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165 YEARS OF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

JUNE 2021

Building the hydrogen home How the most abundant element in the universe could be used to decarbonise domestic heating 20

28

32

TheEngineerUK theengineeruk The Engineer UK

aerospace: Bristol aviation pioneer vertical aerospace hopes to usher in a new era of low carbon flight

interview: Britishvolt CTO Allan paterson on building britain’s first battery gigaplant

late great engineers: Eugene cernan - the last person to leave footprints on the moon

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165

CONTENTS

YEARS OF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

VOLUME 302 • ISSUE 7928 • JUNE 2021

12 28 18

42 24

34

20 4 Editor’s Comment

Decarbonising domestic heating might prove to the be the trickiest component of the UK’s quest for net zero

6 NEWS

Williams and Italdesign join forces in premium vehicle electrification push

7 NEWS

UK engineers develop AI model for predicting COVID patients’ ICU pathway

8 news

10 news analysis

24 Robotics

12 Cover story

28 Interview

Why the automotive rebound has been stymied by a shortage of chips How hydrogen could be used to decarbonise domestic heating in the UK

20 aerospace

www.markallengroup.com

ISSN 0013-7758. Printed by Pensord, Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2YA

How an obsolete technology from the 1950s is making a power grid comeback

18 Talking Point

9 news

Part of

30 energy

New inverter technology promises leap in electric vehicle performance

Lotus backs all-electric future

Mark Allen Group, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 OPB

Britishvolt CTO Allan Paterson on building the UK’s first battery gigaplant

16 viewpoint

What might the UK’s accelerated emissions targets mean for industry?

Semiconductor shortage halts production at JLR plants

Industrial robot finds application in game-changing farming technology

32 Events Planner

Key industry events over the next year

34 manufacturing

AMRC engineers help UK watch manufacturer gear up for production

How Bristol’s Vertical Aerospace hopes to revolutionise urban mobility

Special report on a panel discussion about the challenges and benefits of digital twinning

40 sci-fi eye

Gareth Powell considers the future of powered flight on other planets

42 late great engineers

The life and times of Eugene Cernan the last man on the moon

44 from the archive

June 1959 - advances in car ferries

48 Blog

STEM and the digital divide COVER Image: Calvin McKenzie

Editor & Publisher Jon Excell +44 (0)20 8076 0575 jon.excell@markallengroup.com

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Senior account manager Lindsay Smith +44 (0)20 7738 5454

Reporter Melissa Bradshaw melissa.bradshaw@markallengroup.com

36 Panel session report

Art Director Calvin McKenzie calvin.mckenzie@markallengroup.com

3

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June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

EDITOR’S NOVEMBER COMMENT 2019

JON EXCELL

Low carbon battle comes home

READ MORE ONLINE Digital twins, hydrogen trains and the semiconductor shortage

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@TheEngineerUK theengineeruk The Engineer UK The Engineer UK

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MISSION STATEMENT

The aim of The Engineer is to champion and promote engineering innovation and technology development across all of the UK’s key engineering sectors.

F

or many, the realities of the battle against the climate crisis remain an abstract, arms-length issue.

It makes little practical difference to the average consumer whether the electricity used to keep the lights on is generated by offshore renewables or coalfired power plants.

But recent tabloid talk of a “boiler ban” has brought the implications of the UK’s net zero push firmly into the nation’s living rooms, and perhaps also caused heating engineers and plumbers a few sleepless nights.

The outcry was prompted by the International Energy Agency’s recent warning that conventional gas boilers should be banned from sale by 2025, a call backed by the UK business lobby group CBI. The UK government is making green issues a priority as Glasgow gears up to host the COP26 climate summit later this year, and is widely expected to back the proposal in its upcoming heat and buildings strategy.

It is of course possible that Boris Johnson’s famed populist tendencies could prompt a watering down of these ambitions. But that would be a mistake.

Decarbonisation of heating - which accounts for as much as 17 per cent of UK carbon emissions - will be absolutely key to delivering on the country’s accelerated net zero ambitions.

There’s no single silver bullet when it comes to low carbon heating, and meeting targets will rely on a range of solutions from improved insulation to heat pumps and – as previously reported by The Engineer – even geothermal energy drawn from abandoned coal mines.

But in this issue’s cover story (page 12) we turn our attention to a gas that many believe will play a starring role in this transition: hydrogen.

In a short space of time, hydrogen has moved from the fringes to the centre ground of our national energy debate, and in this issue’s report we take a look at some of the practical engineering challenges and breakthroughs that could see it being used to heat our homes and offices by the end of the decade.

Despite the progress demonstrated by those featured in our report, there are clearly many hurdles still to overcome, not least the challenge of rapidly scaling up the production of green hydrogen (the subject of an earlier feature which can be read on our website.) But whether or not the hydrogen transition happens – and you’d be brave to bet against it – the rapid progress being made by engineers working in the field is another compelling illustration of the degree to which net zero is driving engineering innovation as never before.

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Jon Excell

EDITOR • JON.EXCELL@MARK ALLENGROUP.COM

4

5 THINGS WE’VE LEARNT THIS ISSUE

At 170m long, HS2 tunnel boring machine Florence is the largest tunneling machine to be used on a UK rail project

1

Existing gas appliances can run on a natural gas blend with 20 per cent hydrogen

2

As much as 90 per cent of herbicide used by farmers is wasted

3

The UK’s first battery gigafactory will produce 30GWh of batteries per yer

4

NASA astronaut Gene Cernan was the last of only 12 people to leave their footprints on the moon

5

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NEWS

JUNE 2021

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WAE and Italdesign partner for EV solution

• Autonomous drone makes special deliveries to Scilly Isles

AUTOMOTIVE • UK can get ahead in race for Gigafactories • Europe set for customer trials of prototype E-Transit

• All Lane Running motorway radar tech accelerated

ELECTRONICS

MELISSA BRADSHAW reports

W

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

AEROSPACE

CIVIL & STRUCTURAL

Partnership aims to electrify the upper-premium automotive market

illiams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and Italdesign are partnering to bring a highperformance EV solution to the upper-premium automotive market.

Bringing ten years of electrification work, with specialist knowledge of high-performance lightweight batteries and experience as battery supplier to the Formula E, ETCR and Extreme-E racing series’, Oxfordshirebased WAE is providing the foundation for the partnership with its new rolling chassis.

Having built on a previous iteration of its EVX platform, the latest version promises to deliver ‘class-leading weight and chassis stiffness’ which, when combined with Italdesign’s turnkey vehicle development capabilities, aims to support rapid industrialisation of a new generation of premium electric Sports GTs, crossovers and sedans.

A key differentiator of the EVX is its composite compression moulded structural battery, which will add significant rigidity to the platform and provide extra support with crash loads, allowing for increased flexibility and design freedom.

Performance figures revealed include the ability to deliver 1000kW of power with 104kWh120kWh of energy, with potential expansion of the battery pack to up to 160kWh for a potential 1000km vehicle range between charges.

Read more online

G-Putty inks tailored for flexible strain sensors • Single transmitter programmes and powers implants

MATERIALS • Stabiliser residue inhibits conductivity in 3D-printed electronics

MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE • Voltaglue device developed to seal blood vessels

SKILLS & CAREERS Italdesign will build on the WAE rolling chassis, providing full vehicle architecture with additional safety systems, structures and devices according to customer requirements.

“When customers are coming to us, especially in this case with the competency of our colleagues from WAE, we together can guarantee specific performance — from the driving but also from passive safety measures,” said Jörg Astalosch, CEO of Italdesign, at a virtual press event. “These are characteristics that we can give to the car depending on what the customer is looking for and in which time they want to reach their target to be on the market.”

The partnership will enable reduced time to market and affordability at low-to-medium volumes, the two companies said, with production capabilities of up to 10,000 units per annum, 500 of which can be manufactured by Italdesign at its facilities in Turin, Italy.

Boasting a lightweight structure, and various options for customisation, the EVX will allow customers to choose rear-wheel and four-wheel drive layouts.

Combining recycled composite materials with aluminium, the EVX can be broken down and recycled at end of life, with ease of disassembly a key design focus, WAE confirmed.

“The approach we’ve taken is the platform can be flexible, so if required, and an organisation wanted to utilise existing motor transmission systems from their own line-up, they would be able to introduce those onto the platform,” said Dyrr Ardash, head of automotive business development at WAE. “We can tune things for the brand characteristics of each and every customer — from a performance perspective, there’s a degree of flexibility that will suit the majority of customers .”

Read more at www.theengineer.co.uk

6

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Machine learning lessons predict path for ICU COVID patients

NEWS IN BRIEF TANKED UP

Data gathered in trial could be applied to future waves MELISSA BRADSHAW reports

A

team led by Imperial College London has developed an AI model to predict

lead at Imperial’s Department of Surgery & Cancer and senior intensivist at Royal Brompton

worsen and not respond to proning.

Derek Hill, professor of Medical Imaging Science at UCL, said a

the trajectory of Covid-19 patients in intensive care

Hospital said ECMO has associated risks and is the last resort for many

‘particularly striking’ finding of Imperial’s study was that

units (ICUs).

The machine learning approach makes predictions about how

patients, after all other less invasive interventions have failed.

“Patients appropriately placed

mortality was higher at the peak of the pandemic, potentially due to workplace pressure resulting in

conditions might progress, and whether patients respond positively to ‘proning’, the process of turning a patient onto their front to improve lung oxygenation. When ineffective, it can delay the start of sequential treatments such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life-support machine that supports the heart and lungs.

Researchers said that by using AI to analyse patients’ data daily, guidelines in clinical practice could be improved and applied to future waves of the pandemic as well as

early onto ECMO show better outcomes. However, only four per cent of referred patients received ECMO, which is due to a number of reasons, but one of which could have been delays in assessment of responsiveness to interventions like prone position.”

Published in Intensive Care Medicine, the study used retrospective data from 633 mechanically ventilated Covid-19 patients across 20 UK ICUs during the first outbreak in 2020. Findings showed that the AI model identified

poor implementation of treatment guidance.

“It is important to realise that the authors have not shown that their algorithm can be used to improve patient outcomes in subsequent waves of Covid, nor that AI can help doctors manage heavy workloads in the peak of a pandemic,” he commented.

“In practice, changes in the way patients present and are treated since the start of the Covid pandemic means any algorithms that learn from the first wave will

treatment of similar diseases.

factors that determined which

only have limited value in helping

patients’ conditions were likely to

manage later Covid surges.”

Dr Brijesh Patel, clinical science

Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) has been awarded £800m to upgrade 148 British Army Challenger 3 Main Battle Tanks. The upgraded armoured vehicle will be equipped with a 120mm High Pressure L55A1 main gun featuring programmable multipurpose ammunition, increased first-hit capability and fire support technology. The programme will create and sustain 450 jobs within the UK supply chain and a further 200 jobs within RBSL.

BORING CHILTERNS HS2 Ltd has launched Florence, the first of 10 tunnel boring machines that will dig 64 miles of tunnels between London and the West Midlands. The 170m long TBM will dig the first of a pair of 10-mile long tunnels under the Chiltern hills. A second machine ‘Cecilia’ - launches in June 2021 to excavate the second tunnel at the South Portal site in Hertfordshire.

FLAT-PACKABLE THERMAL COLLECTOR SET FOR RWANDA MELISSA BRADSHAW reports

Dundee-based start-up SolarisKit has developed a thermal collector flat pack kit that promises to provide cheaper access to hot water in Rwanda.

The company was founded by mechanical engineer Dr Faisal Ghani in 2019, aiming to provide an affordable, sustainable and practical solution for heating water after reading a journal on Rwanda’s energy usage.

Recently, SolarisKit completed the Royal Bank of Scotland’s threemonth Climate Entrepreneur Accelerator programme. RBS has established a corporate partnership with SolarisKit as

ELECTRIC FLIGHT suspended absorber coil which results in the absorber wall temperature rising, up to 70 degrees in direct sunlight,” Ghani said. “Water is circulated through the collector, via a small pump, to transfer thermal energy from the absorber wall to the fluid via forced convection.”

The solar collector’s prismatic geometry allows passive tracking of the solar radiation, suppression of heat loss from the absorber and the ability to be self-assembled on site. thus reducing manufacturing and transportation costs.

Currently, the team has capacity to produce 20,000 kits per year.

its first UK customer, with plans to install the thermal collector at its Gogarburn HQ in Edinburgh.

The ‘S200’ thermal collector developed by SolarisKit is one of the world’s easiest and cheapest to install according to the team, with product trials set to begin in June and 80 units already shipped to Rwanda.

According to Dr Ghani, it operates using the same principles of currently available solar thermal collectors: solar radiation is attenuated through high transmission solar glass side panels.

“The radiation strikes an internally

7

Bye Aerospace has announced the development of the eFlyer 800, an eight-seat all-electric twin turboprop. The Denverbased aircraft manufacturer said performance estimates for the airplane include up to 320 knot cruise speed, 35,000ft ceiling and 500NM range with 45-minute IFR reserves at normal cruise speed of 280 knots. The aircraft will have one fifth of the operating costs of traditional twin turboprops.

Read more at www.theengineer.co.uk

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Lotus announces all-electric future One more ICE is set to launch but future prosperity is with all-electric vehicles

four new architectures – sports car, hypercar, premium and e-sports - announced by the company to underpin the next generation of Lotus performance cars. These architectures will be available to

JASON FORD reports otus has announced its intention to be a fully electric

OEMs via Lotus Engineering.

As part of the company’s transformation the company

vehicle company by the late 2020s.

is introducing a new technical roadmap dubbed EAS-IP that is

L

The announcement from the Hethel-based sports car

expected to guide the work of consultancy.

manufacturer forms part of a wider initiative to transform the business, brand, and results by 2028. In a

“The technology roadmap we have in place is defined by legislation but its’ also about

statement the company said it is already ‘sparking a new generation

customer demands and the challenge is always how quickly

of Lotus cars, which will lead to an increase in vehicle sales worldwide.’

