HOBIT Project

The project results from industrials needs for tidals. The potential of the industrial application is an annual production of several thousand pieces.

Western Europe benefits from high visibility and the high energy potential offered by tidal energy in France and the United Kingdom. In this context, the members of the GIE ALBATROS had worked together to develop an innovative low-cost manufacturing process of a large and thick blade made of composite materials manufactured all at once. (“one-shot” process)

HOBIT is a project by the IRT Jules Verne involving a large consortium of industrial SME which got the label by EMC2 competitiveness cluster. It was funded within the French-state program named “Investissements d’Avenir” and was supported by the administrations of the French regions Bretagne and Pays de la Loire.

The small and medium-sized industrial companies which had collaborated during project HOBIT were Loiretech ; Méca ; Multiplast ; HydrOcean ; Europe Technologies ; Socomore ; Omega Systèmes and PEI. The duration of the project was 2 years. It finished in 2017.

The technological challenges overcame were:

• Developing tools for a mechanical and hydrodynamic modeling of marine structures
• Developing a methodology of plan layup in order to automate the preforming of hollow parts made of composite materials
• Developing a low-cost innovative manufacturing process which allows a high volume production
• Developing innovative tools equiped with sensor and heating means
• Studying and developing a composite solution for specific blades
• Realizing several tidal blades at a scale of 1/7 and 1/3 and 1/1 to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost production at high volume
• Developing a robotized solution for drilling and trimming
• Developing a durable and resistant coating for harsh environment