Ten minutes with RepAIR, the project bringing IVHM & additive manufacturing to aircraft maintenance

Now, a European consortium has completed a three-year FP7 project to improve aircraft maintenance and repair processes by integrating health management capabilities with additive manufacturing.

A total of 12 partners, including Boeing and Lufthansa Technik, took part in the in the three-year RepAIR project. The fully tested RepAIR system is now looking for industry partners for further development and application in operational environments.

Cranfield University received £800,000 of the £5m total funding and focussed its efforts on health condition monitoring, the repair and manufacture of components through additive manufacturing, and certification.

Suresh Perinpanayagam, lecturer in the Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Centre at Cranfield University fielded questions from The Engineer on the challenges presented during RepAIR and how the combined use of condition monitoring and additive manufacturing could lead to major cost-savings, reduced turnaround times and schedule interruptions, and less scrap wastage.

To put RepAIR into context, how do airlines currently approach fleet maintenance?