Research Areas:
|
| |
Control & Instrumentation
(back to top)
|
- Perkins diesel generator used for, condition monitoring, fault diagnosis
and control studies
- Test bed for induction motor control: in co-operation with the Electrical
Power group we are developing a rig consisting of two connected 3kW
cage induction motors and two ALSTOM ALSPA GD3000E drives. One machine
will act as a motor and will be used to test a variety of non-linear
and linear control laws, the other will serve as a variable load under
its own closed-loop control
- Facility for spectral analysis and linear process dynamics estimation
(Onno Sokki)
- Several lasers and optical fibre facilities
- Network of 12 Sun workstations and network of 11 PC's each equipped
with state-of-the-art software for the analysis and design of control
systems
- Network of 10 PC's each equipped with state-of-the-art software for
digital signal processing and system characterisation. The software
includes MATLAB and its toolboxes and Visual C++
- A wide range of facilities for developing and testing optical fibre-based
sensors
- A wide range of facilities for developing solutions based on modern
Digital Signal Processors, including the TMS320C50 fixed-point and the
TMS320C30 floating-point Digital Signal Processors
- A wide range of facilities for developing solutions based on modern
microcontrollers for embedded applications
- Training courses in real-time Digital Signal Processing, based on
the TMS320C50 Digital Signal Processors. The facilities include 20 PC
workstations each connected to a Digital Signal Processor Development
kit, a signal generator and an oscilloscope. Both Assembly and C compilers
are available
- Training courses in software design and C/C++ programming
- Consultancy services in modelling, analysis and design of control
systems
- Training courses in modern methods of controller design
|
| |
Electrical & Electronic Power Engineering
(back to top)
|
- Research and development of electronically controlled drives and generators
with application in diverse industries varying form power generation
to domestic appliances.
- Short courses for industrial engineers: high voltage engineering,
power electronics, machines and drives
- Graduate training coupled to a programmed sequence of sponsored industrial
placements
- Teaching Company Schemes
- Research and development of embedded generation systems, including:
photovoltaic, wind power and variable speed generation
- High voltage testing facilities (<400kVDC, 100kVAC) for dielectric
strength, leakage current, volume and surface resistivity, charge/discharge
etc…
- Electric vehicle and automotive electrical auxiliary motors, drives
and control
- Dielectric spectroscopy (10-5 to 107 Hz) using solartron equipment
over 20-250C
- Pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) space charge measurement (<60kVDC/peak,
20-100C, DC-<100Hz, simultaneous current measurement)
- Specimen preparation facilities including temperature controlled press,
vacuum evaporation equipment
- Modelling facilities and expertise for electromagnetic and dielectric
response/degradation
- Expertise in dielectrics, HV insulation and HV power supplies
- Electrostatic and magnetostatic modelling facilities
- Large and small electrical machines and drives test facility with
a 200kVA 3 phase supply
- Wind turbine/photovoltaic/renewable energy simulator
- Preferential access to test equipment (wind turbines, diesel
generators, flywheels and drives, programmable loads) at the
Wind Test Site of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
|
| |
Mechanics of Materials
(back to top)
|
- A broad range of mechanical testing facilities for tensile/compressive
and bend testing under monotonic and cyclic loadng conditions up to
250kN
- Unique facilities to carry out mechanical testing and analysis under
pressure and a range of temperatures. Mechanical testing can be undertaken
at temperatures up to 1500C using conventional mechanical resistance
furnaces, direct resistance heating, infrared lamps, induction heating
or hot air blowers. The Department has a unique facility for the triaxial
testing of powders up to confining pressures of 700MPa
- The Group has significant expertise in computer modelling, both in
the development of computer programmes and in the running of commercial
finite element packages such as Abacus. The computational work is mainly
conducted on the group's Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 multi-processor
server.
- These technologies are of interest to advanced engineering industries
to characterise failures, examine the behaviour of new materials, or
to evaluate alterations to component designs.
- Scanning Electron Microscope with EDX X-ray analysis facility
|
| |
Radio Systems
(back to top)
|
The Group's research activities are centred around a number of projects
primarily concerning the influence of the ionospheric propagation
medium on the performance of long range communications and radio direction
finding systems operating in the high frequency (3 - 30 MHz)
band. Interest is also developing in propagation effects in the VHF
and UHF bands. This experimentally based work covers the following
topics:
- The accuracy and performance of HF direction finders
- Super-resolution direction finding
- Real Time Channel Evaluation
- Channel sounding
- Ray tracing staudies
Facilities include:
- A recently upgraded network of Silicon Graphics workstations and server.
- A network of PCs for real time applications running the QNX operating
system
- A field-station located at Bruntingthorpe, a short distance from Leicester.
The site has a relatively low noise radio environment and a large area
for the deployment of antenna arrays.
- Two super-resolution direction finding systems (one relatively portable).
- Various radio transmitters, receivers and channel sounders.
|
| |
Thermofluids
(back to top)
|
- Gas Dynamics Laboratory
- Broad spectrum of capability in computational fluid dynamics (including
large eddy simulation)
- Newly fitted out Acoustics and Combustion test cell
- Closed loop, subsonic wind tunnel. Working section: 1.10m x .85m,
max speed 25m/s
- Open ended, subsonic wind tunnel (2off). Working section: .46m x .46m,
max speed 40m/s
- Closed loop supersonic wind tunnel. Working section: 101.0mm x 25.4mm,
max speed Mach 1.8
- XXXXXX cascade tunnel. Working section 150mm x 50mm
- Particle image velocimetry at low speeds
- Water Tunnel/Laser Room
- Hydraulic system comprising a header tank at the top of the Engineering
Building Tower, capacity 76500 litres, and sump tank under the floor
of the Hydraulics laboratory, capacity 200000 litres. This gives a constant
head of 30m.
- Corporate Environmental Reporting
|
