IRT JULES VERNE

Address: Chemin du Chaffault
44340Bouguenais
France

Description

Since March 2012, IRT JULES VERNE is a mutualized R&D institute dedicated to advanced manufacturing technologies. It is one of eight institutes for technological research that have been established by the French government to enhance the country’s attractiveness and competitiveness.

This unique IRT dedicated to manufacturing, based in Nantes, is central to the Loire Valley Region’s economic strategies. Driven by industry needs on mid and long-term market trends, IRT Jules Verne embraces the industrial, scientific and technological challenges that concern five strategic industries (aeronautics, shipbuilding, automotive, energy and advanced manufacturing equipment).

It aims at boosting industrialization and bringing innovation to the factory floor by providing solutions to the technological challenges facing industrial segments, e.g. the design and implementation of advanced breakthrough technologies for manufacturing and production engineering. Its research programme focuses on three major areas of development:

• integrated product / process design,

• innovative processes,

• adaptive and smart manufacturing systems.

In order to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas, IRT Jules Verne develops a shared forwardlooking vision, implements shared strategic roadmaps, pool resources, and brings crossdisciplinary partners together (academics and small and medium-sized companies). More than a hundred ongoing projects are led by IRT Jules Verne with its partners, including a dozen european projects (HORIZON 2020).

IRT Jules Verne benefits from being in the only growing industrial region in France having set manufacturing technologies as a top smart specialization. The Region especially ensures great complementarity support through the efficient use of the structural funds. Furthermore, the EMC2 competitiveness cluster enables fast and direct connections to regional and national SMEs in the field of manufacturing engineering as well as European deep networking capabilities.

Contact Person

Marie WEISS

marie.weiss@irt-jules-verne.fr

is SME contact

Equipment

PROCESSING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Composite workshop 1300m²

Injection platform with a 1300 tons robotized press enabling the design of composite parts and new processes
Stamping and overmolding platform with a 200 tons robotized press enabling the design of composite parts and new processes
18-meter long innovative line for high-speed high-volume affordable large composite structural parts, engineered by Jules Verne
Robotic unit for induction welding used for instance for dynamic welding on complex carbon/thermoset composite
2 Tailor Fiber Placement (TFP) machines used for the design and development of preforms on multiple supports
50 tons vertical heating press reaching up to 450°C making it compatible with the processing of aerospace grade matrix (PEEK, PEKK, high temperature thermosets)
Cutting machine with the following working area: width 1330mm and length 1600mm

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

About 200m² of workshop

Robotic welding unit and WAAM (Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing) used for process development, study of the influence of process parameters, optimisation of process, innovative design and process modelling
Welding robot with crawler enabling the reduction of production cycles and making easier welding operations for human collaborator
Composite additive manufacturing machine for high temperature fused filament fabrication (FFF) for optimised parts production (demonstrator, prototype), feasibility study and POC (Proof of concept)
Composite additive manufacturing EOS P810 Laser Sintering Machine enabling the production of optimized and innovative parts (demonstrator, prototype)
ExOne Additive manufacturing machine S-Max used to validate the hybridisation of 3D sand additive manufacturing and the polymer process infusion dedicated to large parts

ROBOTICS / COBOTICS

About 800m² of workshop

Several collaborative robot arms (UR10, UR10 e-series, Kuka IWA, Kuka LBR4+..) with smart in-house-algorithm functionalities used for multiple innovative applications in logistics, painting, inspections
Full safety smart mobile robot platform: 4-wheeled holonomous mobile base, with a 6-degree of freedom collaborative and versatile arm, engineered by Jules Verne
2 cable driven parallel robots (CDPR) with a 1000 kg and 15 kg payload, used for a variety of industrial and logistics application. Dimensions 7m x 4m x 3m and 4m x 4m x 1m, engineered by Jules Verne
Several robotic systems for vision, detection and tracking in industrial environments: Microsoft Hololens system ; HTC VIVE system ; Microsoft Kinect 1 et 2 ; IFM Camera ; ZED Camera, etc

SIMULATION / CHARACTERISATION

Mechanical multiaxial test facility: testbed for static and fatigue tests of parts and structures up to 10 meters long, capable for performing 4 tests simultaneously: temperature, acoustic emissions, measurements of displacements and strain. Climatic chamber 1m3 (T°C -80°C+180°C) and mobile atmospheric box 8m3 (T°C -30°C+80°C*)
HPC Calculator
Various metrology systems
Process control, NDT & SHM
Simulation platform

Equipment Link: Film: JULES' Composite facilities

Services

PROCESSING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Support the deployment of new methods for shaping composite materials:
- Thermoplastics: injection, over-moulding, stamping
- Thermosets: RTM, infusion
Design of multi-material structures, functionalisation

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Topological optimisation
Redesign of parts
Development or process parameters

ROBOTICS / COBOTICS

Control of robots and mobile platforms
Design and deployment of mobility solutions in industrial environments
Enhancing workstation ergonomics & operator assistance

SIMULATION / CHARACTERISATION

Development and characterisation of material behaviour properties
Simulation and optimisation of manufacturing processes
Reliability and tolerance analysis
Simulation of structures under operational conditions and experimental validation
Evaluation and analysis of damage mechanisms
Noise and vibration control of structures