YOU ARE HERE :
Newcastle University Researchers Flying High
INWARD INVESTMENT
Wednesday 4th August
The university’s Centre for Advanced Electrical Drives developed light motors to propel the Zephyr plane, which operates up to 12 miles high in temperatures as low as -60C.
The solar-powered plane was told to land at the end of last week after completing a record-breaking solar unmanned flight lasting two weeks above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
UK defence research organisation QinetiQ says its 22.5m wingspan craft is “the world’s first and only truly persistent aeroplane”. It is being considered as a lower-cost alternative to satellites.
Neville Salkeld, managing director of QinetiQ’s UK Technology Solutions Group, said: “Not only is Zephyr game-changing technology, it is also significantly more cost-effective to manufacture and deploy than traditional aircraft and satellites.”
The university’s professor of electrical power engineering, Barrie Mecrow, said: “Our brief was to produce an ultra high-efficiency motor that could drive the propellers in the minimum mass possible.
“It’s quite a delicate balance because, while the power comes from the sun, it has to be powered by batteries at night. If the process is less efficient, you need more batteries and the plane would be too heavy to stay in the air.”
The university’s Centre for Advanced Electrical Drives is well-known around the world, boasting 12 academic researchers, 30 research students and 100 doing MSc work in this area.
While it was only set up three years ago with a grant from One North East, the university itself has been researching this area for more than 30 years. Dyson has employees based at the centre, while it works with BAE Systems on other unmanned aircraft and is also involved with research into electric cars.
QinetiQ also approached Mecrow because of his own experience with solar power in Australia.
He said: “I was involved in designing motors for the solar-powered races.”
The university produced its first prototype which was used in a flight two years ago, and its updated version was trialled in this latest flight.
It employed a special new material developed in Japan to produce motors with very low losses, and due to the low temperatures it designed its electronics to a standard normally required for space travel.
Related News Articles
-
Teesside is a Top Business-Facing U...
Champagne corks were popping across the Tees Valley today after Teesside University won a major prize at the Times Higher Education magazine Awards ceremony for its work with businesses in the region.
NEWS ARTICLE SEARCH
Investment Information
-
About North East England
-
Support for Investors
- Advice on availability & costs of premises
- Assistance with grant applications
- Identification of R&D in your sector
- Property Solutions
- Market Validation
-
Industry Support and Infrastructure
- Centres of Excellance & Clusters
- Universities
- Innovation Connectors
- R&D Facilities
-
Skills and Expertise
- Overview of Skills and Experience
- Innovation Highlights
- Introduction to Our Key Sectors
-
Financial Support
- Key Funding Channels
- Selective Finance for Investment
- Grants and Funding
-
Premises and Locations
- Property Solutions
- Strategic Development Sites
- Managed Workspaces
- Incubators
-
Transport Infrastructure
- By Air
- By Sea
- By Rail
- By Road
-
Doing Business in the UK
- Understanding Tax
- Visas and Immigration
How Can We Help?
This website is your guide to doing business in North East England and the range of inward investment support services from One North East.
Discover why North East England should be your UK platform for global growth with a free consultation from our inward investment team.
Nissan is building a £200 million European battery plant in Sunderland. The North East will have the UK’s first comprehensive infrastructure of electric vehicle... 
Advanced technologies in wind and solar power generation have been created. Biofuels and biomass are rapidly expanding, and innovations in fuel cells... 
Huge offshore wind farms planned for the North Sea have placed North East England in an ideal position to manufacture large numbers of turbines for these farms. 
Driving this sector are pharmaceuticals, world beating stem cells and genetic research, drug discovery and protein diagnostic techniques... 
The digital games industry, with Digital City as a focus, is a driving force in the creative field, while Sage has a commanding position in software development. 
The North East has major base chemicals & petrochemical complexes, alongside fine & speciality chemicals & pharmaceuticals. Biotechnology... 
Automotive manufacturing dominates this sector – Nissan in cars, and Komatsu and Caterpillar in heavy earth-moving vehicles. Defence, aerospace and marine... 
World leading subsea technologies have been developed to extract deeper oil and gas reserves, the North East has major pipeline terminals, processing... 
North East England is leading the way with a technology that allows electronic circuits to be made using specially developed semi-conductive materials. 
Exciting developments are taking place in printed electronics, with PETEC, the national centre for this future industry, located in the North East. Nanotechnology... 
Knowledge intensive business services in areas such as finance, legal services, human resources, management consultancy and marketing are expanding... 