axsym engineering

The project addressed the challenge of dealing with data for the management of energy supply and demand. There are various software tools for the configuration and sizing of decentralised energy plants, which utilise a wide range of data sources. To maximise return on the investment of developing new installations it is necessary to evaluate a wide range of plant configurations. A significant limitation with the current tools is that data transfer between the datasets and models has to be performed manually, resulting in high labour costs and the potential for human error. This project demonstrated the benefits of using our data and software integration environment Teclab to automate analysis processes and thereby reduce installation costs and improve the prediction of return on investment. The grant was an Innovate UK Technical Feasibility Study, awarded following a successful application to the Energy Game Changer competition for funding.

Software able to dynamically integrate city models is necessary to enable city planners to design and shape city systems (energy, transport, logistics, waste, mobility, ICT) and maximise social and economic benefits through simulating the mutual interactions between overlaid urban subsystems. This was a proof of concept study to demonstrate and validate an easy-to-use and adaptable analytical environment that enables the quick integration of simulation models and datasets to provide robust analytical insight for city planning authorities. The grant was an Innovate UK SMART award. The project developed a prototype version of Teclab that was subsequently successfully evaluated by Transport for Greater Manchester.

A collaborative EU consortium set up with the objective of producing well-qualified researchers in multi-disciplinary engineering for the future generation of Offshore Wind Turbines. The funding is through the EU Framework 7 Marie Curie ITN training programme. The MARE-WINT project proved training in the context of doctoral programmes for 14 researchers in the multi-disciplinary area of future generation Offshore Wind Turbines engineering. This focuses on issues having a major impact on the mechanical loading of offshore wind turbines and which is an ongoing critical area of research for meeting low carbon domestic energy demands.

A collaborative EU consortium set up with the objective of producing well-qualified researchers in the area of active flow control and new helicopter technology. The funding was through the EU Framework 7 Marie Curie ITN training programme. The combination of the two cutting-edge technologies, the MEMS and the active flow control, have been used to provide excellent training and career development paths for researchers who wish to work in multiple physics fields in environment-friendly modern technologies for aeronautics. The project outcomes serve the designers of the next generation aircrafts and enhance the skill sets within European Aeronautics academia and industry.

A collaborative research and development study, led by Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland), into exploiting integrated active flap devices embedded in helicopter main rotor blades to enable novel rotor design philosophies to be implemented to improve rotor efficiency, reduce aerodynamic noise and reduce cabin vibration. During the study, Axsym identified limitations within the current active trailing edge (ATE) rotor design technologies. We proposed a new active rotor design philosophy and defined and evaluated a novel design for future helicopter rotors based on our new concept. Our new concept met the project's design targets. The study was funded through the Aerospace Technology Institute (formerly the UK Aerodynamics Centre).

A feasibility study exploring the use of drag-and-drop icons to build an engineering simulation model without programming effort. This project is part of a larger software development project to develop an intuitive, visual, drag-and-drop environment to provide users with the adaptability of a full programming language without the high labour overheads associated with code development. The software is called Teclab and this project successfully demonstrated the feasibility of implementing our innovative concept for the graphic user interface (GUI). The grant was an Innovate UK Technology Inspired Feasibility Study.

A proof of concept study to develop and validate a rotary aeromechanics analysis code to simulate the performance, loads and vibration of wind turbines. The software was developed to support wind turbine design, certification and siting analysis requirements for vertical and horizontal axis wind turbines for both large-scale and micro systems. This project successfully proved the concept of our software, which has since been used to support contracts from the renewable energy and ventilation system sectors. The grant was an Innovate UK SMART award.

This was a proof of market study into the application of data analytics to provide an engineering design tool that can accurately analyse the performance of engineering systems and products at a much lower cost than conventional engineering design software. The market research showed that there are potential engineering applications but the market is generally satisfied with its existing analytical methods and requires substantial market evidence before considering the new technology. Therefore, breaking into the market will require a real-world case study for which we are seeking a candidate with a suitable requirement. However, through our marketing activities we have exploited our software within conventional sectors, such as marketing and logistics. The grant was an Innovate UK SMART award.