Manufacture and characterisation of a structural supercapacitor demonstrator
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Structural power composites, a class of multifunctional materials, may facilitate lightweighting and accelerate widespread electrification of sustainable transportation. In the example considered in this paper, structural power composite fuselage components could provide power to open aircraft doors in an emergency and thus reduce or eliminate the mass and volume needed for supercapacitors currently mounted on the doors. To demonstrate this concept, an 80 cm long multifunctional composite C-section beam was designed and manufactured, which powered the opening and closing of a desktop-scale composite aircraft door. Twelve structural supercapacitor cells were made, each 30 cm × 15 cm × 0.5 mm, and two stacks of four cells were integrated into the web of the beam by interleaving and encasing them with low-temperature-cure woven carbon fibre/epoxy prepreg. This article culminates by considering the engineering challenges that need to be addressed to realise structural power composite components, particularly in an aerospace context.
Date Issued
2024-01-05
Date Acceptance
2023-11-02
Citation
Composites Science and Technology, 2024, 245
ISSN
0266-3538
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Composites Science and Technology
Volume
245
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2023.110339
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
110339
Date Publish Online
2023-11-11