The Wolfson Foundation has donated £1.5m to fund state-of-the-art equipment that will advance research into sustainable, electric transport at the University of Nottingham.
The Aerospace and Electric Flight Test Cell Propulsion Unit will take pride of place in the new Power Electronics and Machines Centre, the flagship research facility, which is due to open in summer 2020.
“The aerospace industry faces significant technological challenges as it strives towards all-electric flight propulsion in the coming decades. This significant new grant will support the University’s position at the forefront of the revolution in automotive, aerospace and marine transportation, expanding our capacity to discover sustainable ways of transporting goods and people and reduce the global dependency on conventional fuel sources,” explains Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Sam Kingman.
Due to be fully operational in mid-2020 – and supported by £9.4m from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (RPIF), which is run by Research England – the Power Electronics and Machines Centre will provide novel facilities for experimental work, including 3,500 m2 laboratory space.
It will offer electrical power infrastructure of up to 5MW, enabling research at a scale and power level appropriate to the development of technology demonstrators leading to the exploitation and commercialisation of research.
