The decarbonisation of road transport through the use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs), including electric vehicles (EVs), is seen as critical to helping the UK achieve its climate change obligations and to improving air quality, particularly in major cities such as London. However, state-of-the-art batteries for EVs show much lower energy density compared to fossil fuels (240 Wh/kg energy density of Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, 2% of petrol's energy density), which significantly compromises the driving range. Without foreseeable breakthroughs (4 times energy density increase by 2035) in battery technology, frequent and convenient battery charging is the only way to enable EVs as the dominant means of decarbonised transportation. Most current fast and rapid charging process for EVs requires drivers to connect the tethered electrical outlet to the vehicle, leaving drivers prone to hazards. Limited charging opportunities cause a long dwell time of each recharge and range anxiety. In contrast, energy can be transferred between the primary source side (on-ground) to the secondary battery side (on-board) by using time-varying magnetic fields through the air, known as the inductive power transfer (IPT). The absence of physical connection offers unobtrusive and hassle-free charging. The paradigm will shift from infrequent lengthy charging at centralised charging hubs to distributed charging places conducting charging automatically. Therefore, charging events can be seamlessly integrated into regular vehicle operation and becomes part of daily background life thus plug-in forgetfulness will never happen again. The long lead-time and large cost of upgrading infrastructure for centralised charging hubs can be reduced and frequent charging reduces the discharge depth, which extends the lifetime of the battery. Lack of human intervention of IPT can enable future autonomous EV operation and charging other machines such as robots, unmanned aerial or underwater vehicles (UAVs, UUVs). This research is the first to use nanocrystalline cores based coils for IPT applications and also the first to combine frequency and duty ratio control with a dual-active bridge topology (DA-IPT). New control algorithms, such as MinAPPT and hard-switching mitigation techniques, will be explored, together with the use of SiC MOSFETs in both the inverter and rectifier of DA-IPT to improve the power density and efficiency in misaligned charging conditions. A multi-objective design optimisation process using a combined DA-IPT topology and nanocrystalline core based coils will designed and continuously improved for future development and other relevant power electronics research. The research aims to achieve 92% efficiency or above, at 30% vertical and lateral misalignment with a power density of 2 kW/kg, 4 kW/dm3 or above. A 7.7 kW (Level 2 EV charging) prototype will be built and experimentally validated with deliverables such as simulation models and design tools. An 11 kW prototype is the next step with potential industrial investment. The success of this research will exploit and validate the theoretical merits from proposed ideas and establish a solid foundation for continuous investigation, including bi-directional power flow for V2G, improvement of mechanical robustness, EMC and objective rejection methods of applicable DA-IPT systems in the future.

The theme area is manufacturing of engineering composites structures, specifically those which comprise continuous high performance fibres held together with a polymeric matrix. The relevant industry areas include aerospace, automotive, marine, wind energy and construction. The proposal demonstrates continuing and growing need in the UK polymer composites manufacturing sector for suitably technically qualified individuals, able to make positive and rapid impact on its international manufacturing competitiveness. Extension of a newly created Industrial Doctorate Centre in Composites Manufacture fills an existing gap in provision of industrially focussed higher level education in the UK, in the specialist discipline of polymer composites manufacturing. It has its centre of gravity in Bristol, with the rapidly expanding National Composites Centre (NCC) the natural home-base for the cohorts of composites manufacturing Research Engineers embedded in the composites manufacturing industry. This new hub of applied research activity focussed at TRL 3-5 is different from but highly complementary to the outputs of composites manufacturing PhD students within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites (CIMComp), working on more fundamental research topics in composites manufacture at TRL 1-3. Achieving a clearer definition of the industrial composites manufacturing challenges and of new knowledge base requirements will provide direction for the industrially relevant accompanying fundamental research. The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Composites has established and maintains close management overview of this IDC , as well as fostering links with related CDTs within the wider High Value Manufacturing Catapult, initially specifically the AMRC Composites Centre IDC in Machining Science. Over time such connections will establish a critical mass of industrially focussed manufacturing research activity in the UK, raising the national and international status of the EngD brand in the composites industry, in academia and in professional institutions by targeted dissemination through CIMComp in conjunction with the NCC

Globally, national infrastructure is facing significant challenges: - Ageing assets: Much of the UK's existing infrastructure is old and no longer fit for purpose. In its State of the Nation Infrastructure 2014 report the Institution of Civil Engineers stated that none of the sectors analysed were "fit for the future" and only one sector was "adequate for now". The need to future-proof existing and new infrastructure is of paramount importance and has become a constant theme in industry documents, seminars, workshops and discussions. - Increased loading: Existing infrastructure is challenged by the need to increase load and usage - be that number of passengers carried, numbers of vehicles or volume of water used - and the requirement to maintain the existing infrastructure while operating at current capacity. - Changing climate: projections for increasing numbers and severity of extreme weather events mean that our infrastructure will need to be more resilient in the future. These challenges require innovation to address them. However, in the infrastructure and construction industries tight operating margins, industry segmentation and strong emphasis on safety and reliability create barriers to introducing innovation into industry practice. CSIC is an Innovation and Knowledge Centre funded by EPSRC and Innovate UK to help address this market failure, by translating world leading research into industry implementation, working with more than 40 industry partners to develop, trial, provide and deliver high-quality, low cost, accurate sensor technologies and predictive tools which enable new ways of monitoring how infrastructure behaves during construction and asset operation, providing a whole-life approach to achieving sustainability in an integrated way. It provides training and access for industry to source, develop and deliver these new approaches to stimulate business and encourage economic growth, improving the management of the nation's infrastructure and construction industry. Our collaborative approach, bringing together leaders from industry and academia, accelerates the commercial development of emerging technologies, and promotes knowledge transfer and industry implementation to shape the future of infrastructure. Phase 2 funding will enable CSIC to address specific challenges remaining to implementation of smart infrastructure solutions. Over the next five years, to overcome these barriers and create a self-sustaining market in smart infrastructure, CSIC along with an expanded group of industry and academic partners will: - Create the complete, innovative solutions that the sector needs by integrating the components of smart infrastructure into systems approaches, bringing together sensor data and asset management decisions to improve whole life management of assets and city scale infrastructure planning; spin-in technology where necessary, to allow demonstration of smart technology in an integrated manner. - Continue to build industry confidence by working closely with partners to demonstrate and deploy new smart infrastructure solutions on live infrastructure projects. Develop projects on behalf of industry using seed-funds to fund hardware and consumables, and demonstrate capability. - Generate a compelling business case for smart infrastructure solutions together with asset owners and government organisations based on combining smarter information with whole life value models for infrastructure assets. Focus on value-driven messaging around the whole system business case for why smart infrastructure is the future, and will strive to turn today's intangibles into business drivers for the future. - Facilitate the development and expansion of the supply chain through extending our network of partners in new areas, knowledge transfer, smart infrastructure standards and influencing policy.