“We’ve done some things very,

can we get new technology onto new vehicles,” said Windle.

“Lotus in the future is going

very well over the years but we haven’t been able to turn that into a sustainable business,” said Matt Windle, MD, Lotus Cars during a global virtual conference. “What we need to do is find a blend of what we know we do well. That will lead to broader appeal amongst a global

audience that will lead to more volume and profit which in turn leads to more commercial success.”

The company – which introduced iconic models including the Elise, Elan and Evora - will produce one more ICE vehicle before switching to electric

powertrains.

Codenamed Type 131, the Emira is set to be unveiled at Lotus Advanced Performance Centre in Hethel on July 6 before making its way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for its public dynamic debut.

Emira will be built on one of

FUNDING BOOST FOR WASTEWATER RECOVERY

BACK ON TRACK

Jason Ford reports

including wastewater from landfill sites.

In this scenario, the process helps with the odour associated with these sites as well as reducing the need to transport waste off-site for treatment.

The company’s first installation at the Daxin landfill, in Shenyang, China, has been successfully operating for over two years. It was followed by the construction of a showcase facility at a Viridor site in England.

The 21-month pilot project at Viridor’s Broadpath Landfill site in Devon uses low-grade heat from Viridor’s landfill gas engines at ambient pressure to concentrate leachate and extract water.

Backed by a £548,000 government grant, the project aims to achieve environmental benefits in retaining the water resource while reducing CO2 emissions by a potential 80 per cent reduction in tankering requirements.

process separates and recovers clean water from contaminated industrial water using waste heat. The system is claimed to be highly scalable and can be installed for treating flows from one to over 1,000 cubic metres per day of effluent.

The process is capable of treating wastewater for a range of applications,

m Pixabay’ ‘Image by Jemzo fro

LAT Water, a Berkshire-based developer of sustainable wastewater treatment solutions, has raised £4.7m in a funding round led by IW Capital.

Company CEO Mark Hardiman said the funding will push LAT Water forward towards its targets of providing innovative, sustainable, low-cost solutions for wastewater treatment.

The LAT technology

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

8

to be looking at intelligent technology so we want the cars to understand the owners, be it through AI or machine learning.

The opportunities there are great, but we’ll be developing them. With every new model you’ll see new levels of technology in the cars.”

A fleet of trains withdrawn from service due to safety concerns are being brought back into service.

Cracks on the lifting points under the carriage of some Class-800 Hitachi trains led to most of GWR’s fleet and a significant number of LNER and TransPennine Express trains to be withdrawn in May, 2021.

The gradual reinstatement of services follows the establishment of a service recovery plan agreed between Hitachi Rail, regulators and train operators.

“This episode highlights the need for high safety standards across the rail industry and that companies should never be allowed to compromise those standards, or to reduce staff or resources, in the pursuit of cost cutting,” said Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary. JF Read more at www.theengineer.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Semiconductor shortage halts production at JLR plants

of $50bn to fund semiconductor manufacturing and research provisions in the CHIPS for America Act, which aims to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing and investment into

Jason Ford reports global shortage of semiconductors has led

A

chip research.

Commenting on developments at JLR, Dominic Tribe, director

to a temporary halt in production at Jaguar Land

and automotive sector specialist at management consultancy,

Rover’s Castle Bromwich and Halewood.

Vendigital, said: “JLR is no means the only car manufacturer to be

The shortage has been attributed to a significant increase in demand for semiconductors

affected by the global shortage of semiconductors. Most other major car manufacturers have already

during the pandemic which has seen increased sales of consumer

announced production slowdowns.

“For the major car

technology. The production of electric vehicles is also said to have put pressure on demand (News

for three days in April.

“We have adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles

orders wherever possible.”

World Semiconductor Trade Statistics show that the global

manufacturers, the situation is incredibly challenging and competition for supplies is

Analysis, p.10).

JLR produces the XF, XJ, F-TYPE, F-PACE and Jaguar XE at Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands. Halewood in Merseyside produces the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport. A similar situation occurred at BMW’s Mini plant in Cowley, which closed

which means that our Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of non-production from Monday 26th April,” the company said. “We are working closely with affected suppliers to resolve the issues and minimise the impact on customer

semiconductor market was up 6.8 per cent in 2020 and is expected to show double-digit growth of 10.9 per cent in 2021, which represents sales of $488bn.

US reaction to the situation has seen President Joe Biden propose – under the auspices of an Infrastructure Plan - the release

intense. Normally, if a component is at risk of short supply, this is communicated upwards through the supply chain, so the OEM can plan ahead to meet capacity demands. However, in this case, car manufacturers are competing with strong demand from OEMs in other industry sectors.”

BATH EXPLORES VIRTUAL REALITY TO HELP OLDER PEOPLE Melissa Bradshaw reports A research team from Bath University is exploring the use of Virtual Reality (VR) to improve balance and prevent falls in older people.

Mendes Sports Centre, FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence in Portugal.

They reviewed data from 19 studies to investigate

Humans are able to keep balance using vision, feedback from muscles and joints (procioceptive) and from semi-circular canals in the ear (vestibular).

the validity, reliability, safety, feasibility and efficacy of using head-mounted display systems for assessing and training balance in older adults, with results published

Traditionally, physical tests, such as on treadmills, are used to assess balance, but these can be inaccurate

in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.

“Our pipeline included photogrammetry for

and unsafe, researchers said.

The team at Bath’s CAMERA motion capture

realistic avatars, motion capture for driving the avatar and updating the visual scene inside the headset, and

research centre wanted to investigate VR as a solution.

Bath University’s Dr Pooya Soltani worked alongside Renato Andrade, from Clínica do Dragão, Espregueira-

the game engine for adding extra elements to the VR scene,” said Dr Soltani.

Soltani explained that VR can be used to create realistic scenarios such as crossing a street, or like a video game where patients navigate through a maze whilst performing cognitive tasks. The researchers also discovered that the complexity of the system could hinder balance, particularly in vestibular patients.

Whilst the technology has ‘great potential’, he added, further work is required before it can be used widely in rehabilitation.

9

DRILLING FOR GEOTHERMAL HEAT An abandoned coalmine is being repurposed as a source of geothermal energy that will heat council-owned buildings in South Tyneside.

Planning permission has been granted for initial testing to take place on the Hebburn minewater scheme, which will draw geothermal energy from abandoned flooded mines in the former Hebburn Colliery to heat buildings including a residential tower block.

Two wells will be drilled by Dunelm Geotechnical and Environmental Ltd to extract water from the mines, and tests will validate whether the scheme remains fully viable.

Drilling works and construction of the wells are likely to take until the autumn to complete at the mine site, which was abandoned in 1932. JF Read more at www.theengineer.co.uk

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

NOVEMBER News analysis 2019

A

nyone in the market for a new Peugeot 308 will be intrigued to find its

and self-driving vehicles are increasingly important semiconductor customers. In its

dashboard fitted with an analogue speedometer

2019 report titled Semiconductors – the Next Wave, Deloitte

instead of a digital display.

This has nothing to do with adding a little retro chic to

estimated that semiconductor components will cost $600 per car by 2022 and that in the next decade

the 308. Instead, it reflects the decisions car manufacturers are

more semiconductor content will be added to automotive electronics

making in the wake of a global semiconductor shortage that has seen Peugeot prioritise chips for the digital speedometers of models such as the Peugeot 3008 SUV. With the sort of elan you would expect from the automotive industry, a spokesperson for Stellantis – formed after the merger of Peugeot and Fiat

When the chips are down The rebound in automotive manufacturing has been stymied by a global shortage of semiconductors

and subsystems.

Rider believes a longterm solution could be for manufacturers to build in-house technology and capability to produce such critical components.

Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO at Imagination Technologies, a company that develops processor solutions for graphics and vision

Chrysler – told Reuters that the analogue speedo was ‘a nifty and agile way of getting around a real hurdle for car production, until the ‘chips’ crisis ends’.

The shortage of semiconductors has been brought about through a combination of factors, not least the global pandemic which ground production to a halt in 90 per cent of vehicle and component factories in China, North America and Europe.

“In turn, carmakers

facilities in Texas during winter storms in February.

According to Walters, AutoForecast Solutions predicts semiconductor shortages to reduce vehicle production by 202,000 units during 2021, and a quarter of that lost volume will be in Europe. “European industry association ACEA expects supply constraints to remain until the third quarter of 2021, resulting in

are bringing forward the usual summer shut down periods in the hope that suppliers will improve stocks in that period, others are moving to a more limited production basis. Flexing the production schedules in these ways will help mitigate to some extent but it will not stop the interruption. Chip manufacturers claim that automotive customers did not plan for demand enough in

& AI processing, believes governments can promote supply chain diversification by providing incentives for increased local chip production while fully remaining committed to global supply chains.

“In other words, increased manufacturing at home should be seen as a means of supplementing, not displacing, imports from abroad,” he said. “This is already underway in Europe, with the EU setting a target of producing 20 per cent of the world’s semiconductors – as opposed to its current 10

heavily reduced purchasing of

“considerably lower” production

advance and with 3-6 month lead

per cent market share – and

semiconductors, just as demand surged for home computing, gaming and healthcare products,”

volumes and postponed deliveries for the rest of the year,” he added.

Sarah Riding, a partner at

times the supply chain is under significant stress.”

“Chip manufacturers are

is finalising plans to launch a government-industry alliance to achieve this. In the US, the Biden

said Matthew Walters, head of Consultancy Services at car leasing experts LeasePlan UK. “When

law firm Gowling, said covid has heightened attention to supply chain vulnerabilities, noting that

investing $billions to help increase output capacity, but these shortages will not go

administration has ordered a full review of critical supply chains, including semiconductors, and

semiconductor manufacturers restarted at reduced production,

forecasting, the use of technology to improve real time demand, and

away any time soon,” added Ian Nethercot, MCIPS, supply chain

is seeking to boost domestic chip manufacturing.”

the limited volume available had already been prioritised elsewhere,

casting the net across a number of suppliers to maximise supply

director, Probrand, a Birminghambased technology services

He concluded: “The UK should consider doing the same

leading to supply constraints as automotive markets picked up in the third quarter of the year.

options should all be high up the agenda.

“For the immediate situation

provider.

In February 2021 KPMG published its Global

as it sketches out its post-Brexit, post-pandemic future. It possesses many of the ingredients needed to

Demand for semiconductor-reliant technology is increasing, but supply is struggling to keep up.”

there are no quick fixes to the lack of planning,” she said. “Some [automotive manufacturers]

Semiconductor Industry Outlook, stating that car makers – introducing connected, electric,

successfully manufacture chips, from cutting-edge semiconductor companies and a highly-

Walters added that five semiconductor manufacturers supply the automotive industry and two of them – NXP and Infineon Technologies – suspended production at their

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

WRITTEN BY Jason Ford

CHIP MANUFACTURERS ARE INVESTING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO HELP INCREASE OUTPUT CAPACITY, BUT SHORTAGES WILL NOT GO AWAY ANYTIME SOON 10

developed technology industry to well-established strengths in advanced manufacturing.

But an overarching vision from government is needed if the pieces are to fall into place.”

COVER feature Green Energy

HOME IS

WHERE THE

HYDROGEN IS June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

12

Hydrogen, once on the fringes of the UK energy debate, now looks set to play a starring role in our low carbon future, particularly when it comes to warming up our homes.

Jon Excell reports

A

hydrogen and natural gas have a broadly similar Wobbe index. This is a measure of the amount of heat energy within a given volume of gas. Artnzen explained that whilst hydrogen has a lower calorific value than natural gas, its density is much greater, meaning the same volumes of hydrogen and natural gas will

semi-detached showhome on the outskirts

that hydrogen might play in our future energy mix.

give roughly the same heat energy.

This provided early confidence that

of Gateshead may seem an unlikely location for

When the programme began, she said, it was as much about ruling out

not only could a hydrogen boiler be physically the same size (and therefore

a technology revolution.

But when this outwardly unremarkable looking

hydrogen as an option as anything else, but as the project team worked its way through key questions on everything

wouldn’t require future customers to reconfigure their homes) but that it would also be compatible with the

building opens its doors in the coming weeks, it will mark a key moment in the

from the feasibility of hydrogen appliances to public acceptance, the case

existing gas network. “The size of the existing gas network is roughly OK and

UK’s accelerating transition to a zerocarbon economy.

That’s because the development

for putting the gas at the heart of the UK’s energy transition grew stronger.

“As the programme’s progressed we’ve

supplies the same amount of energy whether you supply 100 percent natural gas or 100 per cent hydrogen,” he said.

in question - the latest in a series of pioneering projects being led by the UK gas sector - will be the site of the first UK public demonstration of a home fueled entirely by hydrogen.

With the energy used to heat our homes and workspaces accounting for almost 17 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions, a switch to low carbon heating systems will be critical to delivering on the UK’s net zero ambitions.

And whilst it’s expected that a wide range of technologies - including heat pumps, electrification, and even

discovered everything is feasible and found a way over various hurdles,” she said. “Everyone’s beginning to realise this really could be a very real possibility.”

One of the keys to this has been the input from some of the biggest names in domestic heating, including the UK’s market leading boiler manufacturer Worcester Bosch, which has developed a prototype hydrogen-ready boiler that’s about to be put through its paces in a series of major trials.

Worcester Bosch CEO Carl Arntzen told The Engineer that when the company began seriously looking into

Nevertheless, the properties of hydrogen did present a number of engineering challenges. For instance, it has a much faster flame speed when compared to natural gas which, said Arntzen, created some initial challenges around how to control the combustion process.

The team also encountered some early problems with “flashback”, a result of both the flame speed and shorter flame height of hydrogen. “The ignition was lighting the fuel upstream of the

geothermal energy from abandoned

hydrogen around five years ago, it set

coalmines (The Engineer, September 2020) will play a part, there is a growing sense across both industry and

out to answer two key questions: can it be safely burned in a domestic boiler, and is it possible to make a hydrogen

government that hydrogen will have the starring role.

