News from Jigsaw Structures
BETA Sealing System Project
Jigsaw Structures Ltd & City, University of London are pleased to announce a successful funding bid for the Innovate UK - NATEP: helping SMEs innovate in aerospace Autumn 2022 Competition. The BETA Sealing System 18-month project started in April 2023 with the support of Airbus in the UK, Meggitt Seals and Barrnon as an interested parties and potential end-users.
The industrial-academic partnership between Jigsaw Structures & City builds on the previous relationship established during the Innovate UK funded - Airbus led ALFET & ALFA Seal projects which focused on civil aircraft wing laminar flow enabling technologies.
The current project aims to deliver an innovative wing assembly sealing system employing a high build-rate End Effector to snap-fit an operability-friendly seal. The project also seeks to quantify experimentally the degradation of the seal's aerodynamic & sealing performance due to wear, contrasted with an analytical assessment of the impact of ageing traditional sealant, building the case for adoption of a snap-fit sealing system over sealant.
The BETA Sealing System project aligns with the ATI "Destination Zero:2050" disruptive innovation strategy:
A Ultra-efficient Priorities
- Fully automated high-rate composite wing structure components manufacture and wing assembly
- Highly flexible advanced wings
B Cross Cutting Enabling Technologies
- Infrastructure - UK Wind Tunnel Test Rigs
- Aerodynamic simulation tools for airframe
The project further addresses priority areas within the UK Jet Zero Council objectives and the ATI's FlyZero initiative, particularly the focus on delivery at pace of sustainable aviation airframes.
Keep visiting for more information and updates!
ALFA Seal – Final Project Review & Advanced Engineering Show
The final ALFA Seal Project Review (QRM6) was held at The Bristol & Bath Science Park, Bristol on the 17th November 2022. In attendance were representatives from Airbus, Meggitt Seals, NATEP and of course the project consortium partners Jigsaw Structures & City, University of London.
In terms of hardware, seal demonstrators were exhibited representing the concluding manufacturing options for seal insert & receptacle. Regarding aero performance, City tabled the wind tunnel testing results confirming the seal to be flow friendly at transonic speeds.
Earlier in the month Jigsaw Structures were invited to present the ALFA Seal Project objectives and findings at the Advanced Engineering Show at the NEC Birmingham.
The Consortium is now bidding for follow-on NATEP funding aiming to deliver an innovative wing assembly sealing system employing a high build-rate End Effector to snap-fit our operability-friendly seal. The potential project – BETA Seal – will also seek to quantify experimentally the degradation of the seal’s aerodynamic & sealing performance due to wear, contrasted with an analytical assessment of the impact of ageing traditional sealant, building the case for adoption of a snap-fit sealing system over sealant.
The innovation in the BETA Sealing System project is the novel seal insertion & removal end effector which complements our snap-fit seal (already structurally/aerodynamically proven) and is automation-ready (no such product exists on the market).
Laminar Flow Characterisation & Sealing Performance Demonstrated
The ALFA Seal Project Consortium was pleased to announce at the August Quarterly Review Meeting (QRM5) that wind tunnel testing of the snap-fit sealing system to date had successfully demonstrated both Laminar Flow Characterisation profiles & Sealing Performance metrics in line with Customer requirements. The test campaign will continue through the final quarter to capatilise on the results achieved to date.
GMC: Jigsaw engages with the Satellite Applications Catapult
Jigsaw’s ambitions for its Genderless Mechanical Connector (GMC) technology to be exploited in the space sector have been furthered by engagement with the Satellite Applications Catapult. The Catapult’s Business Evolution programme identified GMC use cases across Space Commerce (orbital robotics) & Space Resources (planetary robotics). Jigsaw’s GMC patent application status is now on an international basis.
