Mark Butcher
Theme
Propulsion ElectrificationProject
High temperature superconducting motor - cooling system optimisationSupervisor(s)
Dr Xiaoze Pei, Dr Jamie GawithBio
Mark is from the south coast of England. Growing up on the Isle of Wight, he went from a tranquil coastal island to a bustling city at the University of Brighton. Mark did his MEng in Automotive Engineering there, having been fascinated with automotive propulsion systems throughout his college education and doing bits on his own car. The natural progression of the course was to look into green technologies and sustainable propulsion, which handed itself perfectly to applying for the AAPS CDT to continue his journey after a few years in different industries.
The opportunity to take a year in the MRes to learn from the disciplines within the cohort and develop his research and presentation skills was a big part of his decision and he is excited to get a broader perspective on the transport industry than simply from a technical standpoint. Eventually, however, he will expand on his mechanical base knowledge to discover how superconductive wires with cryogenic cooling channels can reform a traditional electric motor to be more powerful and compact. This has implications in electrifying Heavy Duty transport where a standard motor cannot conform with the power and weight requirements.
It will be a big learning curve in a field he is quite unfamiliar with but he is enthusiastic to approach the topic and bring forward his knowledge of mechanical systems alongside this!
Fun Facts
- I can locate every country on a map and identify any national flag!
- I love to cook, especially using whole foods and fresh spices. My mission is to continue travelling around the world to try authentic foods.
- I love Portugal and one day I will be fluent in the language!
- I bought a collection of original Pokemon gameboy games as a kid and still hold them all to this day :O
- Harry Potter was my childhood. Best books I've ever read!
High temperature superconducting motor - cooling system optimisation
Electric motors are limited by the current they can carry and also experience heat loss. Superconducting material has effectively no resistance and can hold far greater current densities, so can replace traditional copper windings in motors to produce strong magnetic fields required to push heavy vehicles and dynomometers.
This PhD will analyse a broad scope of superconducting motor opportunities and challenges before refining down to specifically cooling systems - their bottlenecks and design options. Superconducting material must be cooled by cryogenic fluid down to sub-100K and flow around rotating components, posing issues such as inefficient cooling cycles, cryogenic material properties, uneven thermal expansions and unreliable rotating seals. To ensure the complete system is practical in use and the cooling inefficiency doesn't negate the superconducting material's efficiency , different cooling methods are considered.
This project then focuses on one specific novel cooling idea, implementing analytical and numerical modelling methods to verify its advantages and feasibility.