One of the key efforts driving this

boiler that’s the same size as an existing system?

Artntzen’s team began by looking at

has been the BEIS funded and Arup led Hy4Heat programme which was set up in

what the differences between hydrogen and natural gas might mean in terms of

2017 to explore the feasibility of replacing natural gas with hydrogen for heating

engineering fundamentals.

An early win was the realisation that

Below right: H21’s HyStreet project at Spadeadam, Northumberand.

Below left: leak testing at HSE’s Buxton facility

and cooking. The aforementioned trial in Gateshead (the Northern Gas Networks led Hydrogen House project) is one of

burner so we were getting a backfire,” he explained. “It was perfectly safe but of course your boiler going bang every few

many initiatives funded through the programme.

Hy4Heat manager - Arup civil

minutes is not really desirable!” Both of these findings prompted a redesign of the burner face to more effectively manage

engineer Heidi Genoni - told The Engineer that the initiative, which

the flow of the gas within the appliance.

Another key challenge was around

has brought together a consortium of energy firms, appliance manufacturers,

monitoring and controlling the flame.

Whilst existing domestic boilers sense

and researchers, has helped drive a profound shift in attitudes to the role

the presence of a flame by detecting the electric current generated by carbon

13

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

COVER feature Green Energy

molecules within the gas, the absence

Grid’s Hydrogen national transmission

- will see a mini offline hydrogen

of carbon molecules in hydrogen meant they had to look at different solutions for

system program (HYNTS) there’s now a high degree of confidence that it will be

transmission system built from a range of decomissioned assets at DNV GL’s site

flame detection.

At this point, said Arntzen, it became clear that it wouldn’t be possible to

possible to use the existing gas network for hydrogen. However, there are a number of challenges along the way.

simply convert existing gas boilers to run on hydrogen, and the concept of a hydrogen-ready boiler was born, a system that would initially run on natural gas but which could be switched over to hydrogen with a minimum of fuss. “It goes into your house and burns natural gas, then, four or five years after you have it installed when you get notified that your area is going to be converted to hydrogen we come back in, quickly change a few components, and that boiler’s ready to burn hydrogen.”

Along with an assortment of hydrogen appliances developed by other

For instance, whilst the low pressure (7bar) polyethylene pipes of the distribution network could - she said - be more or less immediately repurposed for hydrogen, there are concerns that hydrogen could lead to embrittlement of the high pressure (94 bar) steel pipes used on the transmission side.

Interestingly, earlier studies carried out by the HSE suggest that doping hydrogen with a tiny amount of oxygen could help prevent this from occurring.

National Grid has now embarked on a series of initiatives aimed at fully understanding the integrity, age and

manufacturers - including the UK’s other

condition of its assets before a transition

will bring hydrogen into people’s homes.

big boiler manufacturer Baxi - Worcester Bosch’s prototype boiler is now being evaluated through two major trials: the

to hydrogen takes place. It is also gearing up for its biggest study yet, FutureGrid, which will see it join forces with gas

Running since 2017 the project has already carried out a number of key trials, including detailed leak testing at

Gateshead Hydrogen House project and H100Fife - a hugely ambitious Scottish Gas Networks (SGN) initiative that will

distribution companies, research groups and others to explore in detail the possibility of converting the national

purpose built HSE facilities in Buxton, Derbyshire. The next phase will see the construction of an offline distribution

see green hydrogen produced by offshore wind powered electrolysers supplied to

transmission system to hydrogen.

The first phase of this project -

around 300 homes in Levenmouth, near Fife, on the east coast of Scotland.

which received £10 million funding from OfFGEM just before Christmas

As well as providing further evidence of the feasibility of hydrogen appliances, these trials will also shed valuable light

The H100Fife project will see green hydrogen supplied to around 300 homes in Levenmouth, Scotland

Worcester Bosch CEO Carl Artnzen with the chancellor Rishi Sunak

in Spadeadam, Northumberland. This network will be tested with a range of different natural gas / hydrogen blends, beginning with two per cent hydrogen and working up to 100 per cent. “The aim is to understand the impact of hydrogen in our assets,” said Stewart.

“What happens when we put a blend of hydrogen in, what happens with 100 per cent hydrogen? Do the assets cope, do we need to replace them, or intervene in a smaller way?”

Whilst National Grid’s key area of concern is the transmission network, FutureGrid will overlap with a further initiative - the OFGEM funded H21 project - that’s exploring some of the challenges around the distribution network that

network, also at Spadeadam, that will be connected to a row of purposebuilt demonstration homes known as HyStreet.

As confidence in the technology grows, so does the conviction that it has a key role to play in the transition of the

on the arguably more complex challenge of getting hydrogen onto the gas networks and into peoples’ homes.

next decade. And there’s now a palpable sense of momentum to a sector that - just a few years ago - was at the fringes of the

One person wrestling with this particular conundrum is Dr Danielle

energy debate. “There is an urgency,” said Stewart. “There’s a lot of network to

Stewart, Long Term Strategy Manager for Gas transmission at National Grid.

transition to hydrogen if that’s the way we go as a country. We’ve got 7.5km of

Stewart told The Engineer that thanks to studies carried out through National

pipelines on the transmission network alone and the distribution network

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

14

significantly increases that. That doesn’t happen over night”.

What this transition might look

solution for new build homes, adding that they should be applied immediately rather than waiting for new government

like is open to debate, but it seems likely that the switch will begin with

regulations to kick in in 2025. “Why not do it now?,” he asked. “Because all of the

an imperceptible blending of the gas into our existing networks. Such an approach, said Stewart, could be key to

houses that you build between now and then you’re going to have to refurbish to hit your targets.”

building up the demand for hydrogen and driving the mass industrialisiation

Nevertheless, hydrogen is expected to play a key role, and its case is

of the technologies that will be required to produce green hydrogen (see box

strengthened by the fact that it’s also being considered by a range of other

out). What’s more, as conveniently demonstrated by the recently concluded HyDeploy project at Keele University, end

sectors. “In the last couple of years it’s really gathered momentum,” said Arntzen, “And I think that’s because

use devices are able to function, without any modifications, on a blend of natural

when you look at the challenge of decarbonising the whole economy

gas with 20 per cent hydrogen.

Blending will only get us so far however. And ultimately some big

there are other sectors such as heavy industry and heavy goods transport where hydrogen is being given serious

decisions will need to be made on what strategy we use to get to 100 per cent.

“There is a question around how you do that,” said Stewart. “Do you start regionalising and breaking the network up and having regions on hydrogen and ultimately joining it all back together?

Or do you just keep increasing the blend until you get to 100 per cent?”

Bosch’s Carl Arntzen believes a phased transition akin to the UK’s conversion from towns gas to natural gas (which took place in the 1960s and 70s) represents the most sensible way forward. “What we’re suggesting to

consideration – if you’ve got a demand in two big sectors of the economy when you add domestic heat to it you can see a

Green Hydrogen Supply Although hydrogen is already produced in large volumes, the bulk of this is so-called “brown hydrogen” derived from fossil fuels using processes that the International Energy Authority (IEA) says is responsible for around 830 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Clearly, if it’s to deliver on its decarbonising potential – and replace a significant chunk of the estimated 78.8 billion tonnes of natural gas used every year by the UK - cleaner methods of production are essential, and the quest to develop this missing part of the jigsaw is now a major driver of innovation.

Initially, this is likely to fuel greater investment in blue hydrogen production, where carbon capture and storage (CCS) is used to capture the CO2 produced by existing processes.

But it’s the developments in green hydrogen production – using giant renewably powered electrolysers to extract hydrogen from water – that are perhaps most exciting of all. Hydrogen produced in this way could – it’s claimed – play a key role in decarbonising industrial processes, domestic heating and transport, whilst offering an elegant method of storing excess renewable energy.

Although there is some debate over how quickly green hydrogen production could be scaled up, a number of large scale projects (Growing a Green Gas Giant The Engineer, July 2020) are making significant progress.

given that it’s been invested in over the last 20 years by replacing the old iron mains with these new plastic pipes which are perfect for the distribution of hydrogen.”

Given the levels of expertise in the UK, Genoni is optimistic that the transition

government is that from a certain date in

to hydrogen could be achieved relatively

the future they mandate that every boiler should be hydrogen ready, then you can repeat the conversion of the gas network

serious future for a hydrogen economy.”

Hy4Heat’s Heidi Genoni agreed that hydrogen’s “all-rounder” credentials add

that took place in the 1970s. The concept is to replace it town by town, city by city.

The gas grid is a grid, so they can isolate

to its attractiveness. “There are several decarbonisarion pathways and success is likely to come from a mixture of all

various parts off and start supplying different types of gas to those houses.”

of them,” she said, “Looking at certain criteria in isolation hydrogen doesn’t

For Worcester Bosch and other appliance manufacturers, such a shift

come first, but it comes second in everything.”

represents a potentially huge market opportunity, however Arntzen was keen to stress that he doesn’t think hydrogen

Genoni added that hydrogen is also particularly well suited to the UK, which has a huge existing gas network as well

will be the only route to decarbonisation.

“Whilst hydrogen will be the appropriate solution for many existing homes,

as a large amount of old housing stock where electrification could be more challenging and costly than using gas.

research, we’re more and more confident that this is completely doable. We now need a decision from government. The

electrifying heating in certain buildings will be the right thing to do,” he said.

“Clearly, it’s less wasteful and better to reuse existing infrastructure where

future gas network, will it be converted to hydrogen? Give us an answer. Mandate

Indeed, he believes that low temperature heating systems like heat

possible,” she said. “The UK has one of the most comprehensive gas networks

when hydrogen boilers come in and then we can all get on with it and invest in the

pumps, along with proper thermal insulation, should be the preferred

in the world. We should aim to reuse that existing gas network particularly

industrialisation of the prototypes that we’ve developed.”

15

The Keele Univeristy led HyDeploy project demonstrated that devices are able to function without moidification on a natural gas blend including 20 per cent hydrogen

quickly. What’s needed now, she said, is a joined-up push from everyone involved.

“In order to move forward we’ve got to get into a delivery mindset. We know what the scale of the decarbonisation challenge is, we’ve done the feasibility studies, we’ve got the technologies, we’ve now got to get on and start implementing the plans...there is no time to waste.”

Echoing Genoni’s rallying cry, Arntzen called on government to make a firm commitment to the UK’s hydrogen future. “We’ve done four or five years of

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

VIEWPOINT

I

f someone told you a material existed that could dramatically improve the range of an electric

$2,000 per unit versus $1,000), they can reduce the size of the battery by such a large amount

vehicle, yet add nothing to the price of its powertrain, you

that the cost saving more than pays for the inverter itself.

might get out of your seat. If they then added that this wonder substance naturally occurred beyond our solar system, you might understandably sit down again.

But bear with me – because this is no flight of fantasy. When used in a new generation of electric vehicles, silicon carbide has the potential to bring a step change, without any cost burden.

In fact, it could even be described as ‘free’.

Highly abundant in space,

That gives a car maker two options: pass on the cost saving to the customer (or spend it on

IAN FOLEY

Add stardust for the next leap in EV performance

another component) and offer a vehicle that has the same or likely better range than before (thanks to the virtuous circle of lighter weight), or keep the battery the same size and offer even more range thanks to increased efficiency.

And the more the vehicle is used, the greater the benefits – as it is with commercial vehicles.

An e-truck or e-bus might easily

silicon carbide is essentially stardust, found on carbon-rich stars. On Earth, naturallyoccurring silicon carbide does exist, but the only way you’ll come across it is in a meteorite – and in miniscule amounts.

Thankfully, global industry has a tried-and-tested route to mass-producing a synthetic version, by mixing silica sand and carbon at enormously high temperatures. Which is just as well because SiC – to give it its chemical name – brings major

efficient the whole vehicle is – which means you get more range from the battery.

Traditional inverters use insulated-gate bipolar transistors

aerodynamic and packaging improvements, reducing the amount of cooling a vehicle might require, too.

Factor in a power-to-weight

cover one million kilometers in its life and over that time a SiC inverter could bring cost savings close to $40,000.

Right now, SiC inverters have not been adopted in the mass market because of their upfront price – but that’s about to change. And do so very quickly indeed. Passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs) equipped with silicon carbide inverters are predicted to overtake those with traditional IGBT units by 2024 and, by 2030, 95 per cent of all

advances in electronic devices,

(IGBTs), which switch current

ratio of 100kW/kg – versus

BEVs will use silicon carbide. So

offering higher power levels, lower power losses and improved overall efficiency.

at up to 20kHz, but the very latest SiC-mosfet (metal-oxidesemiconductor field-effect

40kW/kg for contemporary IGBT technology – and you can start to see how much of a benefit

the market is huge and growing.

At Equipmake, we’ve been developing inverters for nearly

How does that benefit an EV? Well, it all comes down to a component called the inverter.

transistor) versions can do 80kHz. Not only is a much higher switching speed important for

this technology can bring, especially when you consider the enormous effort car makers put

a decade – making our own gate-drivers and writing our own software too – alongside

An essential part of an EV powertrain, inverters are the

driving small high-speed motors used in some EV applications, but

into optimising EVs for increased range.

designing and manufacturing entire e-powertrains. They

crucial interface between battery and electric motor, converting DC

also the power density improves as the switching speed increases.

In a typical high performance EV sports saloon, for example, the

are a crucial part of the entire electric drivetrain system and

charge from the battery to AC to drive the motor. They also time the switching changes to adjust

Which we’ll come to in a moment.

SiC-mosfet inverters also also bring a significant reduction

associated efficiencies brought by a silicon carbide inverter can reduce the size of the battery by

we’ll be launching our own high performance SiC inverter very soon.

the frequency of the AC charge to control the speed of the motor too.

