DEPARTMENT of ENGINEERING NEWS Cambridge Engineers Break Superconductor World Record Page 3
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AUTUMN 2014 ISSUE 16 DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING NEWS Cambridge engineers break superconductor world record Page 3 Google Award for the Automatic Statistician Page 8 The James Dyson Foundation donates £8m to University of Cambridge Page 18 In this issue Welcome Cambridge engineers break 3 superconductor world record From Graduation to the Crossrail project 4 Lifting the lid on silicon batteries 5 Solar powered home-lighting in India 6 Royal Academy backing for 7 Department research Google Award for the Automatic 8 Statistician Robogals 9 Professor William (Bill) Fitzgerald 9 The ‘visuomotor binding’ mechanism 10 Carbon nanotubes find real 11 world applications Professor David Cardwell takes over from Professor Dame Ann Dowling who led the Institute of Manufacturing 12-13 Design Show Department for five years. Ann is now President of the RAEng, while continuing in the Department with her research and teaching. International mobile ticketing success 14 3D printing – The shape of things 15 “Ann Dowling is a hard act to follow. She has left the Department in excellent shape on all fronts. to come? Our rankings, financial performance and growth have been outstanding,” says David. “Trojan horse” treatment 16 New Centres for Doctoral Studies 17 The Department now has over 180 academics and principal investigator status researchers, over 1200 undergraduates, over 800 graduate students, over 260 postdoctoral researchers and Backing Britain – The James Dyson 18 Foundation donates £8m a turnover exceeding GBP70m. It is one of the world’s top ranked engineering departments jockeying for leadership at the top of the board. Teaching has also stormed forward winning New James Dyson Building 19 for Engineering to be a live accolades from reviewers in the accreditation process. laboratory Young Consultant of the Year 20 David adds: “Engineering at Cambridge is an integrated department comprised of the best academics, staff and students from around the world. Not only do we top the academic rankings, Better building through design 21 but we deliver practical outcomes for society. I feel a great sense of both excitement and Designing our Tomorrow 22 responsibility in leading this institution given the influence it has on pivotal issues such as energy, Engineering the Kelpies 23 cities, transport, healthcare and manufacturing. My aim is to do everything I can to allow everyone New use for an old ‘trouble maker’ 24 here to perform at their best, engage with real issues and make a difference. “It would be easy to get complacent given this success, but I see a tremendous opportunity Cover photo: A bulk superconductor levitated to take the Department to a new level. Engineering in most universities is split into separate by a permanent magnet departments; but we are one department. This structural advantage means we can tackle the Editor: Jacqueline Saggers really big challenges facing society. But this strength is tempered by our old and scattered building Department of Engineering stock. Uniting on one site with new purpose-built facilities and the right support will unlock the University of Cambridge full potential of our brilliant people. This is the change I wish to bring.” Trumpington Street Cambridge CB2 1PZ David is assembling his team, consulting staff and making plans for this transformation. He Telephone: +44 (0)1223 748228 notes: “I will not jump the gun by announcing plans ahead of consultation with all members Email: [email protected] of the Department, but I can promise that the plans will not only represent a leap forward for www.eng.cam.ac.uk Engineering at Cambridge, but a leap forward for engineering globally. I look forward to sharing Design: www.cantellday.co.uk more news publicly in the Spring next year.” Printing: Sudbury Print Group © 2014 University of Cambridge and Contributors as Professor David Cardwell FREng identified. 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X youtube.com/user/EngineeringCambridge 2 University of Cambridge Department of Engineering Issue 16 Autumn 2014 Credit: ImageCredit: courtesy of Nicholas Architects Hare n A bulk superconductor levitated by a permanent magnet Cambridge engineers break superconductor world record A new record for a trapped field to be cooled close to absolute zero (zero “This work could herald the arrival of degrees on the Kelvin scale, or –273 °C) superconductors in real-world applications. in a superconductor, beating a before they superconduct, high temperature In order to see bulk superconductors applied record that has stood for more superconductors do so above the boiling point for everyday use, we need large grains of than a decade, could herald the of liquid nitrogen (–196 °C), which makes them superconducting material with the required relatively easy to cool and cheaper to operate. properties that can be manufactured by arrival of materials in a broad Superconductors are currently used in relatively standard processes.” range of fields. scientific and medical applications, such as MRI scanners, and in the future could be used to A world record that has stood for more protect the national grid and increase energy than a decade has been broken by a team efficiency, due to the amount of electrical of engineers led by Professor David Cardwell, current they can carry without losing energy. This work “could herald the our new Head of Department, harnessing The current carried by a superconductor arrival of superconductors in the equivalent of three tonnes of force inside also generates a magnetic field, and the more real-world applications. a golf ball-sized sample of material that is field strength that can be contained within the normally as brittle as fine china. superconductor, the more current it can carry. Professor David Cardwell Professor Cardwell’s team managed to State of the art, practical superconductors can ‘trap’ a magnetic field with a strength of 17.6 carry currents that are typically 100 times greater Tesla – roughly 100 times stronger than the than copper, which gives them considerable A number of niche applications are field generated by a typical fridge magnet – in performance advantages over conventional currently being developed by the Cambridge a high temperature gadolinium barium copper conductors and permanent magnets. team and its collaborators, and it is anticipated oxide (GdBCO) superconductor, beating the The new record was achieved using that widespread commercial applications for previous record by 0.4 Tesla. The results are 25 mm diameter samples of GdBCO high superconductors could be seen within the published today in the journal Superconductor temperature superconductor fabricated in next five years. Science and Technology. the form of a large, single grain using an The research was funded by The Boeing The research demonstrates the potential established melt processing method and Company and by the UK Engineering and of high-temperature superconductors for reinforced using a relatively simple technique. Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The applications in a range of fields, including The previous record of 17.2 Tesla, set in 2003 National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, where flywheels for energy storage, ‘magnetic by a team led by Professor Masato Murakami the measurements were performed, is funded separators’, which can be used in mineral from the Shibaura Institute of Technology the National Science Foundation and the State refinement and pollution control, and in in Japan, used a highly specialised type of Florida. high-speed levitating monorail trains. of superconductor of a similar, but subtly Superconductors are materials that carry different, composition and structure. electrical current with little or no resistance “The fact that this record has stood for so R when cooled below a certain temperature. long shows just how demanding this field really Professor David Cardwell While conventional superconductors need is,” said Professor Cardwell. www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/dc135 Issue 16 Autumn 2014 University of Cambridge Department of Engineering 3 Credit: Crossrail Ltd Crossrail Credit: n Compensation grouting at Bond Street Station From Graduation to the Crossrail project Alumnus Alan Skarda Alumnus Alan Skarda is currently problem and communicating a solution to a the most expensive real estate in the country client or checker. (Mayfair and Soho in central London), so working as a Site Engineer for In 2013, after two years in the design compensation grouting plays an extremely the Crossrail project. He has office, I was seconded to the Bam Ferrovial important part in the project. taken time out to tell us about Kier (BFK) joint venture, which has won over I am currently a Section Engineer £700M of work on Crossrail. My first post was and Temporary Works Co-ordinator in his career path to date. in compensation grouting, a technique used the SCL team at Bond Street, managing to protect buildings and other sensitive assets the construction of the permanent headwalls located above and around the tunnels. I was in the platform tunnels. I work with everyone I studied at the Department of Engineering part of the team responsible for managing the from the Construction Manager to the from 2007 to 2011, graduating with a BA construction and operation of 13 grout shafts operatives on site.