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.
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