AEC and APC

The Advanced Engineering Centre (AEC) at the University of Brighton forges partnerships between researchers and industry to keep the UK at the forefront of the design and development of low carbon engines. The University of Brighton was selected following an assessment process undertaken by independent industry experts as the spoke for internal combustion engine thermal efficiency for the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).

The automotive sector and its supply chain are a vital part of the UK economy and these new spokes bring together the communities needed to ensure the UK has the expertise and technologies to transform innovative ideas into marketable reality. By enhancing, extending and embedding communities for automotive research, the AEC and APC are responding to both rapid changes in technology and intensive international competition to help maintain the UK’s global competitiveness.

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) was formed in 2013 from a commitment between the government and automotive industry to bring together those with good ideas and those who can bring them to market. The APC’s aim is to position the UK, through the Automotive Council, as a global centre of excellence for low carbon powertrain development and production.

As an industry-wide collaboration of innovators and producers of low carbon propulsion systems, the APC facilitates partnerships and enables projects which provide profitable growth and sustainable opportunities for the partners involved.

Projects

Each project supported by the APC addresses at least one of these four technologies:

Electric machines and power electronics
Energy storage and energy management
Internal combustion engines
Lightweight vehicle and powertrain structures

through its activity of research, development and production of low carbon technology. The APC defines a project as a consortium involving at least one SME, one vehicle manufacturer and one supply chain company working together to bring the technology to market with the resulting activity enhancing the UK’s position as a 'Propulsion Nation' and contributing to the country’s economic prosperity. Advanced propulsion systems include applications for commercial vehicles, motorcycles, off-highway and passenger cars.

The activity in this £1 billion commitment will be delivered through a small team working across the UK from a central hub located at the University of Warwick and regional spoke locations. The APC is relevant to the whole of the UK. It is company neutral, technology agnostic and open to all working within the scope of the strategic technologies for the UK automotive industry.

Through its activities, the APC will complete the research and development value chain in the UK, enabling advanced propulsion technologies to be ready for on- and off-road applications, turning technologies into products.

The APC will actively engage with organisations worldwide to promote the UK as a centre of excellence for low carbon propulsion development and production and every project will support the APC’s objectives of helping to build the UK supply base for low carbon propulsion systems, reduce carbon emissions and secure jobs.

For further information, visit the APC UK website.

Internal Combustion Engine Thermal Efficiency Spoke, Coordinated by the University of Brighton

The APC spokes are a network of industrial and academic communities with world-class capability in strategic technologies. Each of the spokes is hosted by an organisation with recognised expertise in key technologies and the fundamental role of the spoke is to coordinate a community of common interest, thereby, creating a centre of excellence.

The Advanced Engineering Centre at the University of Brighton focuses on internal combustion engine thermal efficiency. Working with industry and academia, we aim to support the evolution of the ICE into an advanced propulsion system with integrated thermal management and hybrid drivetrain running on sustainable fuels. Our challenge is to simultaneously maximise thermal efficiency at zero tailpipe emissions in real world driving conditions. We approach this problem by applying advanced optical and laser-based measurement techniques to understand the complex thermally integrated processes in the engine and support the development of fundamental models and predictive computational simulation.

The spoke communities are open and inclusive and anyone that can add value is encouraged to participate and inform the future development of roadmaps, capabilities and industry direction.