̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - John Durrell

̽��ֱ��future of flying

skbf2 — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:46:49 +0000

Cambridge and Boeing have been working together for 20 years. Today they are combining their research strengths and industry know-how to speed aviation towards a carbon-neutral future.

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge wins Boeing Innovation Award

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2018 08:50:11 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� was presented with Boeing’s Innovation Award at a gala held in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday 11 April. ̽��ֱ��award was given for the ̽��ֱ��’s ‘outstanding performance in research and development efforts, instrumental in the introduction of new products to meet Boeing’s current and future business needs’.

Accepting the award on behalf of the ̽��ֱ�� were Philip Guildford, Professor Bill O'Neill and Dr John Durrell from the Department of Engineering.

“We thought working with Boeing engineers on such exciting research for the last 15 years was already prize enough, but now Boeing has topped this wonderful experience with its most prestigious award – we are thrilled,” said Guildford.

Professor David Cardwell, Head of the Department of Engineering, coordinated the Boeing partnership for Cambridge for many years, a role which was taken over in 2017 by Professor Duncan McFarlane.

Researchers from the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) have been working with Boeing since 2005, finding intelligent solutions to some challenging industrial problems. DIAL, headed up by McFarlane, has worked with Boeing on seven major projects to date, addressing three key challenges: how to manage supply chains more effectively, how to improve production resilience and how to make airports and airlines more efficient and robust. ̽��ֱ��lab is currently implementing a production quality tracking system in one of Boeing's US facilities.

Researchers in the Bulk Superconductivity Group, supported by Boeing, set a new Guinness World Record in 2014 for the strongest magnetic field trapped in a superconductor (17.6 tesla - roughly 2000 times stronger than the field generated by a typical fridge magnet), beating a record that stood for more than a decade. They have since demonstrated a portable superconducting magnetic system that can act as a high-performance substitute for a conventional permanent magnet and can attain a 3-tesla level for the magnetic field.

̽��ֱ��team, led by Dr John Durrell, are planning further testing for more magnetic power and overall efficiency. ̽��ֱ��group aims to enhance both the fundamental performance of superconducting bulks and to tailor them for specific applications.

And Bill O'Neill, Professor of Laser Engineering, is working with Boeing on a new generation of laser-based manufacturing technologies aimed at improving quality and productivity.

As part of its 2017 Supplier of the Year Awards, Boeing recognised 13 companies for the high-quality products, services and value they create for Boeing as well as its commercial airplanes, services, and defence, space and security customers.

̽��ֱ��aerospace company said its award-winning suppliers had helped it achieve a ‘record year’ in its commercial airplane deliveries, growth in its services business and solid defence, space and security performance.

Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said: “Our continued success in an increasingly challenging business environment is driven in large part by having the aerospace industry’s best team and talent – and that includes the world’s best supply chain.

“ ̽��ֱ��2017 Supplier of the Year Award recipients all share a passion for innovation, collaboration and sustained exceptional performance – qualities we look for in all of our industry partners.”

Jenette Ramos, Boeing Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Operations, added: “ ̽��ֱ��winners are among the best aerospace suppliers the world has to offer, and with their help, we will continue to lead the market by delivering value throughout Boeing’s second century.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s ‘outstanding performance’ in research and development has been recognised by Boeing in its 2017 Supplier of the Year Awards.

̽��ֱ��Boeing Company 2018

Collecting the Boeing Innovation Award on behalf of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge: Professor Bill O'Neill (holding the Award), Dr John Durrell (centre), and Philip Guildford (centre, right).

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Cambridge team breaks superconductor world record

sc604 — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 23:01:00 +0000

A world record that has stood for more than a decade has been broken by a team led by ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge engineers, harnessing the equivalent of three tonnes of force inside a golf ball-sized sample of material that is normally as brittle as fine china.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge researchers managed to ‘trap’ a magnetic field with a strength of 17.6 Tesla - roughly 2000 times stronger than the field generated by a typical fridge magnet - in a high temperature gadolinium barium copper oxide (GdBCO) superconductor, beating the previous record by 0.4 Tesla. ̽��ֱ��results are published today in the journal Superconductor Science and Technology.