Or, to put it another way, if you

in total inverter loses and are smaller and lighter, allowing engineers to take advantage of

at least 10 per cent – or around 40-50kg. While they can be twice as expensive as IGBT versions (at

There’s no doubt this new technology will overtake demand for our existing IGBT inverters

imagine the battery is like a petrol car’s fuel tank and the electric motor is the engine, the inverter is effectively the fuel injection system. And the faster and more efficient the inverter is, the more

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

New inverter technology can make enormous improvements in EV efficiency and it’s all thanks to one amazing substance, says Ian Foley, managing director, Equipmake

THE EFFICIENCIES BROUGHT BY A SILICON CARBIDE INVERTER CAN REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE BATTERY BY AT LEAST 10 PER CENT - OR AROUND 40 - 50KG 16

very rapidly indeed. After all, how often does an innovation arrive that genuinely gives you something for nothing. And you can even say it comes from outer space too.

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TALKING POINT

IN OUR OPINION

B

oris Johnson’s pledge to accelerate carbon emissions cuts by 15 years will commit the UK

to one of the strongest legally binding emissions targets in the world.

The new commitment will set the UK on course to cut carbon emissions by 78 per cent (compared to 1990 levels) by

Emissions impossible?

The UK’s newly accelerated emissions cuts are amongst the most ambitious on the planet, but are the plans realistic and how might they impact industry? asks Jon Excell

from a number of quarters. Some – including the current shadow business secretary Ed Miliband – have accused the government of failing to match rhetoric with reality, suggesting that it lacks a clear strategy for delivering on the new target. Others have suggested that many areas of the economy will be negatively impacted by a tightening of emissions targets.

In a recent online poll on

2035. It will replace an earlier commitment to reduce emissions by at least 68 per cent.

against its first and second Carbon Budgets and is on track

records in renewable electricity generation, which has more than

the topic we asked readers how they think UK industry will be affected. Will the pressure and

The UK government claims that the ambitious new target will enable the UK to take a position

to outperform the third Carbon Budget which ends in 2022. This, it claims, is due to significant cuts

quadrupled since 2010 while low carbon electricity overall now gives us over 50% of our total

urgency generated by the new target help stimulate and drive the development of the green

of global leadership on climate change and help it seize the new

in greenhouse gases across the economy and industry, with the

technologies that will be vital to achieve this transition? Will

economic opportunities presented by green technologies.

UK bringing emissions down 44% overall between 1990 and 2019, and

generation.

However, whilst many have welcomed the government’s

According to a government statement, the UK over-achieved

two-thirds in the power sector.

The UK continues to break

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

increasingly ambitious stance, the latest announcement has also been met with scepticism

18

existing areas of industry be negatively affected by the move?

Or are the government’s plans simply unachievable?

Read more

comment, news and features www.theengineer.co.uk

IN YOUR OPINION

Poll: How will the UK’s new carbon emissions target impact industry?

Our poll on the topic attracted responses from 303 individuals.

The largest single sample group, 43 per cent, were positive about the tightening of emissions targets, believing that the government’s decision will stimulate the development of low carbon technologies. However, the majority of respondents were unimpressed by the plans, with 37 per cent believing the targets to be unrealistic and unachievable, and 19 per cent claiming that they will negatively impact the existing industrial base.

Interestingly, a number of readers remarked that a combination of all three outcomes was a realistic possibility.

19.47% 43.23% 37.29%

It will supercharge green technology development: 43.23%

It will negatively impact the existing industrial base: 37.29%

Sadly, technical optimism has replaced pragmatic realism where the climate is involved. The UK has many more pressing issues (number of people in poverty, lack of housing to start with) to spend its wealth on than closing down what remains of the heavy industry.

Jack Broughton

The targets set are unrealistic, unachievable and overlook some major issues (future certainty of power generation and not total reliance on renewables (wind at < 5% on the grid for weeks). There seems to be an agenda and naive belief that the new green economy will deliver major economic and work force gains.

Will the announced positions lead to a tiered society with those able to purchase power, heat exchangers, electric cars and the rest lording it over the toiling masses reduced to cold, dark, disease and hunger (and bicycles)? Even if the trumpeted measures are enshrined in law how will they be applied and what sort of transition period positions are contemplated.

Phil Mortimer There is almost a justification for an “all of the above” Whenever there is change then there are winners and losers, the industries that adapt will survive and perhaps thrive. I see that BP and Shell have ambitious plans to transform to a post oil world. I will be watching to see if they follow through If the decarbonisation of the country is applied at all levels of government and their strategies are consistent then companies can invest. It would be nice if we were at

These goals are laudable and possibly achievable. One of the unforseen consequences is that it will continue to grow the gap between the haves and the havenots. The cost of new domestic boilers for example are way beyond what ordinary people can afford.

There is also the question of whether this is truly a green economy or are we moving our emissions abroad by offshoring manufacturing industries in order that we can claim that we have done our bit?

Peter Thomas the front for a change so we can export technologies (similar to Germany or Denmark with wind power or USA with Tesla vehicles) There is a balance though, if policies hit people too hard in the wallet then support will quickly disappear and we can expect climate sceptic politicians to start appearing. richs Clearly with 14 years to go and the required ‘green’ technology either not available, not funded or not affordable for the majority of the population it is unachievable.

It is unrealistic as the UKs infrastructure cannot support the proposed technologies and currently there are no plans in the pipeline to address this.

Is this just PR hype by a government that has form with empty promises ?

Meanwhile, Heathrow expansion is still on the books, HS2 is ploughing ahead and hundreds of millions are still being spent on supporting fossil fuel projects overseas.

I’m all for clean and green technologies but this ain’t it.

Another Steve

The target is unrealistic and unachievable: 19.47%

HAVE YOUR SAY Visit our website to take part

in the continuing debate on this emotive topic

Provided the government invests in innovation and funds inventors and small companies it is achievable, but if they simply give the money to the emitters and oil , gas, coal and nuclear then it will fail.

They will take the money and add it to their bottom line. It is not in their interest to change, and have stranded asserts.

John Patrick Ettridge

19

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

NOVEMBER Aerospace2019

Upwardly A

mobile

s the issue of climate change

an electrically powered piloted vertical take-off and landing

Vertical is well equipped to address,

becomes an increasingly pressing force, the calls for innovative solutions to

aircraft (eVTOL) that could be carrying passengers as soon as 2024.

The company’s mission is “in some respects very simple:

thanks to the expertise of its team and industry partners and, particularly, the management team’s background

decarbonise the transport

to make green zero-carbon Urban Air Mobility (UAM) a reality,

in motorsport. Both Gascoyne and the

sector are growing louder.

And the UK government’s recently updated emissions target (a 78 per cent

and to be the first to do so,”said Mike Gascoyne, CTO at Vertical Aerospace and former Formula 1 engineer for teams including McLaren, Sauber, Jordan, Tyrell and Renault. “It’s kind of the

company’s founder Stephen Fitzpatrick — also founder of clean energy group OVO — came to Vertical from the world

reduction by 2035) has amplified this push.

Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace

holy grail of the aerospace industry at the moment, a lot of people are talking about it — autonomous vehicles, vehicles able to fly in inner cities, carbon-free, low noise… but it comes

of F1.

Prior to the formation of Vertical, Gascoyne had set up his own

is one company that plans to bring these much-demanded solutions to the

with a huge amount of technical challenges given current technology.”

consultancy, MGI Motorsport, after around 30 years with F1, aiming to

forefront, through the development of

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

It’s these very technical challenges that Gascoyne believes

20

bring the same standards of technology

you carry those batteries the whole time so your aircraft doesn’t get any lighter,” Gascoyne said. “The batteries are what they are, the people and the payload is what it is, so you’ve got to take the weight out of smaller parts of the aircraft and I think utilising the F1 skills in lightweight structural design is absolutely key.

“Formula 1 cars are a sort of masterpiece of engineering packaging, and although yes, you have big internal combustion engines, you’ve also got vehicle hybrid power, battery power, energy recovery, very complex electronic management systems for all the systems on the car.

“Those are exactly the problems you’re solving on the aircraft: lightweight structural solutions, packaging and powertrains, cooling of power trains, flight control systems, HV systems, battery integration …

Formula 1 is based on very small gains so every advantage you can get is taken, and that’s what you have to do at the moment to make eVTOLs work, the synergies are very great.”

Vertical’s current eVTOL project, the VA-X4, will be a piloted eight-rotor lifting aircraft including four front tilt rotors. Set to be able to fly at speeds over 150mph with a 100m range initially, it has been designed for near-silent flight in multiple applications and will carry

Zero-carbon aircraft manufacturer Vertical Aerospace is on a mission to revolutionise urban air mobility with its VA-X4 eVTOL. Melissa Bradshaw reports

up to four passengers.

With design stages now moving into early production, the aim is to fly a technology demonstrator prototype in the final quarter of 2021. “This is a novel aircraft, so there’s a huge amount of learning to do as we build and commission it,” Gascoyne said. “It’s a huge challenge, but we’re still on target

and lightweight composite structural

to work together and bought MGI, now Vertical Advanced

engineering to the mainstream.

“F1 has put a huge amount of money into solving technical problems that

Engineering, a deal that Gascoyne described as easy to do. “Working with Stephen was very attractive, he’s a very dynamic guy in what he wanted to do with Vertical and green

are very relevant in every other area,

engineering, and what he’s doing with OVO and carbon-free

be one of the very first commercial zero carbon aircraft to carry passengers, with an aim of becoming fully certified

but they’ve been able to invest far more money than perhaps commercial organisations could do,” Gascoyne

energy is a very relevant thing, very aligned with my own views,” said Gascoyne. “What he wanted to do in engineering terms, to bring to Vertical, was exactly what we wanted to bring

by the CAA and EASA, ready for initial commercial services in 2024. This, Gascoyne believes, is an area where

said. With MGI, the goal was to bring that knowledge to mainstream and aerospace engineering in a more

to companies like Vertical, so it was a very easy fit.”

Commenting on the challenges that can be solved through application of motorsport engineering knowledge, Gascoyne

Vertical can really stand out from the competition.

affordable way, without all of the development costs.

said that one major obstacle in developing a certifiable eVTOL is the limitation around battery weight. “Unlike any

Fitzpatrick approached Gascoyne

conventionally fuelled vehicle you don’t burn off any fuel,

21

to fly it in ’21.”

The team hopes that the VA-X4 will

“There’s a lot of people in the sector talking about designing and making aircraft, but there’s very few who have realistic plans to not just design and

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Aerospace

Lightweight solutions inspired by motorsport are at the heart of th VA-X4 design

make an aircraft and fly it initially, but to turn that into a certifiable aircraft that you can make in large numbers and is commercially viable,” he said. “There’s very few people in the sector that have a credible route to that and we feel that’s a real strength of our company.”

Two of Vertical’s prototypes have already been flown — the VA-X1, a

“If you’re testing and designing an electric car, all the roads exist.

You design this type of vehicle and actually, the airports for it in the right places don’t necessarily exist, the air space control systems don’t necessarily exist, so you’ve got to build up the infrastructure as well and Rolls-Royce’s role will be to develop the electrical power

that’s something we’re looking at with

quad copter which was granted flight permission by the CAA in 2018, and the VA-X2, a multi-rotored aircraft described

system for the certified version of the aircraft, which will be based on the demonstrator planned for flight this year. “The first version will fly with more off-the-shelf type equipment,

partners to be involved in.

“Of course you can fly out of conventional airports but that’s not

as a ‘good step forward in capability’

by Gascoyne. The VA-X4, he added, is a ‘huge step up’ from the previous

but Rolls-Royce will be key in replacing the powertrain with something suitable for a certified aircraft which will need to be much lighter weight and higher performance,” said Gascoyne.

really what it’s here to do, it’s there to transport you from the places you can’t currently fly from and get quickly and

vehicles in terms of its complexity and capabilities.

Other major partners involved in the development of the VA-X4 include aerospace and architectural engineering firm

conveniently into places where it’d be hours by road and even more hours if

Partners with high standards of expertise will be key to upgrading the

Honeywell, which is working on the flight control system, and materials specialists Solvay, who will supply composite

you got a local flight.”

With UK Research and Innovation

VA-X4 and taking it from its prototype stage to a fully certifiable aircraft at a commercially viable position,

materials.

According to Gascoyne, statistics show that the eVTOL will have airliner type levels of reliability, be ‘100 times safer

set to pump £125m into its Future Flight Challenge in support of sustainable air travel, and Urban Air Port’s ‘Air-One’ -

Gascoyne said. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with aerospace and defence giant

than a helicopter’ and ’30 to 50 times’ less loud — allowing the vehicle to safely fly over urban airspace and take off and land in confined spaces in addition to being carbon-free. “Its

planned to be the world’s first airport for eVTOLs - announced as a winner of the funding, it seems that UAM is no longer

Rolls-Royce. The collaboration was announced to be the first commercial

advantages when you can make it safe are huge,” he said.

Whilst Vertical is charging ahead to get the aircraft in

the futuristic, abstract concept it once was. And Vertical Aerospace, Bristol’s

deal in the UAM market for Rolls, which is aiming to develop sustainable tech

service by its target of 2024/25, there are a number of related steps that will need to be taken to support the integration

ambitious new aviation pioneer, is well placed to play a starring role in this

for aviation, marine and industrial applications.

of UAM as a viable sustainable mode of transport, not least building up the infrastrucuture, said Gascoyne.

emerging sector.

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

22

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Copyright © This is Engineering

Research Chairs and Senior Research Fellowships - Now open The Royal Academy of Engineering is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from all under-represented groups across engineering.

Academics are invited to apply to its senior research posts: • Designed for use-inspired research in collaboration with an industrial partner.

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r o b ot i c s

Emerging field

A UK demonstration of AI enabled robots that identify and kill individual weeds with electricity could pave the way for a new approach to sustainable crop farming.

Jon Excell reports

E

arlier this spring, in a chilly corner of a windswept field in Hampshire, the first seeds

first non-chemical robotic weeding system for cereal crops.

