Ljmu engineering school newsletter nov13

Engineering, Technology and Maritime Liverpool John Moores University

School NewsletterNovember 2013

Engineering, Technology and Maritime Liverpool John Moores University School Newsletter November 2013

In this issueResearch in electricalengineering supports UKmicroelectronics

Maritime Academy achievementabove UK average Page 4

Formula Student 2014 Page 4

Renewable EnergySummer School Page 6

LJMU Engineer volunteers tobring renewable energy toPeruvian village Page 7

Liverpool Females in Engineeringand Technology Page 8

Product designer wins RegionalAward for placement Page 9

A team of electrical engineers fromour School has secured a majorresearch council grant to help UKcompanies maintain their lead inmicroelectronic circuit design.

Microelectronic processors areused in all kinds of digital devices,from the microcontrollers used inindustrial products to themicroprocessors used in smartphones, tablets, laptops etc. Thedesign and development of theelectronic circuits in these

processors is an area ofengineering where the UK has aworld lead. For example,processors designed by the twoindustrial partners in this researchproject (ARM Holdings andCambridge Silicon Radio (CSR))are used in most of the world’ssmart phones.

A microelectronic circuit is madeup of billions of transistorsmanufactured onto a tiny siliconchip. The increasing performance

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School’s electricalengineering researchsupports UKmicroelectronics

of these circuits has been the result ofengineers being able to put more andmore transistors onto the same area.

Until now designers have enjoyedthe freedom to consider all thetransistors as being the same.However, as transistor size is reduced(to nanometers) the discreteness ofatoms and granularity of mattermakes each transistor different. Thispresents a challenge to circuitdesigners trying to optimise circuitdesigns to improve performance and

a major opportunity for UK industry.Recognising the opportunity to openup a new area of research with UKindustry,the University invested in itsmicroelectronic test facilities,enabling Professor Jian Zhang, DrZhigang Ji, and Dr Wei Zhang tosecure a four year grant of £517,676from the Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council (EPSRC)to develop tools that can be used bythe industry to optimize circuit

designs and maintain the UK`scompetitive edge in this sector.

The project is in collaboration withGlasgow University, Arm Holdingsand Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR)and is supported by the world-leading industrial researchconsortium based at IMEC, Belgium,whose members includes Intel, Sony,Panasonic,and Xilinx.

Engineering, Technology and Maritime Liverpool John Moores University School Newsletter November 2013 3

Pictured left to right:Dr Wei Zhang, Prof Jian Zhang,Dr Zhigang


LJMU Racing Team’s new managerDavid Pettit launched preparationsfor the 2013-14 Formula Studentcompetition with a series ofmeetings with team members anda roundup of the previous season’sachievements.

David said “I am really excitedabout this year. We have a goodteam and fantastic car and we arereally looking forward tocompeting. We are still recruitingthough, and need more studentsstudying web-Design, Media,

Business, and Computing as well asEngineering”. ‘Last season’s carwas the most advanced the teamhas produced to date. It featuredmany new developments,

including: a more fuel efficientpowertrain; a lighter chassis withcarbon fibre reinforcing bars;and specially designed uprightsand wheel hubs. It proved to beextremely capable in competition,producing successes in the dynamicevents including the fastest UK finishin the skid pad, and scoring highly instatic events - notably second placein the special costing task. This yearthe team was joined by a group ofgraduate students from theUniversity of Shanghai for Scienceand Technology, one of our partneruniversities in Shanghai. Theyworked with the team as preparationfor their own University’s entry intoFS China in 2014.

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Formula Student 2014

Analysis of SQA examinationresults for Chief Mates showsthe School has maintained itsreputation for high qualitymaritime education.

In Navigation LJMU studentsscored an average 71%against a UK average of 61%,and in stability 87% against aUK average of 74%.

Maritimeacademyachievementabove UKaverage

LJMU graduates from the team havealso had a very successful yearsecuring jobs with leading employers,including Aston Martin, Mercedes andSellafield.

Sponsors Graham Engineering madesignificant contribution in theproduction of the chassis and advisingon business plans and cost reports.

The design and build of LJMU 2014 iscurrently underway, the team will beracing at Silverstone in July andHockenheimring in August. In addition,the team hopes to have an electricvehicle design ready for a Class 2 entryat Silverstone.

Contact: [email protected]


Pictured: LJMU Racing Team Manager, David Pettit


The University’s engineers combinedforces in July to deliver our firstsummer School with the SmallpeiceTrust. Forty 14 and 15 year old studentsfrom across the UK took part in aninteractive introduction to offshorewind energy generation through aseries of classes and lectures. Over fourdays the students competed in teamsto design and build the components ofan offshore wind generation systemwhilst gaining exclusive use of theuniversity’s laboratories.

