Double industry award success for WMG partnerships

Team Award: AeroMC Project

AeroMC is a multi-million-pound five-year project led by Safran Electrical and PowerLink opens in a new window in collaboration with three of WMG’s research groups — Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD); Automation Systems (ASG); and Metrology and 3D Imaging — and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)Link opens in a new window.

The project — which exemplifies how the High Value Manufacturing CatapultLink opens in a new window works effectively with industry — was created to design a ‘Factory of the Future’ and implement the first building block: a semi-automated pilot line at Safran Electrical and Power Pitstone, suitable for current and future manufacturing needs. Thanks to AeroMC’s success, the project team is now exploring wider opportunities across Safran UK.

Helen WhiteLink opens in a new window, WMG AeroMC Project Manager, commented: “Winning the Team Award for AeroMC is a true testament to the power of collaboration, both with our external partners at Safran and MTC, and within WMG. The whole team worked openly and collaboratively to deliver the final, semi-automated pilot line capability.

“Our work package was a demanding, three-part puzzle that required seamless integration from multiple disciplines. The success relied on our experts from PEMD, ASG and Metrology working together to solve highly complex problems.”

James Owen, Head of R&T for Safran Electrical and Power at Pitstone, also praised the power of collaboration: "We've built a good strategic future together, where we intend to keep working together, to keep exploiting the relationships and knowledge we all bring to the table. This is how everyone in the industry should work — together, for the common good.”

Shaping the Future Award: ZEST Project

Led by Airbus and supported by WMG’s Battery Systems Group — one of multiple partners in this major £27m ATI-funded five-year project — ZEST was launched to deliver the technologies that will help make sustainable aviation a reality. The project team successfully developed fuel cell-compatible hydrogen storage and distribution solutions, laying the foundations for zero-emission H2 flight technology.

Judges were impressed by this exceptional technological development, which not only advances liquid hydrogen aviation but also provides infrastructure to support future technology work by Airbus and others in the aerospace industry.

James Marco, Professor of Battery Systems and Head of the Battery Systems Research Group at WMG, explained: “The ZEST project enabled us to address the fundamental challenge of system safety within future aircraft concepts.

“The Battery Systems team developed new experimental methods and simulation tools of battery and ultracapacitor failure and innovative techniques for detection, mitigation and containment. Collectively, our research optimises the integration of energy storage technologies as critical components of the zero-emission aircraft.”