Designed to destroy weeds at an

of what could be a new

individual plant level the system is

chemicals to deal with problem plants, Dick simply despatches them with a blast of high voltage electricity.

The robot is actually part of a suite

agricultural revolution were sown, as a UK built precision weeding robot – with more than a

at the vanguard of a new approach to low impact farming, that is tapping into advances in robotics, imaging

of robotic systems, including crop monitoring robot “Tom” and an AI system called Wilma that the company

passing resemblance to a mechanised alien invader - completed its first set of successful field trials.

and artificial intelligence to provide a targeted alternative to the high impact, herbicide-dependent methods

plans to sell as a service to farms across the UK and beyond.

Tom, which was launched

Developed by agritech startup the Small Robot company, Dick -as the robot

that dominate modern farming and which are becoming increasingly

as a commercial product earlier this year and is manufactured by

is named - is claimed to be the world’s

unsustainable. Rather than using

Northumberland firm Tharsus can

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

24

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robotics

be controlled either manually or autonomously and trundles around the field imaging individual plants in high resolution detail.

The system is capable of mapping around 20 Hectares and 6 terabytes which are uploaded to the cloud and analysed by “Wilma”, an AI system that identifies the crops, spots undesirable weeds, and supplies intelligence and data to the farmer. According to the company, future versions of the system will even be able to assess soil health and biodiversity by gathering data on birdsong and pollinators.

This data can then be sent to Dick, which is despatched to destroy the offending weeds using a series of robotically controlled zappers on its underbelly. “Using artificial intelligence, the robots can recognize the weeds in the [camera] shot and target the robotic arm onto those weeds,” explained Andy Hall, head of prototyping at the Small Robot Company.

Developed by another UK agritech startup, RootWave, these zappers deliver 10 - 12,000 volt

t e AI identifies it a weed, and then decides where t zap it,” explained igus engineer ngelos Bitivelias.

The kinematics of the delta makes it well suited to the end effector and the

blasts of electricity to the weed, however Hall told The Engineer that the company

belt drive means the zapper is always parallel to the ground below.”

is also exploring the potential use

Dick’s weedzappers are mounted on delta robot arms supplie by polymer bearings specialist igus UK

technology such as spot spraying, spot fertilizing or slug killing “Our robotic platform incorporating the igus arm could have many different technologies bolted on - and the world’s our oyster on that,” said SRC’s Andy Hall.

If adopted at scale the approach pioneered by SRC could have a major impact. Despite the UK using ever increasing amounts of herbicides and fungicides, yields have remained static

SRC’s Andy Hall said that the igus

for more than a quarter of a century, and

of other technologies such as lasers, and potentially the development of a hybrid system that could use different

delta robot – which was originally developed for pick and place industrial applications - was chosen for its

the huge tractors and harvesters used on farm around the world are compacting soils and forcing farmers to use ever

techniques depending on the conditions.

The zappers are moved into position by three delta robot arms

relatively low cost and durability.

“The affordability, precision, durability and reliability of the igus

more intensive methods. Systems like those developed by SRC could help farmers find a way out of this damaging

(parallel robots consisting of three arms connected to universal joints at

delta robots are perfect for this and new agricultural applications,” said

feedback loop.

“This is a major technological

the base) supplied by polymer bearing specialist igus UK.

igus UK Managing Director, Matthew Aldridge. He added that one of the key

milestone which will enable automated, precision, per-plant weeding both at

Stepper motors linked to controllers help position the delta robot directly over the weeds. The motors have

features of the delta components is they are lubrication-free, and therefore less prone to becoming clogged up with soil

scale and autonomously, for the first time providing a post-chemical future for arable farmers,” Said Ben Scott-

encoders, which help the delta know what position it is in, whilst Dick’s

and water in a muddy field.

Following the successful field trials

Robinson, CEO and Co-founder, Small Robot Company. “We’ve now proved we

master controller and AI “speak” to the igus motor controller to synchronise

this April, Tom and Dick will now enter further trials in which the force

can deliver per plant weeding: a world first. The focus for us now is being

the robot’s position with the delta arm, forming a closed loop monitoring system. “The Dick robot moves to one

required to destroy different types of weeds will be explored in greater detail.

SRC and igus are also looking to

able to move forward to deliver this, repeatedly, and at scale. This will be game-changing.

side, a camera takes a photo of the weed,

work on different applications for the

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

26

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INTERVIEW Dr All an Paterson

LEADING THE CHARGE T wo years ago no-one had heard of

Britishvolt, but today the company - founded in December 2019 by

businessman Orral Nadjari - is at the forefront of an ambitious plan to propel the UK onto the A-list of European

battery manufacturing nations.

Backed by £2.6bn of investment - one of the

largest ever industrial investments in the UK the firm is now poised to begin construction of a giant gigafactory in Blyth, Northumberland

As UK startup Britishvolt prepares to begin building Britain’s first battery gigaplant, Jon Excell spoke to its Chief Technology Officer - world-leading electrochemist Dr Allan Paterson - about the firm’s vision and the challenges of scaling up from scratch

company emerged with the ambition to leverage all of this expertise, Paterson jumped at the chance to be in at the beginning again. “To

try and hit the ground running really hard to deliver a Gigafactory is a big scary opportunity but a really exciting one,” he said.

With many gigaplants already in operation around the world -including a number across

Europe - it’s reasonable to ask whether it might be simpler, and quicker, to replicate an existing manufacturing solution rather than build a

that will ultimately produce around 30GWh of lithium-ion batteries each year (enough to power 300,000 passenger cars) delivering a capability said by many to be critical to the future of UK automotive.

In its bid to pull off what might well turn out to be one of the most ambitious scaleup operations in UK industrial history, the company has set about recruiting some of the brightest minds in battery technology; including world-leading electrochemist Dr Allan Paterson, who joined as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from the Faraday Institution in October 2020.

Paterson is something of a veteran of the UK

at the vanguard whilst remaining close to the science that drove Paterson’s 2018 move to the Faraday Institution, an organisation established to tap into and accelerate the commercial potential of some of the breakthroughs being made by the UK’s battery research base. “The opportunity to be in there at the start of trying to build a capability for the UK that would hopefully get us to that world class stage was a fantastic place to be - it was great to be coming back to the hardcore science but always with an industrial hat on,” he said.

During his two and a half years as Head

new indigenous capability from scratch. But Britishvolt, explained Paterson, is about much more than playing catchup.

The company’s plan is to tap into the UK’s rich pool of scientific expertise and create a flexible manufacturing capability - in lockstep with the ongoing developments in battery technology and chemistry - that will enable it to meet evolving customer requirements, and go beyond the capabilities of many existing capabilities around the world. “Britishvolt is not looking to translate in or copy and paste an existing technology from an existing battery supplier”, he said. “We’re looking to analyse every step of the process and bake in a degree of

battery sector, beginning his involvement with

of Programme Management at the Faraday

capability and flexibility that is slightly above

the technology as an academic at St Andrews where he worked on the development of cathode materials for next generation lithium-

Institution, Paterson observed a marked acceleration of the UK’s battery capabilities, with the research base increasingly energised

and beyond, to try and have a manufacturing technology capability and a pipeline of materials and cell chemistry technologies that

ion cell systems, before being tempted into industry by Scottish battery firm Axeon (later acquired by Johnson Matthey) which was

by the commercial opportunities, and the emergence of facilities like Coventry’s UK Battery Industrialistion Centre (UKBIC)

come together to deliver something that’s great and matched to target applications.”

It’s a plan that Paterson believes will deliver

beginning to look at automotive applications for its technology. “It was a great chance to join

providing a practical route for accelerating the impact of this innovation. And when a

a competitive edge for the UK automotive industry and which could – he said – ultimately

at the beginning of an emerging technology area and be leading some of the science behind

see the construction of Britishvolt plants around the world.

it,” he told The Engineer.

After a spell in industry (at both Johnson Matthey and Cummins) it was this desire to be

But getting to that point won’t be straightforward. Indeed, setting up a largescale automated facility that can reliably

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

28

produce high volumes of high-performance batteries represents a complex and exacting

“premier site” for a gigafactory in the UK, and it’s not difficult to see why the firm ditched

Nevertheless, despite Britain’s belated arrival on the gigafactory scene, Paterson

manufacturing challenge. “What you’re trying

earlier plans to build its first plant in Wales.

believes it’s well-placed to achieve the scale-up

to control is the microstructure in an electrode layer that’s coated on a substrate that’s 10

With main roads, a railhead, and a newly rejuvenated deep-water port on the doorstep, it’s

that’s now required. “The science is there, the understanding of the technology is world class,

microns thick.” explained Paterson. “You’re

well connected to key logistics networks, and

and some of the research groups within the UK

trying to take highly complex materials….and formulate them in a way that you can then

available land directly next to the site provides plenty of scope for co-locating and consolidating

are amazing. The ability to deliver against this and support the wider industry is a fantastic

go and make those electrodes retain their

key elements of the supply chain.

fundamental ability to store charge and deliver power.”

What’s more, the site has great access to renewable energy,

Whilst various Faraday Institution funded

thanks to the proximity of the

projects and UKBIC have made great strides in understanding how to take advanced battery

landing stations for both the Dogger Bank wind farm and

technologies into production, moving up to

the new 1.4GW North Sea

the level of mass manufacturing is a new challenge for the UK. “We’re spending a lot of

Link Interconnector from Norway. “Access to those

effort looking at how we translate up through

green electrons is a fantastic

those scales, how we control the parameters for ensuring the thing we get out at the end is

proposition for us,” said Paterson.

exactly as we expected and that it delivers when we put it in a cell, stack all the electrodes up

Flat, clean and with an existing grid connection, it’s

and make a real device…that’s not an area of

also a relatively straightforward

manufacturing tech that the UK has had in the battery space.”

One of the key challenges here, he said, is ensuring that the UK has the skills base

site to develop, he added, with few obvious impediments to the construction of a building which, when complete, will become one of

required to deliver all of this. “The labour force required to directly support the gigafactory is a few thousand people. Some of those skills do

the UK’s largest industrial facilities.

There have been growing concerns in recent years about the UK’s

exist in the UK, in the North East we’re blessed by being close to Nissan who do a chunk of the processing and manufacturing technology, but it’s one of those things that we have to be looking at, and are looking at now.”

In an effort to help build this pipeline of talent BritishVolt is now working closely with a number of organisations, including UKBIC, the Faraday Institution, WMG and SMMT to explore how the education system can support the requirements of the sector.

“There’s a curriculum being built that mirrors the equivalent in the automotive industry but is very much battery driven,” he said.

Meanwhile, up in Blyth, the Britishvolt team has already started digging holes and carrying out surveys and hopes to begin “breaking ground in anger” towards the back end of the summer.

Paterson describes the location as the

failure to scale up battery manufacture, not to mention a sense of exasperation that it was failing to capitalise on its historic expertise in the field (the lithium battery was invented in Oxford and the battery plant alongside Nissan’s Sunderland car factory was once the first of its kind in the Europe).

29

thing to be involved in. Lithiumion cells were invented in the UK and effectively given away to Asia to mass produce.

Now we’re trying to bring them home.”

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

energy NOVEMBER & environment 2019

POWER MOVES Synchronous condensers are an old technology enjoying a new lease of life, enabling more renewables to connect to the grid.

Andrew Wade reports

I

n terms of the disparity between a thing’s importance, and

The ability to respond to fluctuations in electricity demand

the average person’s knowledge of how that thing works, electricity grids must be right up there. Most people have some grasp on how electricity is generated via various

quickly is known as grid inertia, a vital component of any healthy power network. For decades, grid inertia has been inherent in thermal generation, supplied by the rotating mass

sources, and many of us can make a decent effort to wire

found in the turbines and generators driven by the combustion

a plug at the other end, but the bit in between can be somewhat complex and a bit of a mystery, for non-engineers at least.

of fossil fuels. But as fossil generation is gradually replaced with wind and solar energy, more and more of this grid inertia is being lost, threatening the stability of the electricity system.

In the UK, thankfully, it’s not something that troubles us day to day, as invariably when we switch something on, it works. However, this uninterrupted supply of electricity at

“The reason this discussion is coming up now in recent years is based on the fact that our generation mix in our countries is changing,” Christian Payerl, an engineer and sales

our fingertips requires a careful balancing act, maintaining a frequency of 50Hz across the UK grid as well as stable voltage at

executive at industrial giant ABB, explained to The Engineer.

“The tricky thing is that when you have this solar and wind,

the various different stages of transmission, from plant to plug.

there is no big rotating unit…and this rotational mass that

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

30

was always existing – which is called inertia – is decreasing a lot. And with that, power system operators like National Grid have to think about how we can secure our stability and the

low energy prices on the stock market or because they will be decommissioned and closed for good.”

ABB has deployed SCs in Australia, Canada and Scotland

operation of our grid.”

The inertia from rotating generators in power stations acts

to reinforce power networks in recent years, but according to the company, the Lister Drive project is the first in the world to

as a buffer for frequency response, providing crucial seconds for thermal generation to flex up and down and closely match grid demand at any given time. Another way rotating mass

include the high-inertia flywheel pairings.

“You just add on additional rotating mass,” said Payerl. “You link, purely mechanically, some more mass to the axles of the

provides flexibility is by delivering and absorbing reactive power. Reactive power, sometimes referred to as phantom

machines. And with that you provide more inertia to the grid.”

Another way in which the technology has evolved in the

power, doesn’t run or charge appliances, but it helps maintain the right voltage across the grid, allowing active power to do

decades since SCs were more prevalent, is in the size and efficiency of the units themselves. The SCs of yesteryear were

the actual work we associate with electricity. Deviations in voltage as small as five per cent can damage the grid and even lead to blackouts, so maintaining the right level of reactive

proper monster machines, comparable in size to double decker buses. The units ABB delivers today are more like mid-sized vans – even with flywheels attached - but can still deliver

power in the system is absolutely vital, akin to having the right level of pressure in a fire hose.

enormous punch.