They learnt about energy generationand the challenges faced by engineersin building, installing and maintainingoffshore wind farms and in distributingthis energy to domestic andindustrial users.

They also had an insight into the careeropportunities in the industry when theyattended a talk by Siemens.

The social programme included a filmnight, sports activities and an end-of-course celebratory dinner and disco.Claire Fisher, Marketing Officer for TheSmallpeice Trust said “We aredelighted that Liverpool John Moore’sUniversity sponsored this exciting newcourse. This area of engineering hasgrown significantly over the last 20years to become a multibillion poundglobal industry.

The students have thoroughly enjoyedtheir experience and go awayencouraged and inspired to take on arole in this sector in the future.”

The Smallpeice Trust was founded in1966 by Dr Cosby Smallpeice, apioneering engineer and inventor andfounder of the highly successfulpneumatics company Martonair, DrSmallpeice invested his energy andpart of his personal fortune to set upthe Trust to ensure that British industrycould continuously benefit from hisproven design and engineeringphilosophies: “Simplicity in design,economy in production.”

Contact: Dr Andrew Cunningham

Renewable EnergySummer School

Pictured: Summer School 2013

After three flights, Clive Eyre a technicalofficer in engineering and his wifeAlison, finally arrived in the northernPeruvian town of Trujillo in late June, tobegin a month-long project with Windaid. Working with 12 other volunteersof different nationalities and ages, Cliveused his expertise to build a 2.5kW axialflux wind turbine supply power to thecommunity of Valle de los Dios. Theturbine is based on a “Hugh Piggott”design and was manufactured on site,

the team building everything from theblades to winding the coils for theelectrical generator. Everyone in theteam came from an engineeringbackground apart from Alison, whobecame an an expert in building andfinishing the turbine blades.

These were of a composite designconsisting of a foam core with a layer ofcarbon fibre for stiffness, with anotherlayer of glass fibre and resin forprotection from the elements.

The installation site in Valle de los Diosis about a two hour drive from Trujillo.The people of this community are verypoor but despite this, they aredetermined to build a safe and viablecommunity. Power for Valle de los Dioswas previously delivered by four diesel

generators which only provided aroundthree hours of power per day for thecommunity.

As well as installing the wind turbine,Clive and Alison also visited severalprimary schools in the village to talkabout the project and introducethemselves in Spanish, much to theamusement of the children.


LJMU Engineer volunteers to bringrenewable energy to Peruvian village

Pictured: The village ofValle de los Dzios

Pictured: Clive and Alisonwith the turbine

Pictured: Clive ata local school


Liverpool Females in Engineering AndTechnology (LivFEAT) is part of theWES initiative at Liverpool JohnMoores University led by MorganMarren-Arnull a third year MechanicalEngineering student and regionalcoordinator for WES Merseyside andthe Wirral.

http://www.wes.org.uk/

Morgan has recently been involvedin a conference for CaST Cymruwhere she spoke about what ishappening in Liverpool to try andencourage more female students topursue careers in science, engineeringand technology (SET).

Morgan with the support of her coursemates and staff, has led the foundationof LivFEAT with the aim of supportingwomen within the university who arecurrently pursuing SET careers and toencourage more women intoengineering and technology.

LivFEAT holds a number of events -some are purely social; there are alsodiscussion groups on recent articleswith a link to women in SET careers aswell as lectures from outside speakers,the first of which will be on October31st from Jaguar Land Rover. There isalso a joint lecture series held betweenLivFEAT and LivWISE based atUniversity of Liverpool. LivFEATwelcomes anyone to come along whowishes to encourage girls and womento pursue SET careers.

Contact Mogan [email protected]

Liverpool Females inEngineering and Technology

Product Innovation & Developmentgraduate Philip Jones spent his yearin industry at ACDC LightingSystems. The initial purpose ofPhilip`s placement was to use hisproblem-solving and engineeringskills to combat manufacturingissues on the shop floor.

However, Philip also developed anew product in the final months ofhis placement that will revolutioniseLED interior linear lighting that ACDCexpects to generate £1m per year.Philip was named the RegionalWinner of The Lloyds RegisterEducational Trust Contribution toBusiness Award for his work on theplacement.

For information on placementscontact Adam Papworth [email protected]


Product designer winsaward for placement

School Newsletter November 2013School of Engineering, Technology and Maritime Operations

http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/eng/

Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UKContributions [email protected]

Ljmu engineering school newsletter nov13

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