Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Smart Transient Testing – Optimised Attribute Trade-off to support Future Requirements

Industry Partner: Ford EPS R&A
Guest: Harald Stoffels
Year: 2020
Ford logo

Ever rising requirements on fuel economy and emissions can often result in trade-offs with other vehicle attributes.​

In parallel, development and product cycles shorten, and modular approaches for propulsion systems demand the application of a powertrain in a variety of vehicles with different characteristics and attribute target sets. ​

Consequently, the task to enforce design decisions on powertrains and their control system are increasingly moving to an early phase in the development process, where often vehicle prototypes are not available.​

A potential solution is to operate the powertrain or its subsystems on a full transient testbed within a virtual environment, while subjecting the overall system to a microscopic traffic simulation. Based on an example of a C-car class vehicle we will show an application case based on actual boundary conditions.

Chemical Energy Converters

Overview of the exhaust aftertreatment systems solutions in the modern automotive industry: functioning principles and applications.

Industry Partner: CMT Motores Termicos, Valencia
Guest: Barbara Diesel Costa
Year: 2020

Engine exhaust aftertreatment systems are devices capable of reducing harmful exhaust emissions from internal combustion engine through chemical and physical processes. This seminar will present the most common after treatment systems being applied nowadays on both diesel and gasoline cars besides of approaching their functioning principles.

Chemical Energy Converters

Overview of engine and aftertreatment response impacted by extreme altitude and ambient temperature conditions and optimisation techniques

Industry Partner: CMT Motores Termicos, Valencia
Guest: Barbara Diesel Costa
Year: 2020

Altitude affects not only engine performance and engine raw emissions, but also the aftertreatment systems functioning as their boundary conditions change. This presentation encompasses the understanding of the effects on aftertreatment operation when working in altitude conditions as well as the identification of actives and passive strategies that can be applied to optimize their operation when submitted to these adverse circumstances.

Transport Policy & Economics

Estimating: Neither Fact nor Fiction

Industry Partner: Highways England
Guest: Sirish Parekh
Year: 2020

Sirish Parekh, Operations Costing Manager at Highways England delivered a guest lecture which covered how estimates should generally be managed: estimating principles, dashboards and potential pitfalls

Application of Mathematics

Energy storage in RTG cranes

Industry Partner: University of Reading
Guest: William Holderbaum
Year: 2021

In low voltage networks, Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) play a significant role in increasing energy cost savings, peak reduction and energy efficiency whilst reinforcing the electrical network infrastructure. This talk will give an outline in optimal management system based on a different control strategies (Optimal Control and Model Predictive control) for the control of an ESS equipped with a network of electrified Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) cranes. The stochastic management system aims to improve the reliability and economic performance, for given ESS parameters, of a single crane or a network of cranes by taking into account the uncertainty in the RTGs electrical demand. A specific case study is presented using real operational data of the RTGs network in the Port of Felixstowe, UK, and the results of the stochastic control system is compared to a standard set-point controller. The results of the proposed control strategies indicate that the stochastic management system successfully increases the electric energy cost savings, the peak demand reductions and successfully outperforms a comparable set-point controller.

Chemical Energy Converters

Schrӧdinger’s Car: the plug-in hybrid conundrum

Industry Partner: Emissions Analytics
Guest: Nick Molden
Year: 2021
  • Are plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) a rapid and practical route to carbon dioxide reduction, or an uncontrollable and expensive diversion from other more promising types of powertrain?
  • Many vehicles are being launched with CO2 emissions below 49g/km on the WLTP cycle, to gain CO2 supercredits and tax advantages
  • What does independent real-world testing tell us happens in practice?
  • How dependent on driver behaviour are the CO2 benefits?
  • Are the advantages of PHEVS being correcting represented in manufacturer marketing?
  • Are PHEVs, full hybrids or BEVs the most efficient use of scarce battery resource?
  • How technology-neutral AIR Index ratings can help demystify the situation for policy makers and car buyers.
Chemical Energy Converters

On road real time measurement of emissions and pollution

Industry Partner: CAMBUSTION
Guest: Mark Peckham
Year: 2021
Cambustion logo

Modern vehicles tend to produce most of their emissions during transient operation ( e.g. accelerations, cold starts etc) and in this lecture, data will presented which illustrate the significant “spikes” of emissions and discusses the underlying causes. The data, when combined with GPS, engine data and dashcam footage, explains not only the reasons behind the emissions but also the air quality impact on the local environment e.g. downwind of speed bumps). Recent roadside, “chase” studies and cabin air vent results further helps to illustrate the importance of this topic at a time when the custodians of urban environments rush to implement clean air zones.

