The purpose of the proposed research programme is to address the challenge of providing domestic hot water (DHW) using low carbon heat pump technology given the overwhelming trend away from conventional hot water tanks in homes and the inability of present heat pumps to provide instant hot water. We intend to develop a suite of heat pump / storage / control technologies, using either electricity or gas that function without conventional storage cylinders and can deliver energy efficient affordable hot water to a wide range of dwellings well into the future. Ulster will use a novel compressor being developed by industrial partner Emerson that has an exceptional range of running speeds, enabling the same device to either deliver e.g. 25 kW for instantaneous hot water or 10 kW or less for space heating. This would be used in conjunction with a small buffer store to overcome the delay in start-up before hot water is available. Present gas fired heat pumps (both commercial and under development at Warwick) are easier to modulate but are physically large if delivering 20 or 30 kW and also have a long start up time (5 minutes). The Warwick goal is to use new composite adsorbent heat exchangers to reduce start up time to one minute, even when meeting a 25 kW load and to reduce key component sizes to achieve a compact system. Thermal storage is a vital part of DHW provision by heat pumps. A small buffer store may be needed to overcome starting transients, or a large capacity store might be needed to provide a bath-full of water quickly. An intermediate capacity store might work together with a heat pump to meet peak loads. Our research will encompass buffers, compact PCM stores that could be sited in unused spaces such as corners in kitchens and 'flat' stores using vacuum or aerogel insulation that could fit under kitchen cabinets or other available unused spaces. To bring this all together into a range of integrated systems suited to different housing types etc there needs to be both an understanding of the consumer's needs and preferences plus a smart adaptive control system. In addition to data in the literature we have access to data from detailed monitoring studies previously carried out by Loughborough. Consumer preferences will be investigated by the use of surveys carried out by the User Centred Design Research Group at Loughborough Design School. Ulster will assume overall responsibility for sensor choice, control hardware and software. They will devise a system controller that adapts to and meets consumer needs in an optimal way. In the long term this will be part of a house-wide wirelessly linked system including 'wet' appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines and 'smart taps' that communicate with the DHW system so that it responds optimally to the size and type of load demanded.

There are not presently available practical methods of characterising vibro-acoustic sources, which excite supporting and surrounding structures into vibration through the supports and other contacts. The context of the proposal concerns the prediction and control of noise due to machine vibrations being transmitted to a receiving structure, subsequently propagating and re-radiating from the structure as noise. By practical, is meant laboratory methods which yield source data in reduced form, which can be transformed into a prediction of the structure-borne power in the installed condition. Whilst generally, airborne sources have been successfully incorporated into prediction models by reference to airborne sound power, it has not yet been possible to incorporate structure-borne sources on a similar basis. There are two main challenges in seeking a structure-borne source characterisation. First, a source characterisation requires consideration of both the vibration activity and the structural dynamics at the contacts with supporting and surrounding structures. Secondly, the vibration transmission process is complicated and a full description requires a large data set and is experimentally and computationally intensive. However, design engineers, test-house managers and consultants require laboratory-based measurement systems which will yield single values of source strength and the conventional view is that these practical requirements conflict with the requirements for a physical and accurate source characterisation. The core of this investigation is to address this conflict by developing and appraising a novel reception plate method of structure-borne sound source characterisation. The machine under test is attached to a high-mobility plate, from which the source activity is obtained indirectly in the form of the velocity of the free source (i.e. as if the machine had been freely suspended). The machine then is attached to a low-mobility plate to indirectly obtain the blocked force (i.e. as if the machine had been attached to an inert structure). From these two quantities, the source mobility is obtained without direct measurement.The fundamental advantage of this method is that the time consuming and complicated process of directly acquiring the source activity and dynamics for each contact, and for each component of excitation, is replaced with an indirect method which only requires measurement of the response velocity of simple attached plates.

