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Our advanced engineering research areas

Research is conducted within four primary areas: 

• Transport research
• Energy research
• Research towards manufacturing the future
• Mathematical and physical science research

Transport research at the Advanced Engineering Centre

Transport research topics at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥ include:

• Novel engine concepts (for example recuperated split cycle technology)
• Combustion of sustainable fuels, including ammonia, hydrogen, biodiesel, biomethane and hythane
• Electric vehicles 
• Integrated vehicle thermal management 
• Electric machine dynamic behaviour
• Electric motorbike development
• Economic and societal impacts of new transport technology

Recuperated Split Cycle Engine development

Our world-leading split cycle engine research offers the potential to reach 60 per cent brake efficiency at practically zero emissions. In our concept, the compression and expansion strokes are separated in different chambers and heat is recovered between the two cylinders. The precise control of the combustion cylinder temperature and burning of the fuel in the expansion stroke leads to very low emissions levels, below the current Euro VI standards for heavy duty vehicles.

The technology has been developed and proven in collaboration with Dolphin N2 (a company set up by Ricardo to bring the technology to market) Ricardo, University of Sheffield, and heat exchanger specialist Hiflux, funded by a series of Innovate UK and Advanced Propulsion Centre project. Most recently, a prototype engine was displayed at one of the leading UK low carbon transport event, LCV2021.

Battery Thermal Management

AEC researcher, Marco Bernagozzi, recently tackled fundamental issues on the thermal management of electric vehicle traction batteries, sponsored by Ricardo. The project developed a new cooling system to replace a standard cold plate system based on Loop Heat Pipes and graphite sheets. The work showed that this design was able to limit the maximum cell temperature, outperforming the cold plate system by 3.6°C during a 10-min fast charge cycle. Moreover, the system was more environmentally friendly, the research showed that the working fluid for the system could be replaced by a low global warming potential and non-flammable fluid (3M™ Novec™649) giving comparable results to a well-established fluid like ethanol. Overall, the work proved that the improved environmental performance and safety came with no detriment to the thermal performance.

Energy research at the Advanced Engineering Centre

Research topics in energy at the Ï㽶ֱ²¥ include:

• Thermo-mechanical energy storage for power grids
• Biomethane supply chain and refining
• Thermal management of industrial, vehicle and space components
• Heat pipes and other two-phase thermal systems
• Waste heat recovery, including organic Rankine cycle
• Flywheel energy storage
• Energy efficient buildings
• Wind turbine durability

Grid scale liquid air energy storage

University researchers have been collaborating since 2009 on the concept of turning air into liquid to stockpile energy, closely working with UK-based , the owner of the technology and the intellectual property, and the company bringing it to the global market.

Highview Power’s and the UK’s first full-scale ‘CRYOBattery™’ is being planned in the north of England. Once built, the plant is expected to supply enough storage to power 50,000 homes. Professor Morgan said the CRYOBattery™ tank can store liquified air, chilled to -196C, and be fuelled by renewable energy. Wind and solar farms sometimes produce excess energy, for instance, at night or during hot weather. Storing it as liquid air means it can be heated and turned back into a gas to drive turbines which generate electricity when demand increases.

Highview Power’s and the UK’s first full-scale ‘CRYOBattery™’ is being planned in the north of England. Once built, the plant is expected to supply enough storage to power 50,000 homes.

Wind turbine durability

Dr Alessandro Tombari is working to design next-generation onshore and offshore wind farms to withstand damage from future climate change events, funded by a New Investigator Award grant of £220,947 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The objective of the project is to improve the resilience of wind turbines to harsher conditions caused by climate change. One focus of the research is the structural elements that connects the tower with its foundation. During extreme natural events, these have to tolerate extreme stresses, and Dr Tombari will look at replacing traditional connectors with a novel mechanical hourglass-shaped joint called an Hourglass Lattice Structure (HLS). This combines benefits from two technologies proven to be extremely effective in seismic engineering, defined as the “reduced beam section” and the “rocking foundation” design. Dr Tombari will also carry out offshore testing of experimental small-scale wind turbines, using the world’s first-ever underwater shaker-table.

This will simulate multi-hazard scenarios such as the . Project partners include the  (UK), Offshore Wind Consultants Limited (UK),  (Italy) and  (Canada).

Dr Alessandro Tombari is working to design next-generation onshore and offshore wind farms to withstand damage from future climate change events.