Chemical Energy Converters

The role of combustion engines in the year 2031

Industry Partner: Ford
Guest: Carsten Weber
Year: 2021
Ford logo

In principle the combustion engine is a highly sophisticated machine that transfers chemical into mechanical energy following the natural laws of science. At present, there is enormous pressure on this machine with regard to cleanliness and environmental friendliness. This discussion often neglects the fact that efficiency and emissions are related to the chemical properties of the used energy carrier and are often inversely proportional to each other.

The foreseeable future of automotive propulsion systems will be dominated by hybrid technology that is making best use of electrification and conventional powertrain elements including combustion engine.

We will see an increase of electrified vehicles tailored to specific customer demands and legal requirements. The majority of the next generation propulsion systems will continue to have an internal combustion engine as an integral part to ensure the optimum regarding cost, range, performance and cleanliness

Transport Policy & Economics

Transport and Climate Change

Industry Partner: Trinity College Dublin
Guest: Brian Caulfield
Year: 2021

This talk will examine the relationships between transportation and climate change, focusing upon the pathways to reducing our emissions and over reliance on the private car. Within the next decade, the decade of action, our current mobility systems will need to transform in ways in which have never been seen before. Our usage of private vehicles, aviation and freight movements will all need to change. this talk will examine the pathways to achieve this change discussing the changes required in fuels, technologies and human behavior. The talk will draw on recent work conducted for the climate change Advisory Council in Ireland on pathways to zero emissions from transport.

Low Carbon Fuels

A Perspective on Road Transport Fuels through the Energy Transition

Industry Partner: Shell
Guest: Rod Williams
Year: 2021
Shell logo

All industries which consume non-renewable energy will be affected by changes designed to combat climate change in the coming decades. Amongst these, major changes will be effected in all aspects of the road transport sector, including fuels. This session will focus on how road transport fuels could change to enable the decarbonisation of road transport. The scene will be set with an outline of drivers for change, policy enablers, their deployment and the status quo. Light and heavy-duty scenarios to 2050 will be discussed along with some of the variables which will influence the outcomes. An overview of future fuel options will be given and some context of Shell’s activities to contribute to fuel decarbonisation will be outlined.

Gas Purification

Soot removal in Diesel Vehicles

Industry Partner: University of Alicante, Spain
Guest: Agustin Bueno-Lopez
Year: 2021

This seminar focused on the control of soot emissions in vehicles. The chemical nature of soot will be presented together with the removal technologies. Special attention will be paid to Diesel Particulate Filters and to the catalytic regeneration, discerning between noble metal catalysts and noble-metal-free alternative options. 

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

A Sustainable World – How the Automotive Sector Can Play a Role

Industry Partner: AVL
Guest: Bernadette Longridge
Year: 2021
AVL logo

The rate of change within the automotive industry has accelerated beyond what most stakeholders could have imagined even 2, 3 or 4 years ago. The accelerated introduction of electrified powertrains, has brought to the fore the question of how the fuel or power to propel  the vehicles is generated and the original source from which it comes. This presentation explores some of the challenges the automotive world must face, if it is to play a role in being part of the solution for a sustainable future.

Low Carbon Fuels

The next generation low carbon liquid fuels for a NetZero future

Industry Partner: Shell
Guest: Tushar Bera
Year: 2021
Shell logo

Despite significant advances in energy efficiency, demand will inevitably increase as growing populations need more energy to support a decent quality of life. This will require a transition of the energy system from one that relies primarily on fossil fuels to one that increasingly uses sustainable sources of energy to achieve net-zero emissions. Regardless the pathways to get there, the structure of future energy system is becoming clear, it involves deep electrification, primarily renewable power, alongside increasingly low carbon, energy dense liquid and gaseous fuels. This session will focus on why low carbon fuels are becoming an integral part of a net zero future. An overview of future fuel options including Shell activities in developing next generation transport fuels will also be discussed

Low Carbon Fuels

Development of an engine test to rate the EGR deposit formation propensity of fuels in light-duty diesel engines

Industry Partner: Shell
Guest: Rod Williams
Year: 2021
Shell logo

Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) is employed in diesel engines to reduce engine-out NOx.  Carbon-containing deposits form in the EGR systems of modern diesel engines as the particulate matter, hydrocarbons and other entrained species deposit from the exhaust gas flow as it cools and can lead to a number of problems including emissions and fuel consumption deterioration, poor performance and drivability, as well as breakdowns.  An engine test method has been developed to enable the impact of fuel on deposits in the high-pressure EGR system to be studied.  In the test method a 4-cylinder light-duty diesel engine of 1.6L displacement runs at conditions conducive to EGR deposit formation over 24 hours and the impact of fuels on deposit formation is determined through weighing of the EGR system components before and after the test.  Initial tests comparing a B7 representative of European EN590 diesel fuel and a Fischer-Tropsch Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) gasoil fuel showed that 72% less deposit formed with GTL than with B7

Transport Policy & Economics

Road Crashes: a residual problem?