ALFA Seal at the Manufacturing & Engineering Week, NEC Birmingham
On behalf of the Consortium & NATEP, Tim Evans from Jigsaw Structures, delivered an ALFA Seal keynote presentation at the Design Engineering Expo – part of the Manufacturing & Engineering Week at the NEC, Birmingham on the 8th June.
Tim was able to share with the audience how the objectives of the ALFA Seal project align with the recently published ATI Destination Zero Strategy: 2050.
Future Piano’s Standing Grand is taking shape - Another key milestone has been achieved
Our 1st Standing Grand structural components manufacturing is now complete.
The frame has now been shipped to our Master Piano Builder (David Klavins – Latvia) to have the sounding parts fitted.
The Connect-R project delivers ground-breaking self-building robotic structure
A consortium of leading UK businesses and academics today announces the launch of Connect-R – a world-first modular robot specifically designed to undertake missions and build emergency structures in the most hazardous environments on the planet.
Connect-R is an industrial-scale, self-building robotic structure for use in unsafe working conditions, where environmental radioactivity, a lack of a breathable atmosphere or concerns over structural integrity significantly increase the risks posed to human life.
Its self-building capability removes the need to deploy people in hazardous environments and promises to reduce the huge risks associated in nuclear decommissioning, oil and gas mining, and building structures in outer space.
Read the Press Release
Jigsaw wins Funding for ALFA Seal
Jigsaw and City, University of London are pleased to announce that the ALFA Seal project has received the backing from Innovate UK, BEIS – UKRI, ATI and NATEP.
The project will start in May 2021 and last for 18 months.
View the Project Summary
Standing Grand Piano secures Crowd Funding
Our Crowd-Funding campaign has been a great success. Thank you to all our backers and please share with other enthusiasts of piano, music, design, engineering or invention.
The Standing Grand will be light and compact enough to bring the fullness of a grand piano’s sound into modern spaces. The Future Piano team is aiming to significantly reduce the total piano weight by building a hybrid demonstrator, using a combination of traditional (metal and wood) and advanced materials (composites) for the optimum sound, cost and weight ratio. As we build this first piano prototype, we are a step closer to making acoustic grand pianos much more accessible.
Visit the Future Piano website
Visit the Kickstarter website
The Standing Grand – The future piano team seeks crowd funding
The Standing Grand will be light and compact enough to bring the fullness of a grand piano’s sound into modern spaces. With this crowd-fund money, the Future Piano team is aiming to significantly reduce the total piano weight by building a hybrid demonstrator, using a combination of traditional (metal and wood) and advanced materials (composites) for the optimum sound, cost and weight ratio. If we build this next piano, we’ll be a significant step closer to making acoustic grand pianos much more accessible.
Help make our plans a reality and revolutionise pianos for the future!
Please donate and share with other enthusiasts of piano, music, design, engineering or invention.
Please click on this crowd funding image to visit the site. Thank you.
Connect-R – Jigsaw wins funding for robotics project – 2019
Jigsaw Structures is proud and excited to be part of the Connect-R project funded by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) through UK Research and Innovation. This cutting-edge combination of robotic and AI technologies has the potential to transform big industry. Connect-R proposes to develop
an industrial-scale, self-building, autonomous, modular robotic solution to provide robotic access to work-sites in these hazardous environments. The Connect-R team also includes Barrnon Ltd, Ross Robotics, Tharsus, the University of Edinburgh, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Royal Holloway University of London.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VISIT THE INNOVATIONS WEBSITE PAGE WHICH FEATURES THE CONNECT-R PROJECT.
Jigsaw becomes a shareholder in Future Piano – 2018
Future Piano comprises Sarah Nicolls and Jigsaw Structures. Sarah, as a concert pianist with a global reputation, hopes to reinvigorate passion for the acoustic piano and through this redesign, to educate the world about what a piano can possibly be.
Jigsaw specialises in innovative lightweight structural design and product integration. Future Piano has successfully completed a 6-month Design Foundations project, funded by Innovate UK, and we are ready to build our first lightweight prototype.