Applications For Printed Electronics In The Aviation Industry (Printed Electronics Europe 2019)

Today's production and installation of electrical aircraft harnesses is very labour intensive, especially for highly customized cabins.

Therefore, the ability to print electronic wiring and components offers a high potential to reduce production cost and even increase the degree of customization in future aircraft.

This talk will give an insight into the first potential applications, a vision of the harness production of the future as well as the next steps to turn this vision into reality.

As safety is the key prerequisite in aviation and environmental conditions an aircraft faces during its lifetime are extreme, the presenters will also highlight the technical challenges that will have to be overcome before the technology can take off in a commercial aircraft.

Dennis Hahn is the project leader in the collaborative research project "Printed Electrics", which focuses on introducing the first printed electronics into an aircraft cabin.

Within this project Airbus and Altran were the winner of the Crystal Cabin Award 2018 Material & Components and the Innovation Award of the German Aviation Industry - Category: Industry 4.0.

Before this project, he was responsible for the "implementation of the ISO14001 Certification" on a product level.

Dennis studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Clausthal.

As Consultant for the innovation and engineering consultancy Altran, Max Seißler currently focuses on introducing the first printed electronics application into an aircraft cabin. The project "Printed Electrics", a collaborative research project between Airbus and Altran, aims at replacing conventional wiring in the aircaft with printed conductors and was recently awarded the 'Innovation Award of German Aviation' (2017) and the 'Crystal Cabin Award' (2018).

Before engaging into the project in 2016, he worked on the design of lightweight aircraft structures for metal additive manufacturing, to shape the more efficient aircraft of the future. He studied Biomimetics (B.Sc.) at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences

Airbus is a leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive family of airliners on the market, ranging in capacity from 100 to more than 500 seats. Airbus champions innovative technologies and offers some of the world's most fuel efficient and quiet aircraft. Airbus has sold more than 16,300 aircraft to more than 380 customers worldwide. Airbus has achieved more than 9,500 deliveries since the first Airbus aircraft entered into service. Airbus is headquartered in Toulouse, France and has design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK, and Spain, and subsidiaries in the US, China, India, Japan and in the Middle East.