Industry Partner: International Transport Forum
Guest: Jack Short
Year: 2021

Since the start of 2020 the COVID pandemic has so dominated attention that analysis of almost all other public policy subjects has ceased.  For transport, the pandemic has had huge impacts including massive reductions in  traffic and, happily, reductions in crashes and fatalities. But despite these short term gains, road  safety remains a central concern in transport policy. Each year over 1 million people die on roads  around the world and traffic remains a greater killer of young men than COVID.  While long run progress in reducing traffic fatalities has been made in many countries, this progress has recently stalled in several of them. 

This guest lecture will describe how the toll from road collisions has changed and will look at the impact of COVID on the trends. It will examine how safety policy has evolved and will discuss the challenges in moving towards a road system free of deaths and injury. Examples and case studies from several Countries will illustrate the developments and challenges. 

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Fair, Green, Creative, Connected - a Vision for future mobility?

Industry Partner: City Global Futures
Guest: Stephen Hilton
Year: 2021

What will our cities look, feel and sound like in 10, 20, 50 years’ time? Where will we live, how will we connect with each other, what sort of jobs will we do?

Stephen Hilton has been helping city leaders to tackle these questions for many years, first as Director of Futures at Bristol City Council and more recently as the founder of City Global Futures (CGF).  This talk will focus on Stephen’s (virtual) work between August 2020 and February 2021 with Bath and North East Somerset B&NES) council and local stakeholders.  He helped them to develop a shared 2030 vision to renew the region’s future direction following disruption caused by the global pandemic and to respond to the council’s declared climate and ecological emergencies. The vision was built around four stories of the future which helped people to think about what they might need to do differently to achieve a net zero carbon 2030.

Chemical Energy Converters

From Gas Guzzler to Planet Pleaser

Industry Partner: Lunaz Design
Guest: Jon Hilton
Year: 2021

At Lunaz Design they are taking some of the most beautiful classic cars in history and making them fit for the 21st century by completing a full restoration, modernising key systems and fitting battery electric powertrains. The award-winning cars display fantastic attention to detail and retail for between £245,000 and £1M each.

In this lecture Jon will explain the philosophy behind the creation of the Lunaz Group of companies and describe in detail the process by which vehicles are remanufactured back to better than new standard. He will cover the special challenges imposed by the fitment of a battery electric powertrain and compare the environmental performance of the Lunaz products to brand new electric vehicles.

Low Carbon Fuels

Hydrogen as an energy carrier for heavy duty transport

Industry Partner: Shell
Guest: Karsten Wilbrand
Year: 2022
Shell logo

In order to meet its future renewable energy demand and become net-zero towards 2050, Europe is expected to import significant amounts of renewable energy in molecular form, e.g. as hydrogen. Also, seasonal renewable energy storage in form of hydrogen will be needed.

While direct use of electricity in battery-electric trucks is preferred due to the overall efficiency from local renewable production, it may look different when hydrogen will be imported as renewable energy carrier and for seasonal storage reasons. A comparison of long-haul trucks running on batteries vs. hydrogen will be presented considering an energy systems perspective.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

How AV Shuttles on dedicated space might form part of a net zero transport strategy for new development and existing places

Industry Partner: PJA Transport Planning, Engineering and Placemaking
Guest: Jon Tricker
Year: 2022

In response to the urgent needs of climate change, new thinking for the planning of net zero  transport and placemaking solutions in new development and in existing places is required.  These approaches require an understanding of development and spatial planning with strategies for minimising and eliminating operational CO2e emissions from local transport.  AV Shuttles initially operating on dedicated space offering a new flexible form of public transport are likely to form part of a future transport solution for cities, towns and villages. 

Transport, Behaviour and Society

IAM RoadSmart’s Safety Culture Report – a look at the attitudes and behaviour of drivers

Industry Partner: IAM RoadSmart
Guest: Rebecca Ashton, Neil Greig
Year: 2022

IAM RoadSmart Safety Culture’s aim is to study UK motorists’ driving safety attitudes and behaviour.  This survey was first carried out in 2015 and repeated every year since allowing IAM RoadSmart to track any changes in attitudes and behaviour, drivers are asked a range of questions including their perceived threats to personal safety.

Propulsion Electrification

Battery state of health diagnostics – From the lab to the real world

Industry Partner: Loughborough University
Guest: Ashley Fly
Year: 2022

All lithium-ion batteries slowly degrade with time and use. Understanding how this degradation occurs and how to mitigate it is essential in increasing the lifetime of battery powered devices like electric vehicles. The state of health (SoH) of a lithium-ion battery is usually estimated from measuring the voltage, current and/or temperature of a battery subjected to a range of diagnostic tests. This talk will cover the different methods of battery SoH diagnostics, how they work and how SoH is commonly interpreted in controlled lab-based settings. However, the real world is not a lab! Many external factors such as temperature, charging duration, and user behaviour will influence the ability to estimate a batteries SoH and make accurate lifetime predictions. The influence of these external factors on the accuracy of SoH diagnostics will be explored with applications linking to electric vehicles. The talk will also highlight the importance of considering how lab research is applied in the field.