̽��ֱ��research demonstrates the potential of high-temperature superconductors for applications in a range of fields, including flywheels for energy storage, ‘magnetic separators’, which can be used in mineral refinement and pollution control, and in high-speed levitating monorail trains.

Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with little or no resistance when cooled below a certain temperature. While conventional superconductors need to be cooled close to absolute zero (zero degrees on the Kelvin scale, or –273 °C) before they superconduct, high temperature superconductors do so above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (–196 °C), which makes them relatively easy to cool and cheaper to operate.

Superconductors are currently used in scientific and medical applications, such as MRI scanners, and in the future could be used to protect the national grid and increase energy efficiency, due to the amount of electrical current they can carry without losing energy.

̽��ֱ��current carried by a superconductor also generates a magnetic field, and the more field strength that can be contained within the superconductor, the more current it can carry. State of the art, practical superconductors can carry currents that are typically 100 times greater than copper, which gives them considerable performance advantages over conventional conductors and permanent magnets.

̽��ֱ��new record was achieved using 25 mm diameter samples of GdBCO high temperature superconductor fabricated in the form of a large, single grain using an established melt processing method and reinforced using a relatively simple technique. ̽��ֱ��previous record of 17.24 Tesla, set in 2003 by a team led by Professor Masato Murakami from the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan, used a highly specialised type of superconductor of a similar, but subtly different, composition and structure.

“ ̽��ֱ��fact that this record has stood for so long shows just how demanding this field really is,” said Professor David Cardwell of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and Fitzwilliam College, who led the research, in collaboration with Boeing and the National High Field Magnet Laboratory at the Florida State ̽��ֱ��. “There are real potential gains to be had with even small increases in field.”

To contain such a large field, the team used materials known as cuprates: thin sheets of copper and oxygen separated by more complex types of atoms. ̽��ֱ��cuprates were the earliest high temperature superconductors to be discovered, and have the potential to be used widely in scientific and medical applications.

While they are high quality superconductors with outstanding potential for practical applications, the cuprates can be as brittle as dried pasta when fabricated in the form of sintered ceramics, so trying to contain a strong magnetic field within bulk forms of the cuprates tends to cause them to explode.

In order to hold in, or trap, the magnetic field, the researchers had to modify both the microstructure of GdBCO to increase its current carrying and thermal performance, and reinforce it with a stainless steel ring, which was used to ‘shrink-wrap’ the single grain samples. “This was an important step in achieving this result,” said Dr John Durrell who led the experiment in Florida.

̽��ֱ��lines of magnetic flux in a superconductor repel each other strongly, making containing such a large field difficult. But, by engineering the bulk microstructure, the field is retained in the sample by so-called ‘flux pinning centres’ distributed throughout the material. “ ̽��ֱ��development of effective pinning sites in GdBCO has been key to this success,” said Dr Yun-Hua Shi, who has been responsible for developing the melt process fabrication technique at Cambridge for the past 20 years.

̽��ֱ��result was the biggest ever trapped field achieved in a bulk, standalone material at any temperature.

“This work could herald the arrival of superconductors in real-world applications,” said Professor Cardwell. “In order to see bulk superconductors applied for everyday use, we need large grains of superconducting material with the required properties that can be manufactured by relatively standard processes.”

A number of niche applications are currently being developed by the Cambridge team and its collaborators, and it is anticipated that widespread commercial applications for superconductors could be seen within the next five years.

“This record could not have been achieved without the support of our academic and industrial colleagues and partners,” said Professor Cardwell, who is the next Head of the Department of Engineering. “It was a real team effort, and one which we hope will bring these materials a significant step closer to practical applications.”

“Boeing continues to see practical applications for this superconducting material research and we are excited about the possibilities being enabled by the recent advances achieved by the Cambridge team,” said Patrick Stokes, who leads the Boeing-funded research portfolio with Cambridge ̽��ֱ��.

̽��ֱ��research was funded by ̽��ֱ��Boeing Company and by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). ̽��ֱ��National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, where the measurements were performed, is funded the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.

New record for a trapped field in a superconductor, beating a record that has stood for more than a decade, could herald the arrival of materials in a broad range of fields.

̽��ֱ��fact that this record has stood for so long shows just how demanding this field really is

David Cardwell

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

A bulk superconductor levitated by a permanent magnet

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