Technology for next-gen UK innovation

Technical innovation is the lifeblood of engineering – the pioneering first steps that explore new ideas and deliver concepts from computer screens or notebook sketches into fully developed reality.

How can we test those ‘early works’ and then, later in the product cycle, ensure the accuracy and reliability of a new technology, once commercially available?

One leading UK facility, based at the University of Nottingham and featuring our technology, has been designed to support development programs for electric aircraft propulsion and other similarly visionary transport solutions.

At the university’s Power Electronics and Machine Centre (PEMC), a 2 MW dynamometer test stand, which uses an ABB motor and drive system, has been installed by turbomachinery test rig specialists Torquemeters.

The dynamometer – an electro-mechanical system with four-quadrant power conversion capability and the ability to dynamically emulate thrust loads – will help open up new possibilities for the future of clean and electrified propulsion systems.

Tackling transport emissions is a key aspect of the UK government’s commitment to a 68 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030¹. Its most recent figures, for 2024, show that domestic transport is the country’s highest emitting sector, with 30 percent of total emissions².

The Nottingham University team aims to develop and test green and sustainable new propulsion systems for all forms of transport, primarily focused on hybrid and electric demonstrators for air, land, and marine.  Its testing rig can emulate mechanical loads seen from propellors, gas turbine generators, or any other mechanical transmission. All these tests are essential to research and development.

Our drive and motor package solution for the Torquemeters rig uses our ACS880 platform in a liquid-cooled, low-voltage, industrial multi-drive converter format. 

The converter features an Active Front End (AFE) fully regenerative rectifier, while the drive also includes a separate DC connection cabinet. The motor is an ABB Optimum Performance modular 2MW 0-75Hz AMI-type water-cooled design, optimised for the ACS880.

Our solutions have helped heat management of the test rig. Similar systems typically must be built near a lake or reservoir, to supply water cooling. But the regenerative ABB drive used by Torquemeters can absorb and recirculate excess power – improving efficiency, lowering the cooling requirement and reducing investment cost.

Investing in world-leading accuracy of flow measurment

Alongside the testing of innovations, ensuring the accuracy of existing technology plays a vital role in engineering development.

Our Stonehouse facility in the south-west of England, has been providing world-leading calibration of flowmeters for more than 45 years. Industrial flowmeters produced by ABB play a vital role in industries across the world, measuring the flow of liquids in the water, chemical and oil and gas sectors, among others.

They’re produced in bore sizes ranging from 2mm to 2000mm, according to customers’ specifications, but regardless of size, the need for the highest level of accuracy is paramount.

As the world’s largest and most advanced continuous flow laboratory, ABB Stonehouse tests our own products, and those of other manufacturers, at a site that has recently benefited from a £2.1m upgrade.

Among the improvements are:

• The addition of a fourth calibration line
• Installation of an 800xA Distributed Control System

• Latest generation ACS800 500kW and 250kW drives, greatly improving pumping efficiency
• Energy-efficient lighting upgrades
• Site-wide energy consumption analysis with ABB Ability™️ Building Analyzer

• Installation of a photovoltaic array (solar panels)
• Improved monitoring of water use and recirculation

Whether ‘walking the talk’ with energy efficiency in our own operations, or helping others to pursue new paths in engineering, ABB solutions are enabling the next generation of UK technology to flourish.

Sources:
1. The UK’s plans and progress to reach net zero by 2050
2. Provisional UK greenhouse gas emissions statistics 2024

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