Transport Policy & Economics

Air Transport Liberalization: the case of Ireland

Industry Partner: Trinity College Dublin
Guest: Sean Barrett
Year: 2022

Sean Barrett is the author of “Deregulation and the Airline Business in Europe” and was a Member of the Senate (Upper House) of the Parliament of Ireland from 2011-2016, as well as a member of the National Economic and Social Council; Culleton Review of Industrial Policy; Brennan Review of Health Policy; and as a director of the Irish Tourist Board. Sean will be talking about the liberalisation of the air transport in Ireland in 1985 with updates to the present day. Ireland played a leading role in the liberalization of European aviation and experienced significant economic benefits due to increased passenger numbers, lower fares, and increased staff productivity. In 2019 two of Sean Barrett's former students were chief executives of airlines which carried 245 million passengers, Michael O'Leary at Ryanair with 149m passengers and Peter Bellew at easyjet with 96m passengers.

Chemical Energy Converters

Powering a Green Future: From Aspiration to Reality

Industry Partner: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | KAUST
Guest: Bassam Dally
Year: 2022

In this seminar, Prof. Dally discusses the widening gap between the aspirational targets of carbon neutrality by 2050, and reality on the ground. He looks at current impediments and constraints, and proposes measures to overcome them. In particular, he discusses the concept of integrated solutions, decarbonizing industry sectors and  some of the cost-effective decarbonization technologies he has developed.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Transport For Humans: Are we nearly there yet?

Industry Partner: Department for Transport
Guest: Pete Dyson
Year: 2022

How do people want and need to travel? Which trips are really valuable? How are habits changing? These questions need answers because climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and changing work–life priorities have shaken up long-held assumptions. Hope for a brighter future lies in adapting transport to more human wants and needs. The discipline of behavioural science therefore has the potential to significantly improve the design of roads, railways, planes and pavements – as well as the ways in which we use them – but only when we embrace the messier reality of how people travel.

Pete will present insights from a new book co-authored with Rory Sutherland, published on November 18th 2021. Expect talk of electric cars, planes, tubes, maps, ticket machines, e-bikes, hybrid working and much more.

He welcomes a discussion about how social and behavioural scientists can put their best foot forward, to play an even more pivotal role in shaping the transport systems we all use.

Propulsion Electrification

Thermal Energy Management – Challenges & opportunities of electrification

Industry Partner: Jaguar Land Rover
Guest: Nilabza Dutta
Year: 2022

Cost of heating & cooling an automotive cabin is very expensive for a Battery Electric Vehicle’s efficiency. Plus the current battery and electric drive units technologies have very limited window of operating temperature range for optimal energy efficiency & vehicle performance. Thermal energy management is key to ensuring that the range of an electric car is delivered robustly across all ambient conditions without compromising the customer experience of driving an electric car. In this lecture we will go through the challenges and opportunities of thermal energy management those electric vehicles present.

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Intelligent Cognitive Agents: codifying human-machine knowledge as a emergent cyber-social phenomenon

Industry Partner: Boeing
Guest: Michael Richey
Year: 2022

The National Academies report, Information Technology and the U.S. Workforce (2017), stated that over the coming 10 to 20 years, technology will affect almost every occupation resulting in a high percentage of workers that need re-skilling. Machine learning and artificial intelligence threaten to not only eliminate a larger number of jobs than will be re-created through innovation (Brynjolfsson, Mitchell, & Rock, 2018; Manyika et al., 2017; Levy, 2017), but that entire classes of professions will fall prey to machine learning. Changes in the skills and knowledge necessary for successful digital life are now impacting organization cultural and technical systems. This is not unanticipated, as researchers have long described the impending change: “The emergence of our contemporary networked society has brought disruptive changes, reshaping the nature of relationships and interactions and creating responsive, collaborative, and highly engaged culture” (Castells, 2000; Goodyear, 2014; Jones, 2015). These changes require rapid innovation from companies due to the need for a highly-educated “adaptive” workforce. This presents new opportunities for companies and universities to partner in research in order to measure the flow-quality of knowledge across sociotechnical networks. In a digital economy, knowledge creation (human and machine), communication and coordination largely occurs within dynamic knowledge networks (Pezeshki,2019)

In this presentation, we will cover learner usage pattern extracted from clickstream data within learner centered networks. Clickstream data is defined as a proxy for user behavior that not only records that a click was made by the user on an electronic object, but also captures the associated metadata, such as the system time when the click was made, the object on which the click event occurred, the dwell time on the clicked entity, and learner trajectory, NPL discussions and other navigational details. Clickstreams not only embody behavior, they are also a signal – a manifestation of learner intent. (Madhavan & Richey,2016).

