A technology leading research centre has been formed at Bath where future passenger car engines can be analysed for performance and emissions in controlled environments that replicates on-road conditions
Passenger car engines of the future will emit considerably lower levels of harmful emissions as well as having superior fuel consumption over those that are currently on the road. As a result of large capital investment in state of the art research facilities a technology leading research centre has been formed at Bath where future passenger car engines can be analysed for performance and emissions in controlled environments that replicates on-road conditions.
In a recent address given at the University of Bath Dr Horst Schulte, Chief Engineer of Global Diesel Research and Advanced Engineering at the Ford Motor Company Limited commented: "Recently you have developed your new automotive research facility, the Powertrain and Vehicle Research Centre, and the University of Bath must now rate as one of the leading centres for automotive powertrain research in Europe." Grants totalling over £3m have been won by researchers utilising these new facilities and new alliances in the USA, UK and Europe have been formed and existing industry partnerships have been significantly strengthened.
Part of this work is contributing to a Department of Trade and Industry sponsored programme, "Succeeding through Innovation". The project, led by the Ford Motor Company and British Petroleum is concerned with numerous issues, which are addressing how best to formulate the lubrication oil, which is used in engines. Previous work has suggested that an improvement of 5% in fuel consumption could be achieved if the lubrication oil can work better. This will result in cleaner more fuel friendly vehicles being driven on our roads. The Director of this Technology Centre, Professor Gary Hawley says that "this recent success has enabled researchers to continue to develop the cutting-edge expertise, which is required by the automotive industry, in such a way that we are able to offer a 'brand' of excellence that is well known throughout the UK and this is gathering notice world-wide."