“To deliver big inertia in the past you had even bigger

Integrating more solar and wind on to the grid means novel solutions for reactive power need to be found, or in the case of ABB’s new project, the reintroduction of an old solution. First

machines to be able to deliver this inertia,” said Payerl. “Now you can deliver this with a relatively small machine, and a small machine normally means lower losses…optimised for

used on grids as far back as the 1950s, synchronous condensers (SCs) are large rotating motors that aren’t connected to any driven loads. Instead, they spin freely, acting somewhat like shock absorbers for the grid, helping to maintain both grid frequency and voltage. Their use was largely phased out due to the evolution of power electronics, but the demands of the 21st century grid mean the old dog is being called on to perform some new tricks.

“Synchronous condensers became a little bit out of favour when there was more and more power electronics engaged in the controlling of the power system,” said Payerl. “But power electronics have problems with all the new renewables coming in, because they cannot provide the short circuit support (voltage) and inertia support (frequency) in the same way.”

As part of a pathfinder project with National Grid and

this inertia support which National Grid is requiring.

“In our case, we say that our small machine of 70 MVA can provide as much inertia as a 300 MVA turbo-generator. And you can imagine the difference in losses.”

The Lister Drive project includes a 10-year service contract between ABB and Statkraft. Given how important SCs are likely to become for the grid in the years ahead, it’s no surprise that this contract will see ABB provide digital condition monitoring solutions and predictive maintenance with a view to avoiding any unplanned downtime. A more decentralised grid with distributed renewable generation will mean more SCs will need to be integrated at the local level, but ultimately, if done correctly, we’ll be left with a much more resilient system that can better cope with the ebb and flow of wind and solar energy.

Norwegian renewable energy provider Statkraft, ABB is installing a pair of synchronous condensers at Lister Drive in Liverpool. The site will couple two 67 megavolt amps reactive (MVAr) synchronous condensers with 40 tonne flywheels that boost the available inertia by a factor of 3.5.

“When it comes to the two SCs at Lister Drive in Liverpool, they will provide together more than 900 MWs (megawatt-

ABB is working with National Grid to install two synchronous condensers at a site in Liverpool

“I think we will see maybe a number of 30-40 units in the UK for synchronous condensers,” said Payerl. “In removed areas, you have to have this fault current, otherwise you cannot transfer power.”

seconds) inertia,” Payerl explained. “The total maximum system inertia today in UK is about 220GWs. So our installation will provide about 0.5 per cent of the total UK inertia.

“This sounds little, but be aware that this 220GWs will reduce drastically during the coming years and during some periods, when there is more wind blowing, already today the total inertia is dropping down from 220GWs to maybe 30-40 per cent less.

And our synchronous condensers are running even when other power plants switch off, because of

31

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

INTERVIEW EVENTS PL Paul ANNER Stein

ENGINEERING EVENTS/EXHIBTIONS

2021 JULY

Space-Comm Expo 7 - 8 July 2021 Farborough Int. Conference & Exhibition Centre

IET Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the Year Awards 2021 Deadline for applications: 5 July 2021 Online https://youngwomenengineer.theiet.org

Space-Comm Expo is a new trade exhibition showcasing the commercial future of space for business, defence, and aerospaceItwill showcase the manufacturing supply chain for products, services and solutions supplying commercial enterprises and developments in space.

A strategically important two-day event featuring exhibition and conference sessions Leading industry and government speakers Meet the Buyer matchmaking, bringing together suppliers and key decision makers Meet the next generation of innovators and disruptors in our Start Up Zone Face-to-face roundtables, 1-2-1 meetings, specialist educational content Meet with a phenomenal exhibitor line-up

Ella Podmore, our 2020 YWE winner, is a woman smashing stereotypes, smashing barriers and smashing the world of STEM. Our awards celebrate the thousands of women engineers doing ground-breaking work and paving the way for the STEM superstars of the future.

If you’re a woman who is working in a STEM role and smashing it, apply for the 2021 YWE Awards before 5 July 2021.

We also have the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award - who do you know that’s spent a large proportion of their career committed to addressing the gender imbalance? Visit the website and let us know!

Net Zero Week July 17 - 23 2021 Venue: online https://netzeroweek.com

SEPTEMBER Railtex/Infrarail 2021 7 - 9 Sept 2021 NEC Birmingham https://www.uk-railhub.com/2021 Engineering Solutions Live 9 September 2021 British Motor Museum www.engineeringsolutionslive.co.uk

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

32

OCTOBER

The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate Awards Entry deadline Sept 2021 https://awards.theengineer.co.uk/

The new size of power from HAWE Hydraulik 14 October 2021 https://www.hawe.com/:

The Engineer magazine’s annual search for the UK’s most innovative, collaborative engineering projects is now open for entries. Now in its sixth year, C2I was launched to uncover and celebrate great examples of engineering collaboration – a dynamic critical to addressing many of the challenges and problems faced by society.

The closing date for entries is midnight on 3rd September and the winners will be revealed in Feb 2022

The Engineering Design Show 19 – 20 October, 2021 The Ricoh Arena, Coventry https://www.engineeringdesignshows.co.uk/ The UK’s only event entirely dedicated to engineering, electronics and embedded design, is back in person this October! Design engineers can benefit from direct access to the latest products, services and innovations available to the sector.

Hear straight from the industry experts and technology specialists, exploring best practice, new design techniques and industry issues in two days of conference sessions..

The Engineer Expo 14 – 16 September, 2021 The NEC, Birmingham https://www.theengineer-expo.co.uk The Engineer Expo provides UK engineering professionals with the latest in-house manufacturing and design solutions, alongside cutting-edge developments in advanced engineering technologies.

IEC 61850 Week 2021 18-22 October 2021 Hybrid Event – Sweden & CrowdCast Platform Event Page: https://www.smartgrid-forums.com/iec-61850-week-2021

Subcon 14 – 16 September, 2021 The NEC, Birmingham https://www.subconshow.co.uk/

The Engineer Talks… every Friday 9am www.theengineer.co.uk

Subcon is the UK’s premier subcontract manufacturing supply chain show. For over 40 years, the show has continued to deliver high quality content and a variety of UK and international exhibitors.

The Engineer Talks… are a series of bitesized video interviews brought to you by the team at The Engineer. Stream the first series at www.theengineer.co.uk

Manufacturing Management Show 14 – 16 September, 2021 The NEC, Birmingham https://www.manufacturingmanagementshow.co.uk

NOVEMBER Advanced Engineering 2021 3 & 4 November 2021 NEC, Birmingham www.advancedengineeringuk.com

Join the manufacturing community as we reunite in person for the first time in two years!

The show will bring together a detailed conference agenda delivering sessions led by leading, big-name companies. The conference will allow attendees to gain expert insight and content from their manufacturing peers.

The UK’s leading annual gathering of engineering professionals, covering the entire supply chain.. Advanced Engineering is the UK’s leading showcase on the latest advances in engineering, converging innovations, and vital solutions and information driving efficiency. Visitors can see and source innovative new technologies, network with peers and hear from key industry leaders in the freeto-attend open forums. Consisting of 5 show zones (as well as the new Space & Satellite Engineering zone) and co-located with Lab Innovations, Advanced Engineering is the meeting place for the entire engineering industry.

PPMA Show 2021 28 – 30 Sept 2021 Hall 5, NEC, Birmingham www.ppmashow.co.uk PPMA Show back for 2021 The UK’s largest processing equipment and packaging machinery exhibition, PPMA Show, returns to the NEC on 28-30 September for what is sure to be another showcase event.

Renowned for its innovation and networking opportunities, visitors to PPMA Show 2021 will have the chance to source new ideas and solutions from over 350 exhibitors. It’s the single largest industry event to meet with potential new suppliers, influencers and technical experts all under one roof. Every aspect of the production line will be represented: from labelling, filling, and packaging machinery, to processing equipment, robotics and industrial vision systems.

For more information, go to www.ppmashow.co.uk

MARCH 2022 British Engineering Excellence Awards 18 March 2022 Landmark Hotel, London www.beeas.co.uk

33

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Manufacturing NOVEMBERtechnology 2019

AMRC keeps watchmaker’s machine tool ticking over W atchmaker Loomes & Co has a three-axis CNC machine that had been gathering dust in a corner of its Stamford workshop, partly due to a lack of machining knowledge in the workforce. It was put on pause after a previous operator left the company, leaving

only one person capable of running the machine - owner

Robert Loomes.

With little spare time to commit to operating the machine, Robert turned to the University of Sheffield AMRC for help

A once dormant milling machine is back in action producing parts for luxury Britishmade timepieces after a University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) engineer re-commissioned the machine tool and trained staff how to use it.

bringing the equipment back into service and upskilling a new member of staff with the basics in computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to allow

“This machine had been out of commission for nearly two years due to lack of machine knowledge within the workforce.

We were asked to re-commission the machine, service it and

in-house production of prototypes and parts for the company’s entirely British-made watches.

train the new staff with the basics of how to use the machine tool so they could produce further watch components.”

Emma Parkin, a project engineer at the AMRC Machining Group, stepped in to help. She made several visits to Loomes

Emma’s work has led to an improved machining process; knowledge of basic machining practices; skills development

& Co, undertaking a number of problem-solving exercises to address issues with existing equipment such as on-machine microscopes, CAD/CAM software and machine set up. She

including design software; redesigned fixtures; and sample part production. Loomes said that what was delivered in a few days by Emma and the AMRC would have taken his company

also carried out programming and discussed best practices regarding fixturing, tool selection, cutting strategies and general machine health.

‘years of practice and experimentation’ to achieve, and has helped boost productivity and spur innovation.

“This level of improved precision and

Emma said: “Loomes & Co is a British watchmaker that produces an entirely

cleanliness means we can work faster and crisper,” he said. “It means we can get from an idea to a finished product much quicker than we

‘made in the UK’ range of watches - every component in the watch is British-made - and the

ever could before, and that we can afford to take

majority of the watch movement is made in-house at Loomes & Co on a three-axis machine tool.

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

more risks and have the freedom to be more agile and develop more quickly.

34

Every component of the Loomes watch (pictured below) is designed and produced at the company’s workshop in Lincolnshire (left)

The company is based in a former gaol house th dates back to 1588 and is spread over four floors. It workshops are a showcase of horological expertis and its watchmaking ancestry can be traced back Thomas Loomes who, in the 1650s, ran London’s la g firm of clock and watchmakers. The firm only bega making watches in 2008 but has enjoyed global acc in that time, gracing the pages of publications like GQ magazine and the New York Times.

“It is a fascinating place to visit,” said Emma, “it stepping into another world. The Loomes Original watch is an entirely in-house made movement, every component has been designed and made by them. As an engineer I specialise in micro-machining so it was amazing to be able to go to the workshop and see for myself a watch movement that has been entirely developed, manufactured and built in Britain.”

Robert said Emma’s enthusiasm, expertise and knowledge in commercial machining delivered fast results - upskilling the workforce and halving machining time for some operations.

“She very quickly helped a new member of staff to get used to the software and machinery that we are using and delivered an awful lot of information in a very short space of time to that new member of staff.

“She also helped us to understand how we could make things better; to do things as well as we could and as quickly as we could. She cut down some of our machining times massively - there were some components that were taking us about three hours to make and Emma helped us to work out how to use the optimum speeds and feeds for the materials we were working with to get sharp, crisp results much quicker.

For some of the operations we have almost halved the time it takes to do them.

The project was paid for using funds from the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult as part of its commitment to supporting the UK’s smaller and medium-sized enterprises.

35

Watchmaker clocks opportunity to innovate and grow Growing up in a family business steeped in horology, Robert Loomes was surrounded by clocks and watches and by tales of namesake Thomas Loomes, the eminent 17th century horologist who ran London’s largest firm of clock and watchmakers.

With a background predominantly in repair and restoration, Robert, who served a traditional apprenticeship under his father Brian Loomes before taking up the reins to follow in his father’s footsteps, was convinced it was possible to design, sketch and manufacture every component required to create an English watch.

Despite being told it was an impossible task, Robert set about creating a workshop and a team of watchmakers who could produce a watch from s der one roof. Each component is carefully sketched by hand, f rting the meticulous process of turning a sketch into machined ts. a firm of repairs and restorers. I grew up in the family business clockmaking and about 15 years ago I made a couple of es myself, partly to tease a customer who had brought in a watch which he had paid £15,000 for. I gently pulled his leg I could make something like that for a fraction of the price t what he had bought was an awful lot of marketing and a little f watch. He said ‘don’t be ridiculous you can’t do that’ and I did it ove a point really. ade a pair of watches, one for me and one for him. When he s them he said we shouldn’t be repairing watches, but that h ld be making them. So we started, very tentatively, making h we imported bits and pieces - cases, dials, hands - built them er and we had made a watch. It wasn’t overly difficult.” h any sold a lot of watches in a short space of time and the b got noticeably bigger. It moved premises, brought in new staff d b t’s partner Robina Hill took over as managing director, leaving h f pursue research and development. kly after taking over, Robina said that it’s not enough to make watches, as other people make watches, and what we needed to do was to make British watches. She was told it was impossible to build an entirely British-made watch but we knew we had the machinery, and we knew we had the skills.

“We produced the first ones really quickly in about two years; that was from the original germ of an idea to very old fashioned drawings on graph paper and making a prototype, to producing the final watch.”

But Robert had a problem: “All of the machinery we had was manual and we needed a decent CNC milling machine to make smaller components ourselves rather than permanently farming out to other workshops around us. It becomes expensive having to outsource almost every component to someone else.”

So the company built its own bespoke kit using a cheap milling machine, stripping it down and rebuilding it to meet their own specifications. It’s by no means of a commercial machine standard that can be run six days a week, 15 hours a day but Robert says for them, the speed of producing components is not as important as accuracy - so running a little slower isn’t an issue.

