Faurecia is the world's sixth-largest automotive supplier with three key business groups: automotive seating, emissions control technologies and interior systems.

Faurecia Clean Mobility (FCM) is the market leader in the emissions control sector. Faurecia's expertise covers the entire exhaust system value chain, for which it designs and develops products ranging from exhaust manifolds to exhaust pipes. Our strategy is now to move to clean mobility, including zero-emission vehicles, and to offer services.

With approximately 21,200 employees in 25 countries (77 production sites and 7 research and development centers), the FCM masters all the challenges faced by car manufacturers: Environmental performance is a central concern.

FCM provides Europe's leading vehicle manufacturers and intervenes early in the vehicle design process. In addition, the company's technological expertise is complemented and enhanced by active participation in international, European and national R & D collaborative projects, networks and consortia.

Role in the project:

Participate to the industrialization of the COPV, with close link to the tank design so that we find an optimized product regarding production & performances.

Cetim (Centre Technique des Industries Mécaniques) the technical centre for the mechanical industry in France was created in 1965 on the initiative of mechanical engineering companies and their professional bodies (the latter pilot the organisation). As an R&D tool for more than 7,000 mechanical engineering companies, CETIM employs 700 people, more than half of whom are engineers and technicians, with a turnover of 100 million euros.

Instigated and controlled by actors in the mechanical engineering industry, the mission of Cetim is to increase the competitiveness of companies.

It undertakes work of collective interest to support companies in their development:

• Technology monitoring
  • outlook of technological and legislative information of interest to mechanical engineers, shared with companies thereby helping them to make decisions concerning their technological development.
• Work on standards and regulations
  • From pre-standardisation studies to development of assistance tools for accessing and using standards.
• Transversal R&D activities
  • exploratory studies on emerging technologies
  • development of generic products and services
• Branch specific R&D actions
  • Professional studies: programme is drawn up from the prioritised list of requirements issued by a representative group of players from the industry.
• A complete range of personalised business services
  • Development or optimisation of products and procedures
  • Studies and roll-out of organisational or technical solutions
  • Expertise
  • Controls & Tests & Qualification
  • Training

Role in the project:

CETIM will bring its expertise in thermoplastic filament winding and in pressure vessel production. The pressure vessels needed for this project will be produced by CETIM as well as the samples that will enable the characterisation of the selected material.

CETIM will take part in the numerical correlation tasks with SIRRIS and partners. CET will especially bring its expertise of the TP-filament winding process to describe the domes geometry and their fibres distributions optimally.

Air Liquide, a French-based group founded in 1902, is the world leader in industrial and medical gases with 18.1 billion € turnover and 66,700 employees in 2016. Its core business is to supply oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and many other gases, services and innovative solutions to most industries in 80 countries. In the hydrogen sector, Air Liquide produces around 1 million of tons of hydrogen per year for steel, glass, chemical and food industries but mainly for refineries. The Group operates a large distribution network, which includes gaseous tube trailers, liquid trailers, cylinders and bundles but also the largest European hydrogen pipeline network.

Role in the project:

Air Liquide will lead the safety assessment of the tanks and the validation of their operational performance and will demonstrate the advantages of the technology proposed over state-of-the art composite vessels.

Sirris, the non-profit collective center of the Belgian Technology industry, has more than 2,500-member companies (>75% SME). Sirris bridges academic research and industrial innovation and helps companies to bring new technological innovations to the market. Beside research, knowledge transfer is another core competence of Sirris. Each year more than 1800 Belgian companies are supported (>80 % SMEs), with more than 4000 industrial interventions.

Sirris offers Belgian companies three key assets to help them remain innovative: years of experience and comprehensive expertise in a wide range of industries; high-tech testing infrastructure spread across the country; and an extensive network of partners. This way we help large and smaller players in Belgian industry make the right technological choices and achieve sustainable economic growth.


Role in the project:

Sirris will work on the development of numerical models and optimisation of winding patterns. The aim is to predict burst/leak pressures. Tasks involve the definition of the material model, numerical validation of experimental tests on sphere/tube/dome scale and subsequently a prediction of burst pressure of the vessels with optimised winding patterns. A close link will be maintained with experimental work performed by Covess.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is the largest university in Norway today, with history dating back to 1910, and traditions going back to 1767 with the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (DKNVS). At NTNU, we create knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

NTNU is a university with an international focus, with headquarters in Trondheim and additional campuses in Ålesund and Gjøvik. NTNU has the main profile in science and technology, hosting a variety of programmes of professional study, and great academic breadth that also includes the humanities, social sciences, economics, medicine, health sciences, educational science, architecture, entrepreneurship, art disciplines and artistic activities.

NTNU has four strategic areas of research in 2014–2023: sustainability, energy, oceans, and health. Research project THOR fits well into two of NTNU´s strategic aforementioned research areas: sustainability and energy.


Role in the project:

Monitoring the integrity of pressure vessels with respect to local fire and impact damage.

CETIM Grand Est is a Technical Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer (CRITT) associated with CETIM. It provides support to manufacturers through a comprehensive range of services: analysis, endurance and ageing tests, failure analysis, support to innovation and training. With a work force of 85 people, CETIM Grand Est is recognized for its cutting-edge expertise in the fields of metallic, ceramic, glass, polymers and composite materials. It can help industrial companies with customized solutions all along the life cycle of their products: design assistance, testing, production, use and end of life.

As a technology transfer actor, its vocation is to create and explore new technological solutions and to offer industries innovative know-how and techniques to help them meet tomorrow's challenges. Its R&D works aim, in particular, at developing innovative recycling technologies, innovative experimental methods and means for products durability studies, non-destructive testing (NDT) for damage and default detection and process monitoring. CETIM Grand Est is awarded with the CRT label (Technological Resources Center) in advanced mechanics and is one of the MICA Carnot Institute players.


Role in the project:

CETIM Grand Est will study the recyclability of the composite vessels developed during the project though the THERMOSAÏC® technology. The key challenge of this study is the part delamination to reduce the thickness of the scraps before processing on the pilot line.

CThe CNRS is a public scientific and technological establishment. It aims to evaluate and carry out all research capable of advancing knowledge and bringing social, cultural, and economic benefits for society. It also contributes to the promotion and application of research results.

The Pprime Institute is one of the main CNRS laboratories in the fields of Physics and Engineering Sciences for Materials, Mechanics, Energetics and Environment. Pprime belongs to the CNRS, the University of Poitiers and the National Higher School ISAE - ENSMA. Its research activities cover a broad spectrum of topics including physics of materials, fluid and material mechanics, energetics and mechanical engineering. This research relies on existing competencies, recognized at both the national and international levels, that fosters collaborations and synergies between different disciplines, and thus provides an appropriate response to the rapidly evolving needs of the socio-economic sector. This includes environmental research relevant to both transport and energy.

Role in the project:

The CNRS will bring its expertise in the field of thermomechanical material characterization (TGA, DMA, DSC, mechanical tests, cone calorimeter, coupled or not) and damage observation (tomography). These experiments aim to feed damage models and FE simulations which allow forecast the strength of complex structures subjected to a mechanical load and a heat flux and to optimize the vessels.