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Digital Transformation

Industry Partner: Microsoft
Guest: Rami Alsaleh
Year: 2022

Rami Alsaleh spent 5 years as the Digital Transformation Lead at Microsoft, helping large organizations and corporations to transform their business to become more agile, fast to market and cost effective. Rami will be talking about why digital transformation is important, the challenges, benefits and more importantly what we benefit as end users.

Chemical Energy Converters

H2 in Heavy Duty Powertrain

Industry Partner: Cummins Turbo Technologies
Guest: Gokul Giridharan
Year: 2022

Commercial vehicle manufacturers are targeting ZEV as the end game technology for its segments. But this is paced by government investments, infrastructure and cost. Intermediate technologies “bridge technologies” are critical in enabling this jump into ZEV whilst managing the needs of the applications and users today. H2 is one the fuels of choice in Heavy duty commercial vehicle segment due to variety of benefits this provides. Cummins’s approach is to develop multiple H2 based powertrain technologies (Low emissions and Zero emissions) and has multiple developments in progress supported by UKRI.

Chemical Energy Converters

Some Unusual Engines

Industry Partner: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | KAUST
Guest: Jamie Turner
Year: 2022

Over time, engines have evolved towards a few certain forms, and increasingly these might be seen as having been the only way to do things.  However, there have been myriad different types, employing configurations and technologies which might appear alien in the modern world, but which are increasingly fading from knowledge.  This lecture discusses 12 such unusual engines, their mechanical complexities and idiosyncrasies, why they came about historically, and what need they served.  Two modern ones are also discussed, illustrating that some people are still driven to innovate.  The intention is both to inform and to invite the audience to think that there is always a different way, whether success is assured or not – which should, of course, serve as a warning...

Low Carbon Fuels

Materials development for H2 Economy

Industry Partner: Umicore
Guest: Alberto Naranjo
Year: 2022

Water electrolysis technologies are considered a critical step for the implementation of green hydrogen and decarbonization of our society. Additionally, fuel cell-powered vehicles represent an industrial, sustainable and cleaner alternative for the automobile industry showing longer ranges, shorter refuelling times and higher energy density compared to battery-powdered electric vehicles. This presentation will show the most important technologies and critical challenges of materials development for the production and use of hydrogen.

Chemical Energy Converters

Development of fuel cell stack and system for automotive and marine applications

Industry Partner: Bramble Energy
Guest: Cedric Rouaud
Year: 2022

The lecture will cover fuel cell powertrain sizing, stack and system development, including design, analysis, system engineering and control.

Chemical Energy Converters

Ricardo view of sustainable transportation for Euro 7 and beyond

Industry Partner: Ricardo
Guest: Matthew Keenan
Year: 2022

Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and air quality (AQ) pollutants need to controlled and further reduced from transportation. European legislation is driving the reduction of both GHG and AQ emissions. Passenger cars are required to reduce CO2 emissions by 55%, compared to 2021, by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Heavy duty on road engines are required to reduce CO2 emissions by 15%, compared to 2020, by 2025 and 30% by 2030. In addition to reduction of CO2 from the tailpipe of the vehicle, Euro 7 will impose stricter air quality pollutant emissions and new pollutants are also expected to be introduced. Hence, new technology is being developed for transportation propulsion to reduce vehicle emissions. Ricardo will discuss legislation, fuels and propulsion technologies which may be deployed to meet Euro 7 and CO2 legislation in a sustainable manner. Technologies discussed will include alternative fuelled engines, batteries and fuel cells for propulsion.

Chemical Energy Converters

Do we really need four planet earths, or can we just use the one we have a little better?

Industry Partner: Freevalve
Guest: Urban Carlson
Year: 2023

Urban Carlson is Chief Scientist at Freevalve AB & CEO of Desert Ocean Renewable Fuels & Chemicals. In this lecture, Urban asks “What are the Desert Oceans and how can we use them?”. Urban’s answer: first fix we must fix the CO2 problem and then replace fossil fuels with renewable photo-fuels.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Understanding driver behaviour in Level 2 automated vehicles: what affects a safe transition of control and how do we measure it?

Industry Partner: University of Leeds
Guest: Natasha Merat
Year: 2023

Prof. Merat will provide an overview of the work the Human Factors and Safety Group have been conducting on driver takeover of control in SAE Level 2 automated vehicles, using a motion-based driving simulator. In particular, she will focus on if/how drivers’ visual attention to the road ahead or other, non-driving related tasks, affects the timing and quality of this response.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Four ages of cycling policy

Industry Partner: University of Westminster
Guest: Rachel Aldred
Year: 2023

This talk focused on the postwar policy towards cycling, and how it moved from being invisible to being much more prominent, albeit often problematically. The talk compared different approaches to cycling provision, and also consider changing approaches to walking.

