Research Videos

Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuels

Visit the Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuels (CAPF) web page.

Professor Hua Zhao is the director of Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuel (CAPF) and Head of Mechanical Engineering Department at Brunel University. Following an overview of CAPF, Professor Zhao presents the air hybrid Regenerative Engine Braking (RegenEBD) technology applied to a bus engine. He then introduces the world most advanced single cylinder research engine that can be operated with different engine cycles with direct high pressure injection and compressed air supply. Advanced laser diagnostics and optical techniques are presented for two optical engines in which in-cylinder flow, fuel injection, and combustion are measured. Finally, a specially designed engine for in-cylinder studies of super knock is shown.

Dr. Mohammad Reza Herfatmanesh is a research assistant at the Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuel (CAPF) at Brunel University. He describes the research facilities surrounding optical diagnostics of the diesel combustion and the associated mechanisms of pollutant formation in an optical single cylinder research engine. In order to meet the ever more stringent emission standards, advanced non-intrusive laser based techniques have been developed and implemented at CAPF over the past two decades aimed at further development and optimisation of modern diesel engines.

Simon Dingle, a PhD. student of the School of Engineering and Design, discusses his research into the combustion of future fuels in downsized automotive engines. The research is focussed on improving the efficiency of future engine designs through more efficient combustion of both current petrol and future bio-ethanol. Downsized petrol engines are increasingly being seen as a key technology in improving both CO2 emissions and fuel consumption in passenger vehicles and the research being conducted at Brunel University is vital in advancing the understanding of how future fuels and lubricants will affect this technology.

Dr Yan Zhang of the School of Engineering and Design discusses a unique two/four stroke switchable camless direct injection boosted gasoline engine. There is no camshaft on the engine. The valvetrain is driven by the electro-hydraulic actuation, which allows to vary the valve timings flexibly. Many combustion modes and engine operating modes can be achieved on this engine. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) also referred as Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI) is the potential combustion technology for the engine to reduce fuel consumption and emissions simultaneously. HCCI/CAI has been achieved on this engine in both two-stroke and four-stroke cycles.

Centre for Sensors and Instrumentation

Visit the Centre for Sensors and Instrumentation (CSI) web page.

Professor Peter Hobson, of the School of Engineering and Design, is the group leader of Brunel University's Centre for Sensors and Instrumentation. Here he describes the contributions members of the Centre have made to the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, highlighting other applications in data analysis, large-scale computing and medical applications of radiation which have been developed as a result of their expertise in particle physics.

Tom Walker, who is currently working towards his PhD in the Centre for Sensors and Instrumentation, describes his laboratory experiments in X-ray fluorescence. His experiments are being used to understand data from the C1XS X-ray camera, which was flown on the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission in 2008-9.