is vital for offering aircraft manufacturers less energy-intensive air-conditioning systems for future low-emission aircraft.

Several lines of work will be explored. Unconventional radial turbine configurations will be calculated and tested to improve efficiency and operating ranges. Furthermore, efforts will be devoted to advancing numerical and experimental methods.
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