Research towards manufacturing the future

The Advanced Engineering Centre is at the forefront of research in remanufacturing, ranging from machine tools, automotive components, rolling stocks, print cartridge and moulds. We work in partnership with industry, advising on remanufacturing practices to governments, including BEIS, Innovate, G7 and the Chinese government. 

Research topics include:

• Remanufacturing
• Dynamic scheduling and production planning.  
• Tooling lubrication
• Tooling design and optimisation
• Fault detection
• Knowledge and process management
• Computer aided design and manufacturing
• Tool failure prediction
• Customised repair 

We are at the forefront of research in remanufacturing with case studies ranging from machine tools, automotive components, rolling stocks, print cartridge and moulds and dies etc in partnership with industry. We have contributed widely to conferences, publications and policy debates, both nationally and abroad. We have been advising on remanufacturing practices to governments, e.g. BEIS, Innovate UK, G7 and Chinese government. 

Remanufacturing

Remanufacturing returns end-of-life (EOL) products to a like-new functional state with matching warranty, thus, extending product service life (200% to 300%), capturing residual value from EOL components and providing superior economic and environmental benefits. AEC’s pioneering research has supported remanufacturing in a range of areas. Our remanufacturing work falls into three themes:

Intelligent repair  

Since each returned EOL products failed under different service condition and failure mode, each repair route is different.  Intelligent repair aims to identify the defects such as wear, corrosion, hairline, crack via 3D scanning and imaging processes, reuse remanufacturing knowledge from past successful decision making to derive the process route and process parameters, rapid generation tool path codes and  conduct customised restoration. Case studies were undertaken on rolling stock components. 

Process Planning and scheduling for remanufacturing

Given the extreme variation in quantity and quality of cores, remanufacturing Production Planning and scheduling (PPS) is more challenging, knowledge-intensive and complicated than in traditional manufacturing. AEC’s research aims to optimise process planning and scheduling forremanufacturing taking advantage of lifecycle data, data analytics and multiple criterial decision making to tackle uncertainties (unknown quality, quantity and time) that plague remanufacturing. 

Case studies in remanufacturing ranges from machine tools, automotive components, rolling stocks, print cartridge and moulds and dies in partnership with industry. 

Mathematical and physical science research

The Advanced Engineering Centre’s work in this area brings world-leading expertise in:

• Thermo fluid modelling and analysis: 
  • Heating and evaporation, flow and pool boiling
  • Fully Lagrangian Approach for efficient droplet distribution calculations
  • Droplet interactions with complex surfaces
  • Combined heat and mass transfer analysis
  • CFD using Vectis, OpenFoam
  • Analytical modelling of thermo fluid systems
  • Efficient Multi-Dimensional Quasi-Discreet (MDQD) model for multicomponent fuels with around 100 or more components
  • Multicomponent models to account for non-uniform temperature and component distribution inside a droplet or film to correctly account for evaporation
  • A simplified model for micro-explosions

• Advanced visualisation techniques for droplets and sprays using Schlieren imaging, high resolution microscopy, ultra-high speed microscopic video, laser diagnostic techniques:
• Flapping wing aerodynamics
  • local velocity and turbulence measurement
  • heat transfer and flow resistance measurement
  • laser sheet flow visualisation and particle image velocimetry (PIV)

Understanding droplets and sprays

Expertise in the physics of droplets, aerosols and sprays is essential for many applications such as combustion, thermal management (spray cooling), biomedical applications (drug delivery, sterilisation), aeronautics (icing), oil extraction (effervescent spray, drop collisions in pipes), microfluidics (droplet management), painting processes (spray coating) and agriculture (pesticide distribution).

Our team aims to influence significantly the design, performance and environmental impact of spray applications by developing new mathematical models, numerical simulations, and optical diagnostics. Our fundamental research, funded through Research Council grants for more than 20 years, has been applied to support oil companies optimise their fuel and lubricant formulations, as well as to improve cryogenic sprays, biomedical devices, and carbon capture technology.

Research impact from the Advanced Engineering Centre

Research from the Advanced Engineering Centre is shared with our industry partners and disseminated through conferences, academic journals, publications and the national press. In addition, our work with governments gives us the opportunity to influence national and international practice, standards and future strategic direction. 

Reduction of heavy-duty diesel engine emissions

Our automotive research has led to the reduction of heavy-duty diesel engine emissions and, consequently, their negative impact on human health and the environment. Particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) have been reduced from EuroV levels by 66 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively, and are now in line with EuroVI legislation.

