Project Dragonfly

Project Dragonfly will develop Actuation Lab's innovative, origami-inspired valve design to meet the challenging requirements of commercial hydrogen aircraft. Emissions from long-haul travel using kerosene aircraft fuel totalled 336 million tonnes CO2e in 2019\. Converting this fleet to hydrogen is a potentially viable alternative that would eliminate these emissions and create a lucrative market. We estimate that the potential market for valves in hydrogen powered aircraft exceeds £230m. However, there are several key technical challenges to using liquid hydrogen as an aircraft fuel that must be addressed to take advantage of this opportunity. These include hydrogen's low-ignition energy, its small molecule size making systems vulnerable to leakage and the low temperatures required for liquid hydrogen use (cryogenic). The Dragonfly Valve's leak proof design addresses these issues and has potential to enable transition to hydrogen by 2050\.

Current valve designs are vulnerable to leakage where the valve stem exists the fuel tank to enable actuation. Our stemless design is a completely new technology that addresses a real limitation of competitor technologies. Project Dragonfly will address the technical challenges relating to specific operating conditions for aircraft valve use. These include understanding valve performance at very low temperatures, compliant materials and addressing issues with icing. We will need to explore novel composite materials and manufacturing methods in order to ensure the Dragonfly valve can meet these requirements.

We will work with end-user Airbus to ensure research and development is in-line with customer needs, to ensure a clear route to commercialisation and to ensure access to an appropriate hydrogen test-bed. Our research partner University of Strathclyde National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland (NMIS) will support on integration which is an important area of new industrial research needed for this application.