Propulsion Electrification

Challenges and Opportunities with Electric Vehicles in Smart Cities

Industry Partner: Brunel University
Guest: Chun Sing Lai
Year: 2023

Data are the key to enabling integration and coordination across the city infrastructures and provides situational-aware decision-making capabilities for smart cities to fulfil the objective of servicing citizens.

Low Carbon Fuels

Energy transition, can low-carbon combustion play a role?

Industry Partner: University of Sheffield
Guest: Ruoyang Yuan
Year: 2023

Global energy consumption will likely continue to grow towards 2050, amid the challenges and uncertainties facing the global energy system. How is it related to climate change and the concept of net zero? Dr Yuan discuss this, explain how energy and net zero transition are considered within the UK, and how some of her research work in biofuel combustion supports this transition. 

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Development of a fuel cell electric vehicle

Industry Partner: AVL
Guest: Mohammad Alzorgan & Florin Aftanasa
Year: 2023

The talk would be mainly around the development of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, demonstrating rapid prototyping development and controls and software developed.
At the same time they would like to touch on some of the R&D we do and the different activities in our controls department.

Chemical Energy Converters

Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Aerospace Propulsion

Industry Partner: GKN
Guest: Joseph Stonham & David Bosak
Year: 2023

A view from industry into the opportunities and challenges with hydrogen fuel cell power for aerospace. A look back at aerospace’s previous experience, under-standing the state of play today and a view into the future of hydrogen fuel cells on aircraft.

Chemical Energy Converters

The KAUST Narrow-Throat Prechamber for Heavy-Duty Engines

Industry Partner: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | KAUST
Guest: Jamie Turner
Year: 2023

The presentation describes some of the design and performance attributes of the KAUST narrow-throat prechamber for internal combustion engines. Conceptually this is designed to be retrofittable to existing heavy-duty diesel engines to allow them to operate efficiently on alternative fuels such as methanol and ethanol, as well as gasoline. Three main topics will be discussed, in order to explain how the different elements of the project fitted together: thermodynamic engine experiments, optical engine experiments (including a novel optically-accessed prechamber), and CFD analysis. It is hoped that from this a feeling can be gained for the power in which these three different disciplines can work together to improve engine technology and make it continue to be relevant as the world seeks to decarbonize.

Propulsion Electrification

The future of Trucking… Hydrogen or Electric?

Industry Partner: University of Cambridge
Guest: David Cebon
Year: 2023

David Cebon, PhD, FREng, FIMechE is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in Cambridge University Engineering Department.  He is the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight and the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium.  Professor Cebon has authored or co-authored many papers on dynamics, safety, manoeuvrability, energy consumption and decarbonisation of heavy vehicles.  He is a founding member of the Hydrogen Science Coalition.

Overview of Metal Powder Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

Industry Partner: Renishaw
Guest: Ken Nai
Year: 2023

Dr Nai will be presenting an overview of the major subsystems and melting process of a metal powder additive manufacturing (AM) machine. He will discuss the advantages and challenges presented by AM in the context of the manufacturing of medical components and heat exchangers.

Received the BSc and Doctorate Degrees from the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University in 1990 and 1994 respectively.
Joined Renishaw PLC in 1995 and is currently a Principal Engineer, been working in Metal Powder Additive Manufacturing since 2012.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

The past, present and future of automated driving

Guest: Daniel McGehee
Year: 2023

Dr. Daniel V. McGehee is an internationally recognized vehicle safety researcher who is director of the Driving Safety Research Institute and National Advanced Driving Simulator and a professor in the department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Emergency Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Health, and Public Policy. He has done advanced driver assistance and automated driving research and development for over 30 years.

He earned his PhD in human factors at the University of Leeds, in England.

Sustainability and Low Carbon Transition

Protecting the Environment

Industry Partner: Element 4
Guest: Georgia Elliott - Smith
Year: 2023

An environmental engineer, Chartered Environmentalist, and former UNESCO Special Junior Envoy for Youth & the Environment, Georgia started her career as one of UK construction’s first Environment Managers.
Founder and Managing Director of sustainability consultancy Element Four, Georgia now works with organisations such as Amnesty International, Patrizia, Grosvenor Estates, Nike, and Bank of England delivering her “disruptive sustainability” approach – a combination of best practice and activism that drives meaningful change in industry.
Georgia is a director of One YMCA Development Company and sits on the steering committee of She Changes Climate, a global campaign for promoting women in climate negotiations and solutions. In 2021, Georgia successfully challenged the UK government in the High Court over the UK Emissions Trading Scheme's failure to uphold the Paris Agreement. She is an Extinction Rebellion activist and contributor to leading technical committees including the UK Green Building Council and London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI).
She has spoken at TEDxUCL, New York Times Climate Forward Conversations, Cambridge University Zero Festival, and BBC Women’s Hour explaining how to move from anxiety and procrastination to positive action at scale and pace.