At less than £90,000 to build and set up, the bespoke machine cost a fraction of the price compared with buying a high-end, commercial machine which would have been in the region of £600,000.

After being used to make prototype parts, the CNC machine was put on pause for a few years but Robert was keen to bring it back into use and approached the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) for help re-commissioning the machine and giving staff the skills needed to operate it.

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

NOVEMBER Panel Session 2019 report

THE DIGITAL TWIN – WHAT, WHY AND HOW? During a recent online panel discussion, experts from Babcock International, RollsRoyce, Cranfield University, Strathclyde University and the Digital Catapult shared their thoughts on the challenges and benefits of deploying digital twin technology

F

rom smart buildings and jet engines, to warships and even entire factories the ability to create a real-time digital representation of an asset – a so called digital twin – is already revolutionising many areas of technology.

Earlier this year, in partnership with the engineering giant Babcock International Group, The Engineer

can be used to transform the way in which big complex assets are built and supported.”

Hall added that whilst the deployment of digital processes is increasingly baked in at the start of new projects, digital twinning is also key to extracting improved performance from existing assets.

“There’s so much more we can do to exploit existing capability, he said, “it’s

brought together a panel of experts

not just about applying these tools and

to explore this concept in more detail, consider examples of the digital twin in action and discuss

techniques to shiny new assets but also legacy assets.”

For Hall, the key benefit of the

some of the challenges and benefits of implementing and maintaining a digital twin

approach is “clarity”; the way in which it enables all stakeholders – from members of the supply chain through

The following report examines some of the key topics explored during this

to end customers - to access a shared view and make informed,

discussion

dynamic decisions. “There’s a huge opportunity that comes

level that gives us connectivity to the assets, interoperability to the

Setting the scene technology chief Dr Jon Hall explained

from clarity,” he said. “Whether it’s a service delivery model (for example, looking after aircraft

customers and the supply chain,” he said. “This is absolutely key to bringing a digital twin to life”

that digital twins are of growing importance to Babcock, and key to optimising the performance and

carriers or a fleet of jet aircraft) or in a build program, pulling a shared view of the state an asset and

availability of the range of complex, expensive assets it manages. “Digital twins and digital technologies have

the enterprise that surround it is so powerful”.

Opening the session, Babcock

implications across all the areas Babcock works in,” he said. “It affects how we collaborate with customers and

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Turning to the some of the key challenges of introducing and deploying digital twins, Hall said that it’s really about balancing an appetite for new

36

Dr Jon Hall, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Babcock International Group

technology, with an appreciation that if you’re going to truly tap into its benefits you need to work hard to ensure that stakeholders share a common platform and approach. Babcock supports such a broad range of range of assets that ensuring a common approach and implementing digital twins at scale and pace is a major challenge, he said.

Applying the digital twin Following Hall’s scene-setting, Babcock’s Head of Data & Analytics, Steve Penver drilled down into more detail on exactly how the organisation goes about applying digital twins.

“The starting position is to create a digital back-bone and create that common technology enablement

The next step, he explained, is to establish a clear understanding of the performance questions that need to be

Steve Penver, Head of Data & Analytics, Babcock International Group

answered. “That drives us to what is the data that informs those decisions, and how can we digitise the asset to ensure that we’re collecting the right data.”

Developing a digital twin of an asset like a warship is clearly a complex

Sponsored by

process, and to address this challenge Babcock takes a systems to system approach.

“We model the individual systems, which breaks down the complexity of

Donaldson, began by stressing that digital twinning has become an absolute imperative for many major projects and that expertise in the area is vital if organisations are to “get a seat at the

trying to do it all in one go,” he said. “By

table and contract for these pieces of

integrating those different system level twins we can get an aggregated model of the platform itself. This is how we can

work.”

Turning to the core technology,

build up complexity and understand the interaction of the systems and how they affect performance of the overall platform” Turning to the benefits of digital twinning, Penver referenced Babcock’s work on the Type 23 frigate. “We’ve seen a massive reduction in inventory spares on board and in holding as well as implementing design changes to some of the individual systems. This is really getting us towards insight of how the asset is performing in real life and how we can model expected performance.”

The Future is now Echoing Penver’s remarks on the here and now benefits of digital twinning,

Alistair Donaldson, Transformation Executive – Head of Innovation and new Product Design, Rolls-Royce Plc.

Donaldson said that it’s important to recognise that, rather than an individual thing, the digital twin is a collection of technologies “born out of the maturing of our digital enterprise.”

In recent years, advances in design, test, simulation and production technologies and the emergence of industry 4.0 have, he said, “created the data supply chain enabling the creation of digital twins.”

Donaldson then outlined a model

Meet the panel Dr Jon Hall – Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Babcock International Group Steve Penver – Head of Data & Analytics, Babcock International Group Prof John Erkoyuncu – School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University Dr Nick Wright – Head of Manufacturing Industries, Digital Catapult

for a Digital twin hierarchy designed to be applied across all sectors. This model outlines different types of twin, from component level twins through to program level twins and shows how the value lies in bringing all of these twins together.

What’s needed now, he said, is a national digital twin program, that will help establish a common framework to

Dr Chris Wallace – Knowledge Exchange Fellow, University of Strathclyde

enable organisations across industry to exploit the benefits of the technology.

“There will become an important need

Alistair Donaldson – Transformation Executive – Head of Innovation and new Product Design, Rolls-Royce Plc.

for standards, the ability to plug this whole opportunity together and really

Rolls-Royce’s head of innovation Alistair

drive that prosperity agenda.”

37

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Panel NOVEMBER Session 2019 report

The practicalities of digital twinning

This initiative is exploring the

relationships between the data source

Our next panelist, Dr Nick Wright, head of manufacturing industries at Digital Catapult got back to basics,

development of a number of digital twin demonstrators including a real time monitoring and adaptive closed loop

and turned to a topic which he said is often forgotten about in the digital twin debate: the infrastructure used to create the coupling between an asset and the digital world. “As part of making these things real that acquisition of high quality secure data between your physical asset and your virtual representation is absolutely key,” he said.

The process of introducing this coupling is, said Wright, becoming more straightforward thanks to the emergence of improved wireless connectivity technologies, in particular

control system that’s being used to take data from manufacturing processes, compare this data to simulation models and then adapt the machining process in real time in order to improve performance.

Wright said that the team is also looking at things like simple supervisory models for factory ecosystem monitoring (which could for instance be used to optimise energy usage in HVAC systems) and at how digital twins can be used to optimise the supply chain. “We’re looking at how goods get

5G. “Until recently wireless technologies

moved between different tiers within

have not had the maturity around security, performance, flexibility and price that makes them accessible….. but

supply chains,” he said. “How do we measure that, understand it, model and optimise it and improve it for future

some of the technologies now coming along are much more affordable, much more flexible and much more secure

resilience of those supply chains.

Integrating data and building resilience

learning tools to detect these anomalies and get the twin running as effectively as possible as quickly as possible. “We

than they ever have been and that is the key to us scaling some of these solutions

After Wright’s exploration of how digital twins can be applied in the short term

wanted to develop a machine learning based approach where we can learn

and making the most impact,” he said.

He explained that Digital Catapult

Cranfield’s Prof John Erkoyuncu turned to some of the fundamental

is now involved in a number of projects aimed at exploring the manufacturing potential of next-generation wireless

research that will shape the technology in the years ahead.

He began by talking about

technologies, including a project led by AMRC and involving BAE systems that is building an industrial grade 5G network

some of the work that his team has been doing on data integration, explaining that the research has

across three sites in NW England.

centred on efforts to build dynamic

Prof John Erkoyuncu, School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield University

and the software. To achieve this, the team has developed an ontology based process aimed at understanding the asset, characterizing the changes in the asset and then feed that information into the database.

Erkoyuncu gave a couple of compelling experimental examples of this process in practice that demonstrated how it’s possible to automate the flow of data based on changes to an asset and then reflect those change in the digital twin Another key area for Erkoyuncu’s team is digital twin resilience, i.e. ensuring that the digital twin remains accurate over time.

Various different scenarios could, he said, cause digital twins to become less accurate over time, so his team has been exploring the use of machine

from these disruptions and reduce the time it takes to detect these anomalies and recover to an appropriate level of accuracy,” he explained.

I BELIEVE IN PUTTING THE DIGITAL TWIN AT THE HEART OF ANY DIGITAL SOLUTION DR JON HALL, BABCOCK June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

Dr Nick Wright, Head of Manufacturing Industries, Digital Catapult

38

Digital twins in civil nuclear Our final panelist, Strathclyde’s Dr

Dr Chris Wallace, Knowledge Exchange Fellow, University of Strathclyde

Chris Wallace focused on a specific application area for digital twins: the civil nuclear sector, and explored some of the advantages and challenges of retrofitting digital twins to legacy equipment.

Sponsored by

Q&A The session concluded with a Q&A from the viewers, here are some of the key questions When building a digital twin of an asset how do you decide which dynamic to mimic and which to leave out?

JH: “The art is in leaving all the stuff out that you can get away with leaving out. Don’t try and gather data on everything unless you think you really need it. What outcomes do you want? Do you want to save fuel in the engine, do you want greater availability of some mission systems, or power output from the reactor? That’s got to guide you towards the places where you think you need the data to be captured and the modeling to take place.

If you were to start from scratch what would be the key aspects needed to provide a robust foundation for setting up a digital twin?

Wallace explained that the focus of his group’s digital twin activity has been around some of the monitoring, prognostics and inspection processes that are at the heart of the nuclear sector’s asset management strategy.

“Using digital twin models to simulate future asset operation, and understand the potential impact of scheduled outages and maintenance procedures has huge potential in terms of asset management,” he said. A key attraction, he added, is that digital twins can be used to provide insight into the operation of a physical of a physical asset that’s not otherwise possible.

“Nobody want to build a duplicate nuclear power station to monitor their existing nuclear power stations,” he said, “digital twins fit the bill for that.”

Wallace explained that lots of the work his team does is focused on the component level rather than the entire asset level. “A nuclear power station is a complicated asset,” he said, “with complex operation modes, and degradation mechanisms that vary from component to component, and lifecycles that may be 10, 20 or even 30 years. This seems to be the logical integration point for what people are calling digital twins.

Echoing a point made by other panelists Wallace added that one of the key challenges the group has started to come up against is the sheer volume of data that it is now possible to collect.

“Given the cheap nature of computing power, and the availability of cheap sensors you can collect lots of data, build useful models and do analysis but

NW: There’s not easy place to start. It’s not about the technology at all, it’s about focusing on the outcomes you’re looking to achieve by going for a digital twin. It’s really easy to get swallowed up in wanting to go and buy bits of tech, but for me it’s about establishing the outcomes you want to achieve and then the business case will come from those outcomes.

What is the main benefit of a digital twin?

SP: For us it’s very much around availability, maintaining availability, getting the best performance out of the assets, getting toward things like condition-based monitoring, and being able to predict potential failure.

NW: Often the thing that most people want to focus on is the financial reward, but there are other things as well. Companies investing in these technologies will naturally get transferrable digital skills through working with the technologies, and the sustainability agenda is absolute crucial as part of the business case for most of the industries we work in.

JE: Digital twins have a really important role to play in improving efficiency and effectiveness and this clearly has implications in terms of growing sustainability, minimising waste and reducing the costs that you experience across the supply chain.

Are digital twins applicable to smaller organisations and SMEs? AD: This data needs to start within the supply to be able to be consumed and aggregated up into these products. There are lots of ways that can happen and lots of the things we’ve been talking about are transferrable to smaller organisations, This doesn’t need to be incredibly expensive blue chip enterprise level investment.

NW: The university of Cambridge Institute for manufacturing are running a program called digital manufacturing on a shoestring. That’s a really good program to get engaged with in terms of building up knowledge and capability. In terms of support there is MadeSmarter, the UK’s program and initiative around industry 4.0, there are opportunities for funding and support around and a library of technology solutions that have been developed for the SME community in this space.

What role can organisations like Babcock play to encourage the supply chain to embrace digital twinning?

JH: “There are two routes – a direct route which a number of companies do which is the supply chain excellence route of helping. What seems even more powerful is collaborative efforts. For example there’s an SME working group which helps the interface between defence primes and SMEs, and there are multiple organisations like TEAM Defence information.

Those are opportunities for companies of all scales and sizes to get insight on digital technologies and digital twins. It’s a very democratic environment to come and participate and fin things out.

What are the skills implications around digital twinning?

JE: We recently ran a workshop looking at what are the skills needed around digital What was interesting was that we started off by the ability to justify the need for the technology. The other thing that came out is we need people that can cut across different kinds of skills and have awareness of things like programming and the importance of data. We also looked at how models and different types of modelling processes can contribute to decision making. The future digital person will cut across these different disciplines – we’re moving much more towards a person that has a system view and an awareness of all of these different challenges rather than just being an engineer in a particular application area.

at a certain point you start to experience challenges around scale.”

39

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

NOVEMBER Sci-fi e ye 2019

E

arlier this spring, with the maiden flight of NASA’s

mining installations with meteoric bombardment from on high…

Ingenuity, we celebrated one of the most significant

Air travel shrank the Earth.

Instead of spending months sailing

engineering milestones of recent times. Despite having to contend with lower gravity and a thinner atmosphere, an aircraft flew on Mars for the first time. It was the first powered, controlled flight of a human-built vehicle on another planet—a significance celebrated by the onboard inclusion of a tiny scrap of material from the Wright brothers’ first flyer.

The Ingenuity flights were relatively modest in duration, but they were a proof of concept. What comes next will be interesting.

The Wright brothers’ first hop was shorter in length than the

to Australia, it is now possible to get there in a matter of a day or two. The same will be true of

gareth L. POWELL

Herders of Mars

Following the inaugural flight of NASA’s Ingenuity, science fiction writer Gareth L. Powell considers the future of powered flight on other planets

Mars. If we build the right aircraft, we’ll be able to go anywhere on the planet—and don’t forget how much smaller Mars is already.

