As part of the Clean Sky 2 programme, Latecoere coordinates the development of a one shot complex door composite structure.

Funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Clean Sky is the largest European research programme developing innovative, cutting-edge technology aimed at reducing CO2, gas emissions and noise levels produced by aircraft. Supported by Clean Sky and Airbus Defence and Space, the "Enhanced Low-cost COmplex COmposite Structure" project (ELCOCOS) aims to develop a composite door using Liquid Resin infusion (LRI) technologies.

The project will fully define technical and cost performances of an optimized infused structure, predicting the fiber and resin behavior correlated with physical specimen, mastering the infusion process through numerical simulation, and optimizing the curing cycle thanks to a self-heated composite mould. Its objectives are to reduce the structural weight by about 20%, to reduce the production costs by about 20% for the primary structure and the reduction of non-recurring costs (NRC) by about 20%. This will be achieved through one shot concepts, Out of Autoclave (OoA) process and the development of innovative low cost tooling techniques.

ELCOCOS relies on the strong partnership of leading European industrials and research organizations in the area of aerospace and material development: Latecoere for the project management, door design and sizing, composite coupons and door tests, Corima Technologies for the composite tooling design and manufacturing, Compositadour for the lay-up, and Institut de soudure (ISA) for the injection process.

The production of aircraft doors requires extremely high standards of safety and performance. Coordinating ELCOCOS, Latecoere will bring its unparalleled experience in the sector as the world's leading independent manufacturer of aircraft doors. The group is regularly involved in sub-assembly development and production for aeronautics programmes within the framework of "risk sharing" arrangements, and has a history of successful R&T door programmes including the NexGED and ASGARD innovative projects.

The project was launched in April 2019 and targets to manufacture and perform a ground test of a full scale demonstrator over an 18-month period. This achievement would be a significant contribution to the performance of next generation aircraft reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.