Skip to main content

Low construction engine emissions project

The University of Hertfordshire is collaborating in a £9 million project aimed at reducing carbon emissions from off-highway machinery. The University of Hertfordshire’s School of Engineering and Technology is part of a specialist engineering consortium working on the project. Benefiting from more than £4 million in funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK Limited (APC), the project includes companies such as Caterpillar subsidiary Turner Powertrain Systems and Torotrak, a developer and supplier o
October 18, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The University of Hertfordshire is collaborating in a £9 million project aimed at reducing carbon emissions from off-highway machinery. The University of Hertfordshire’s School of Engineering and Technology is part of a specialist engineering consortium working on the project.

Benefiting from more than £4 million in funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK Limited (APC), the project includes companies such as 178 Caterpillar subsidiary Turner Powertrain Systems and Torotrak, a developer and supplier of emissions reduction and fuel efficiency technology.

The aim of the project is to develop a new drivetrain system that will reduce carbon emissions and have better energy storage. This new drivetrain will be used for a range of off-highway equipment.

The three and half year project is expected to begin in December and will focus on developing and commercialising a leading edge hydrostatic, continuously variable transmission with a flywheel-based energy storage system. This is expected to deliver improved performance along with reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. It should also allow manufacturers of off-highway equipment to downsize engines across a wide range of construction machines.

Flywheel-based energy storage technology is ideally suited to off-highway and construction equipment applications because it offers a robust, low-cost way to allow engine downsizing while improving machine productivity.

Staff from the School of Engineering and Technology will provide advanced simulation, modeling and design expertise in the area of computational fluid dynamics, rotadynamics and finite element analysis. The research will also benefit from the University’s High Performance Computing cluster.

Dr Rodney Day, Associate Dean (Research and Commercial) in the School of Engineering and Technology said: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with two leading companies to develop this novel technology for the off-highway market.’

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Asphalt compaction seeing major technical advances
    August 24, 2016
    Key innovations in asphalt compaction will help improve overall paving quality - Mike Woof writes
  • Advanced asphalt compaction machine deliver quality surfaces
    May 21, 2014
    Manufacturers are introducing new compaction machines to meet the latest market requirements - Mike Woof writes
  • Aggregate data aids hot mix asphalt production
    July 4, 2012
    Hot-mix asphalt (HMA) is produced at specialised facilities where various mixtures of aggregate are heated and dried, combined with liquid asphalt cement (also known as bitumen), and either stored in insulated silos or loaded into trucks and transported to a job site. Aggregate heating and drying is accomplished with various types of dryers, depending on whether a batch or continuous process is used. The continuous mix process uses aggregate drum dryers, designed to heat and dry measured quantities of grave
  • Carbon emissions discussion
    March 22, 2012
    Smarter steps to reduce carbon emissions are being proposed by a new study from The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK (CILT). With transport accounting for nearly 25% of the UK’s carbon emissions, and at a time when governments are agreeing to move forward together on reducing emissions, CILT is calling for a balanced approach to carbon management and better assessment of the carbon impact in making transport investment choices.