Sustainability and Low Carbon Transition

Towards Net Zero Mobility for Same Day Courier Service

Industry Partner: CitySprint
Guest: Natasha Marques
Year: 2023

Explore the management challenges inherent in our journey to attain net zero mobility for our same day courier service. Topics covered include defining our company's sustainability strategy, the range of services offered, route planning, charging infrastructure, costs, and more.

Natasha Marques is a Sustainability Manager/Environmental Consultant with over 11 years of experience in sustainability and environmental impact studies, including 5 years in consultancy. At CitySprint, leading Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, striving for net zero by 2040, fostering colleague wellbeing and development, supporting local charities, and promoting local SMEs.

IP protection and research commercialisation for researchers

Guest: Philip Brown
Year: 2023
Bath University logo

Research commercialisation is an important way to help solve societal problems by applying innovative solutions stemming from research. In this lecture, we will cover IP in general and IP protection as an opportunity to commercialise research outputs. We will further talk about the different ways to commercialise research such as licensing IP versus company formation, how the Technology Transfer team supports researchers to do so and explore the nuts and bolts of starting a company.

Fermi-framing applied to propulsion technologies using sustainable fuels

Guest: Joe Lawrie
Year: 2023
Bath University logo

There is a competitive advantage, for industry and academia alike, in being able to quickly sift interesting developments from the hype, particularly for progress happening outside of one’s specialist field(s). This is a skill which can be learned and this talk will introduce its application to advanced propulsion systems using sustainable fuels, aspiring to catalyse your thinking about your future research.

Joe Lawrie (he/him, age 28) received MEng from the faculty of engineering at the University of Bath in 2018. R&D specialist resident in Munich since 2019 working for a major commercial manufacturer of high power (from 5 to more than 200 kW(EL)) fuel cell systems for stationary and mobile applications.

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Simulation of Electric Drive Systems

Industry Partner: Dassault Systemes
Guest: Chris Riley
Year: 2024

Chris is an EMAG Industry Process Senior Consultant at Dassault Systemes UK Ltd. After working at GEC Power Engineering and Liverpool University, he joined Vector Fields in 1986, becoming a director in 1995. Since Vector Fields’ acquisition by Dassault in 2018, he has been semi-retired
focussing on applications, especially motors and generators, superconducting magnets and electromagnetic signatures. He is a Fellow of the IET and has published around 75 papers and articles.

In today’s talk, he will look at the role of simulation in engineering design and the Dassault Systemes 3DExperience, before taking a deeper dive into simulations for drivetrains.

Low Carbon Fuels

Hydrogen 101

Guest: Tim Mays
Year: 2024
Bath University logo

This presentation will be a high-level overview of hydrogen as a sustainable energy vector and chemical feedstock. The entire value chain will be covered from hydrogen production, storage/distribution to end use. Mobility applications will be discussed in general as will be hydrogen for heating, power, industrial decarbonisation and chemicals.

Experimental Aerodynamics

Guest: Sam Bull
Year: 2024
Bath University logo

Dr Sam Bull is a Lecturer with expertise in unsteady aerodynamics, vortical flows, flow control and novel airframe testing. He completed postgraduate studies in Unsteady Aerodynamics of Wings in Extreme Conditions, before working as a postdoctoral researcher on MENtOR which investigated a novel active flow control device for tilt rotor applications. These projects have provided experience in bespoke test rig design, wind tunnel testing for loads and flow fields, data processing, and dissemination.

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

Amazon's Culture of Innovation

Industry Partner: AWS
Guest: Lucy Antysz
Year: 2024

During this session, learn how Amazon have retained a long-term approach to innovation. By sharing insights and best practices that cut across four independent elements that empower everyone in our organisation to innovate at speed and scale to constantly surprise and delight our customers. 

We will dive deeper into the culture of Amazon, the mechanisms we use to remain customer centric, how our architecture leans towards innovation and finally how we organise ourselves to allow the right resources to support rapid experimentation.  

Propulsion Electrification

EV Charging, V2G, and V2X Impact on Smart Buildings, Grids, and Carbon Emissions - A US Research Perspective

Industry Partner: University of Bath with support from the Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor Scheme
Guest: Professor Dan M Ionel, PhD, FIEEE
Year: 2024

Following a brief review of major trends and programs in the US, the seminar will cover timely research topics with emphasis on the presenter’s group recent and ongoing contributions to projects supported by DOE, NSF, and directly by major utilities. Examples will include co-simulations of large electric power distribution systems. Discussions will focus on the power systems potential challenges due EV charging, and the opportunities for grid and building support through V2G and V2X technologies, and carbon emission reductions.  