Advanced spray-guided direct injection engine

AEC researchers have helped to develop an advanced spray-guided direct injection engine, which delivers significantly increased fuel efficiency while minimising emissions. Researchers from the Centre of Automotive Engineering collaborated successfully with Ricardo UK and PETRONAS, the Malaysian technology and energy company.

New understanding of fuel sprays

Advanced Engineering Centre researchers have teamed up with industry and academics in Russia, Italy and France in a £1.3 million project to develop new understanding of fuel sprays. The research will focus on microscopic fuel droplets as they reach the combustion chamber. Current thinking is based on the premise that droplets are spherical but the new research shows that there are different shapes and it is believed that improving understanding about the processes involved will lead towards cleaner and more efficient fuels and combustion.

New hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular dynamics

We are developing a new hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular dynamics (QM/MD) model for the simulation of complex hydrocarbon molecules and the application of this model to the simulation of n-dodecane and a mixture of n-dodecane and dipropylbenzene molecules in diesel engine conditions. The solution of the time independent Schrodinger equation allows us to obtain the equilibrium geometry of a molecule or an ensemble of molecules, and to calculate the potential energy for any position of atoms and electrons in the system.  

The university team test cooling for powerful electronics in micro-gravity through parabolic flight.

Parabolic flight images courtesy of European Space Agency.

Who we work with: Our recent collaborators

Academic collaboration with the Advanced Engineering Centre

University of Technology Petronas, Malaysia; Coventry University, UK; Imperial College London, UK; University College London, UK; University of Oxford, UK; Brunel University, UK; Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; Université Paula Sabatier, France; Laboratoire de Transfert de Chaleur et de Masse Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne , Switzerland; Institude of Thermo Physics, Russia; University of Pisa, Italy; University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Stuttgart University, Germany; University of Sheffield, UK; British Council HE Partnership Team, China; University of Liverpool, UK; Université de Poitiers - ISAE-ENSMA (FR), France; SAE-ENSMA, France; University of Parma, Italy; Polytechnic of Milan, Italy; University of Naples, Italy; University of Padova, Italy; University of Mons, Laboratoire de Physique des Surfaces et des Interfaces, Belgium; York University Canada; University of Toronto, Canada; Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire IUSTI, France; Professor Thodoris D. Karapantsios, Greece; Dr Andrea Cioncolini, UK.

Industrial and business collaboration with the Advanced Engineering Centre

Sustainable Engine Systems Ltd , UK; Libertine FPE Ltd, UK; Kayser Space Ltd, UK; Ricardo, UK; Highview, UK; Lowcarbon Co. Ltd, Korea; Zotefoam , UK; BP, UK; Delphi Diesel Systems, UK; Jaguar Land Rover Limited, UK; Kalimex, UK; Lambda-X SA, Belgium; Euro Heat Pipes, Belgium; MCT Group Ltd, UK; Daimler AG, Germany; Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany; FEV GmbH, Germany; Johnson Matthey plc, UK; Honeywell, UK; Joint Research Centre, Italy; Uniresearch BV, Netherlands; IDIADA Automotive Technology SA, Spain; Siemens Industry Software SAS, France; Lund Combustion Engineering, Sweden; Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich - ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule RWTH-Aachen, Germany; UFI Filters, Italy; Dolphon N2, UK; HiFlux Ltd, UK; Cadent, UK; CEA, France; Zircotec, UK; GA Drilling Ltd, UK; MTECH-UK Associates Ltd., UK; Advanced Analysis Limited, UK; Eurapo S.r.l., Nicola Pradella, Italy; EPSILON, Nicolas Dolin, France; Optec S.A., Yves Canivez, Belgium; Hexxcell Ltd., Dr. Francesco Coletti; Solar Tomorrow Inc., John Swift, Canada; Hephaestus Boiler Makers and Engineering, Nikolaos Lestos, Greece; Airbus Defence Space SAS, Dr. Laura Fourgeaud, France; Innovation Action Limited, UK; Circulor Ltd, UK; Oset Bikes, USA; Atc Ltd, UK.

Research outputs and projects from the Advanced Engineering Centre

Details of research publications and other outputs fostered by the centre and achieved by its members, along with funded projects delivered by the centre, can be accessed on the Advanced Engineering Centre's database of research.