Where Earth’s diameter is 7,926 miles, the diameter of Mars is only 4,220 miles. So, while the technical challenges are huge, the distances are shorter and the gravity is lighter.

But why stop there? Now we know we can engineer machines able to fly in different gravities and through different atmospheric

wingspan of the Boeing 747, which first took to the skies only sixty-six years after Kitty Hawk. Who knows what we could have flying through the Martian clouds sixty-six years from now?

The first thought I have is of a massive blimp carrying several dozen of these helicopters. Being solar powered, there’s little reason it can’t stay aloft for days, weeks, maybe even years. Every time the scientists on Earth identify a location of potential interest, the blimp dispatches a helicopter

the bumpy topography.

But why stop with an automated blimp? Viewers of The Martian will remember long sequences of Matt Damon bouncing around in a rover for weeks as he treks towards salvation. But what if he’d been able to jump in a helicopter and fly there in a day? When humans start building bases on Mars, helicopters would be as valuable to them as they are for bases in the Arctic and Antarctica. They could

worst-case scenarios. We find drama in the idea of things going wrong. So, while I hope that in the near future we as a species will outgrow our childish infatuation with war, Mars is an entire planet filled with currently unclaimed resources and territory. A bright red jewel hanging just within our reach. Can our acquisitive monkey natures resist squabbling over such a prize? Only 15 years after Wilbur and Orville showed powered flight was possible, squadrons of biplanes

compositions, we should be building choppers capable of exploring the cloud tops of Venus.

Huge machines with rotors the size of wind turbines could track the storm systems in Jupiter’s atmosphere, or cruise the ochre skies of Titan seeking life in its hydrocarbon lakes.

However, I’m going to end this month’s column with a truly science fictional image.

Imagine, if you will, a Mars in the not too distant future, where a combination of terraforming

to investigate, soaring over any intervening rough terrain with more ease and speed than a rover.

be used to airlift personnel to areas of potential interest identified via satellite survey. They could

were dogfighting in the war-torn skies over France. So, now I’m imagining a drone war on Mars,

techniques have thickened the atmosphere enough for hardy plants to grow and specially

fly missions to resupply forward

fought remotely by competing

adapted animals to roam the

to get up-close and personal with the strata in a cliff face—something that’s obviously difficult for a

A helicopter has the potential

outposts, and rescue explorers stranded by injury or technical malfunction. They could even—

governments or corporations, each vying for control of profitable ore deposits or water sources.

surface. And on this new tundra, shaggy herds of reindeer and buffalo graze the tough, wiry grass,

ground-based vehicle. A fleet of them could traverse and map the length of the great Valles Marineras

god forbid—be used for security and defence.

Science fiction writers get

Helicopter gunships whispering through the thin air, hunting for enemy rovers. Mass accelerators

watched over by autonomous helicopter shepherds, while overhead, two moons shine in the

canyons without worrying about

a lot of mileage from imagining

on Phobos and Deimos wiping out

afternoon sky.

Image of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter hovering above the Martian surface taken by the perseverence rover. Image: NASA

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

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L ate, great engineers

GENE CERNAN:

LAST MAN ON THE MOON Astronaut, fighter pilot, naval aviator, electrical and aeronautical engineer, as commander of the Apollo 17 mission Gene Cernan became the last person to leave footprints on the Moon.

Writ ten BY Nick Smith

C

aptain in the U.S. Navy,

which he became the second American

Gene Cernan left his mark on the history of exploration by flying three times in space, twice to the Moon. The second American to walk in space and the last human of only 12 to leave his footprints on the lunar surface, Cernan is one of the great unsung heroes of the Apollo program phase of the Space Age. He went into space as pilot on the Gemini 9A mission, as lunar module pilot on Apollo 10 and as commander of Apollo 17, the final Apollo lunar landing. Cernan passionately

to walk in space, undertaking more than two hours of extravehicular activity (EVA) in what proved to be a dangerously faulty space suit. During the three-day mission, Gemini 9A rendezvoused three times with a target vehicle, simulating procedures that would be used in the Apollo 10 mission.

As well as the EVA and rendezvous objectives, Gemini 9A carried out several scientific experiments, including one that assessed astronaut stress levels by measuring the intake and output of fluids before, during and after the flight.

Three years later, Apollo 10 was

believed that this era of extra-terrestrial

NASA’s ‘dress rehearsal’ for one of the

travel was so far ahead of its time that that it would take a further “hundred years in the history of mankind before

most important voyages of discovery that humankind has ever undertaken: the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. It was

Gene Cernan 1934-2017

we look back and really understand the meaning of Apollo.” Speaking towards the end of his life, Cernan maintained

(which was also attended by the first person to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong), where he attained his bachelor’s

that the technology and vision of such explorations were so ground-breaking

degree in 1956. In the same year he was commissioned into the U.S. Navy, where Cernan would log more than 5,000 hours

that it was as if the great American President John F Kennedy had, “reached

of flying time, including 4,800 hours in jet aircraft (as well as at least 200 successful landings on aircraft carriers). In 1963

out into the twenty-first century where we are today, grabbed hold of a decade of time, slipped it neatly into the sixties

he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.

Later that year he was among the 14 people selected (from 720

and seventies and called it Apollo.”

Eugene Andrew Cernan was born in Chicago, Illinois on 14th March 1934. Son

applicants) to form NASA Astronaut Group 3, ten of which would fly in Apollo missions, with four becoming ‘Moon walkers.’ Selection required the astronauts to be American

If Cernan’s contribution to that moment in history has been overshadowed by the achievements

of Rose and Andrew Cernan – both of eastern European origins – he grew up in the towns of Bellwood and Maywood

citizens under the age of 34, standing no more than 6 feet in height, with more than 1,000 hours flying time as a test pilot,

of Apollo 11’s ‘Holy Trinity’ crew, it’s not through any lack of good-natured self-promotion. In a 2007 interview

where he attended elementary school and was a Boy Scout. He read electrical engineering at Purdue University

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

and a degree in engineering or the physical sciences. Four died in training accidents before they could go into space.

For Cernan’s first mission, he and Thomas P. Stafford were launched into space on 3rd June 1966 in Gemini 9A, during

42

the first comprehensive lunar-orbital qualification and verification test of the lunar lander. The mission confirmed the performance, stability and reliability of the Apollo command, service and lunar modules (Cernan was the pilot of lunar module Snoopy, named after the Peanuts cartoon beagle). The mission included a descent to within eight nautical miles of the Moon’s surface.

for NASA’s oral histories, Cernan said: “I keep telling Neil Armstrong that we painted that white line in the sky all the

Read more

of our Late, Great Engineers at www.theengineer.co.uk

Supported by

way to the Moon down to 47,000 feet so he wouldn’t get lost, and all he had to do was land. Made it sort of easy for him.”

In fact, the mission performed every function necessary for a lunar landing (apart from the actual landing itself) and it was the final test of Apollo’s systems.

On his return to Earth, to increase his chances of getting to command his own mission, Cernan turned down the position of lunar module pilot on Apollo 16. He was duly returned to NASA’s program selection rotation, where he was placed as back up commander on Apollo 14.

It wasn’t to be until December 1972 that Cernan finally got his shot at getting his own ‘boots on the Moon’ as commander of Apollo17, the last piloted lunar expedition that explored the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon, collecting 115kg of rocks and other surface material for study. Recalling his attitude to the technology he’d helped to develop as far back as the Gemini program, Cernan explained his preference for manual navigational control: “There’s no way I’m going to go all the way to the Moon”, he said, “particularly for a second time, and let a computer land me on the Moon. The arrogance of a pilot, particularly naval

We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.

Eugene Cernan (1934-2017)

that had probably emerged from a surface vent.

Shortly before preparing to go back into the lunar module, Cernan drove the lunar rover a mile away so that the video camera could record the mission’s departure. In his autobiography The Last Man on the Moon, he explains how

both on and off site at Johnson Space Center. In 1999 Cernan co-wrote The Last Man on the Moon. A documentary film of the same name was released in 2014.

Shortly after his death in 2017,

aviators, is too great to allow that to

he knelt and wrote his daughter Tracy’s initials – TDC – in the

Cernan’s family released a statement

happen.” Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt touched down safely to perform a total of three spacewalks

dust. All that remained for Apollo 17’s crew to do was to start the long journey home. We remember Armstrong’s first words on the Moon, and yet the last words spoken there are just as

confirming that the honour of leaving the last footprints on the Moon was seen by the great astronaut as a dubious one:

while on the surface, scaling mountains and collecting data about the history and geology of the Moon that would

powerful and evocative. As Cernan waited to climb the ladder up to the module for the final time, he paused and said: “As I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time

“Gene was passionate about sharing his desire to see the continued human exploration of space and encouraged

inform planetary science for years.

With 22 hours and 6 minutes outside,

to come – but we believe not too long into the future – I’d like to just [say] what I believe history will record. That America’s

our nation’s leaders and young people to not let him remain the last man to

the astronauts established a record for longest extravehicular activity

challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came

by one mission on the surface of the Moon. Meanwhile, command module pilot Ron Evans set a record for most

and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.”

Cernan later assisted with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

walk on the Moon.” A legend of space exploration, Cernan died at the age of 82 on 16th January 2017, and was buried with full military honours at Texas State

time orbiting the Moon. The mission’s biggest discovery came when Schmitt exclaimed that he had discovered orange

(completed in July 1975) before retiring from both space exploration and the navy to start his own company – the Cernan Corporation – that pursued management and

regolith on the grey surface. Cernan recalled thinking that his crewmate

consultant interests in the energy, aerospace and other related industries. He became a familiar face in the media as co-

had ‘overdosed on rocks,’ but examined the specimen despite his doubts. The

anchorman on ABC-TV’s broadcast coverage of the first three Space Shuttle launches. He also became Chairman of the Board

deposits were confirmed orange and subsequently found to be volcanic glass

of Johnson Engineering Corporation that provided NASA with Flight Crew Systems Development, with personnel located

43

Cemetery.

The IET is celebrating incredible people who have made an impact in engineering and technology. Vote for your pioneer or groundbreaker today at theiet.org/celebratingimpact

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

ARCHIVE FEATURE

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June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

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NOVEMBER Comment2019

Enterprise Company to develop a new website that draws on

of inequalities, the most obvious being health.

the learnings of our Corporate Members in the design, delivery

Wealth inequalities are also more apparent especially in some new areas - who can afford

and implementation of virtual work experience.

But we don’t yet know how

to self-isolate or work in frontline shift jobs that don’t provide sick

effective virtual experiences are and how they compare with their

pay? Another inequality much more visible since the pandemic started is the digital divide.

Schools and teachers have had to step-up their digital offering during lockdowns to ensure pupils can learn from home, but we know that digital access continues to be a barrier. With many disadvantaged pupils struggling to afford hardware and data. In addition, superfast broadband is still limited in many – often rural – areas of the country.

Another casualty of digital inequality can be access to careers information, advice and guidance, which already had patchy provision. Many students from disadvantaged backgrounds miss out on social capital their peers might have at home and digital barriers to online quality careers guidance can be another blow to their life chances.

Dr Hilary Leevers

Overcoming the digital divide to inspire future engineers EngineeringUK CEO Dr Hilary Leevers writes about how the digital divide has impacted careers provision in schools.

Our latest report ‘Securing the

in-person counterparts. I’m a big fan of measuring impact, and we’ll be looking at what sorts of audiences we reach digitally, and how different groups of young people are affected by their experiences. We should make no assumptions about what will work to engage a young person and excite them in the potential of engineering. My hunch is that we will end up with a greater range of online activity than before the pandemic, alongside reintroduced in-person experiences. However, whatever the effectiveness of digital engagement, we must make sure that we have in-person alternatives until the digital divide is eliminated.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology and Digital Access for All have drawn together many organisations to form the Digital Poverty Alliance to try and coordinate various efforts

future’, co-authored with a number of partners, found that almost half of 200 teachers surveyed

can expect, is key to attracting

from all walks of life could be part

to ameliorate the digital divide with an aim to end digital poverty, especially for children, over the

said that some of their pupils had not been able to access online or virtual careers provision due to a

more, and a more diverse group of, young people into engineering careers, opening up these careers

of the engineering workforce. As well as filling skills gaps, a diverse workforce is better placed to

next 5-10 years. Alongside these sector-led efforts, we’re calling on the government to urgently

lack of technology or internet at home. And schools with a higher

to young people who would not otherwise have seen themselves

solve the challenges of the future because it has more creativity and

develop a fully funded digital learning strategy for schools. The

percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) were

taking that route. Research conducted by EngineeringUK

less group think.

Over the last year,

first step needs to be to close the digital divide so that no young

more likely to say that a lack technology or internet at home was a barrier to participating in

clearly shows that young people who know more about what engineers do are more likely to

EngineeringUK has moved lots of our engagement online – for example, the Big Bang Digital has

person is left behind. The second is for the government to look at how schools are supported

careers provision – nearly 70% compared to 36% of schools with below average FSM - highlighting

perceive the profession in a positive way and to consider a career in engineering – in fact, young people

replaced our usual in-person Fair, this and last year. Many others have done the same and we’ve

to integrate a digital approach into their everyday activities. In the long run, we hope that this

the impact of the digital divide.

Why is careers provision

attending a STEM careers activity were over 3 times as likely to

adapted Neon, our platform that helps teachers find engineering

approach will help overcome the current patchiness of STEM

important? Improving young people’s knowledge of engineering,

consider a career in engineering than those who had not.

experiences and inspiring careers resources, to include online

careers provision in schools, giving more young people the

the breadth and availability of careers it offers, and the pay they

We can create a win-win situation if more young people

activities. We’ve also worked in partnership with The Careers &

opportunity to be inspired by a career in engineering.

June 2021 / www.theengineer.co.uk

48

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