Dan M. Ionel is Leverhulme Visiting Professor at University of Bath on a summer sabbatical from his permanent academic appointment as ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power at University of Kentucky in the US. His experience includes chief scientist appointments with very large multi-national industrial companies. His short bio is available from his SPARK Lab website at University of Kentucky  http://sparklab.engr.uky.edu/ 

The support of the Leverhulme Trust is gratefully acknowledged.  

Propulsion Electrification

Electric Motors for Aircraft Propulsion with Zero Carbon Emissions - A US Research Perspective

Industry Partner: University of Bath with support from the Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor Scheme
Guest: Professor Dan M Ionel, PhD, FIEEE
Year: 2024

Following a brief introduction of state-of-the-art technology, the seminar will cover timely research topics with emphasis on trends and the presenter’s group contributions on projects supported by NASA, NSF, and directly by industry. Example new concepts include innovative two-stage synchronous electric motors with combined axial flux coreless, and stator DC-excited reluctance-rotor machine units, concurrently optimized for specific power, efficiency, redundancy, and fault tolerance, while considering the typical flight characteristics of large hydrogen-fuelled aircraft.

 

Dan M. Ionel is Leverhulme Visiting Professor at University of Bath on a summer sabbatical from his permanent academic appointment as ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power at University of Kentucky in the US. His experience includes chief scientist appointments with very large multi-national industrial companies. His short bio is available from his SPARK Lab website at University of Kentucky  http://sparklab.engr.uky.edu/

 

The support of the Leverhulme Trust is gratefully acknowledged.

Propulsion Electrification

Electric Motors for EV Propulsion – A US Research Perspective

Industry Partner: University of Bath with support from the Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor Scheme
Guest: Professor Dan M Ionel, PhD, FIEEE
Year: 2024

Following a brief introduction on state-of-the-art technology, the seminar will cover timely research topics with emphasis on trends and the presenter’s group contributions on projects supported by NSF, DOE, and directly by industry. Example new concepts include axial flux topologies, vernier type machines with very large polarity PM spoke rotors for direct drive in-wheel application, and rare-earth free stator excited (DC winding or ferrite) synchronous motors.

Dan M. Ionel is Leverhulme Visiting Professor at University of Bath on a summer sabbatical from his permanent academic appointment as ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power at University of Kentucky in the US. His experience includes chief scientist appointments with very large multi-national industrial companies. His short bio is available from his SPARK Lab website at University of Kentucky  http://sparklab.engr.uky.edu/

The support of the Leverhulme Trust is gratefully acknowledged.

Digital Systems, Optimisation and Integration

The Integrated and Open Development Platform

Industry Partner: AVL GmbH
Guest: Josef Zehetner & Daniel Krems
Year: 2024

The vehicle development process is a complex venture that involves the entire organization for years. Relying merely on heterogeneous simulation efforts and physical prototypes for vehicle-level verification and validation carries severe risks. A new approach is required to enable continuous vehicle-level verification and validation in all phases of the vehicle development process. Based on the principles of systems engineering, model-based systems engineering, and product lifecycle management, the concept of an Integrated and Open Development Platform (IODP) is proposed as a solution. 

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Designing safe automated vehicles for commercial success

Industry Partner: TRL (UK’s Transport Research Laboratory)
Guest: Karla Jakeman and David Hynd on behalf of Richard Cuerden
Year: 2024

Richard is responsible for TRL’s Technical Strategy and the associated investment and thought leadership activities, designed to enable world-class transport and mobility solutions to meet the needs of tomorrow’s society and economy. He ensures the technical quality of science and engineering outputs, supports the academic development of staff, and manages engagement with stakeholders on programmes of collaborative R&D.

Richard uses real world evidence to identify safety and environmental priorities and develops transport solutions to prevent and mitigate harmful outcomes. He has led European Commission programmes and helped to introduce world leading vehicle safety and emission policies and regulations.

Transport, Behaviour and Society

Policy formation, infrastructure design, and human-scale mobility

Industry Partner: Centre for Transport and Society
Guest: Professor John Parkin
Year: 2024

Professor John Parkin BSc (Eng) (Hons) ACGI MSc PhD PGCE CEng FICE FCIHT FHEA worked for consulting engineers for 14 years before joining academia in 1998. He has been involved in all stages of the promotion of transport schemes including policy formulation, modelling and forecasting, operational analysis and economic appraisal, design and construction, and evaluation. With emphasis on human-scale travel, his research is at the nexus of user behaviour and infrastructure design. He was a member of the Welsh Government Roads Review Panel (2021-2023) and was a Commissioner on the North Wales Transport Commission (2022-2023). He was an assessor for the Research Excellence Framework 2021 Unit of Assessment 12 Engineering panel and chair of the Universities’ Transport Study Group (2019 to 2022).

© Copyright 2024 AAPS CDT, Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems at the University of Bath