This programme will establish evidence on how servitization impacts both economic productivity and environmental performance (i.e., net-zero and the green economy), and use these insights to influence industrial policy and practice in the UK. It will explain whether, when, and how to encourage the adoption of servitization to maximise the economic and societal impact. The programme will begin by (i) developing a strong theoretical foundation based on prior research on business model innovation and value networks, then (ii) engage in theory building through collaborations with a range of industrial partners that are adopting servitization. These insights will (iii) enable econometric models to quantify impacts on productivity and environmental performances, and through experimentations with these (iv) identify a range of scenarios to maximise the benefits to the UK. Deliverables will include (i) an open-access repository for the scientific, policy, and practice communities, (ii) a set of reference models which will allow firms to translate our findings quickly to shape industrial best practices, and (iii) a series of policy and practice papers and associated workshops and events to influence decisions around industrial policy associated with productivity and de-carbonisation.

The UK domestic sector is responsible for almost 40% of national carbon emissions. Any serious attempt to reduce these emissions must recognise the fact that the rate of housing stock renewal is slow, that space and water heating dominate the usage, and that householder appeal and interaction play a paramount role. This places the emphasis on retrofit solutions, and technologies that relate to energy supply and reduction in demand, plus alignment with user lifestyles.For any new technology to be successful, it must be accepted by the end users and meet their needs. These needs include their social, emotional, practical and economic needs. For technologies such as insulation (demand reduction) or heat pumps (energy supply), it is critical that they are considered as a coherent, integrated solution in the context of the built environment and the end users / householders. To this end, this project will identify the barriers and opportunities for possible energy saving and low carbon energy supply technologies, primarily from the perspective of the home and the householders. Other stakeholders in the process, such as installers, decorators, house maintainers and future home owners will also be pertinent to the success of the technologies, so their views will also be considered. This will enable the technologies to be specified and adapted to meet the needs of the ends users whilst satisfying the energy efficiency improvements desired for the property in question. The modified technologies will then be trialled in a dedicated, occupied and instrumented test house, providing further knowledge about technical performance, user interaction and occupant thermal comfort. For the trialled technologies, designs will be devised that encompass their functionality together with their cost-effective manufacture. It is anticipated that every household will require a suite of energy-related measures that matches the limitations of the house and the requirements of the householders. A design and selection tool will be produced for use by householders and installers to identify these measures as a single transaction (a 'one-stop-shop' approach) for deployment. The tool will be available for uptake by industry, and will be capable of expansion to accommodate other technologies in future.The programme of work comprises laboratory-based applied research to modify key technologies as informed by user needs, fundamental research to investigate innovative insulation solutions, and occupied test house trialling. Analysis and modelling will produce a practical design / selection tool for stakeholder use.This project provides an opportunity to bring together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers of international standing, supported by world-class equipment and backed by unique demonstration / trialling facilities. These resources will combine to ensure the accelerated advancement and uptake of selected technologies. The 'CALEBRE' project team is well-placed to significantly advance the field of building energy performance, and to make a real impact on UK domestic carbon emissions.

The broad theme areas are Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, and the training will be interdisciplinary based on the skills and experience of the partners which range from Chemical Engineering (Prof Kendall), Chemistry (Prof Schroeder and Dr Anderson), Materials Science (Dr Book), Economics (Prof Green), Bioscience (Prof Macaskie), Applications (Dr Walker), Automotive and Aeronautics (Prof Thring) and Policy/Regulation (Prof Weyman-Jones). Training will also include industry supervision with the 23 companies which have signed up and overseas training with FZJ in Germany and University of Central Florida in the USA.There is an increasing demand for skilled staff in the field of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, which at present has no dedicated UK centre for training, disseminating and co-ordinating with government bodies, industry and the public. This contrasts with the establishment of Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) in Germany, ECN in the Netherlands, and Risoe Laboratory in Denmark. Large companies such as Johnson Matthey, Rolls Royce and Air Products have substantial hydrogen and fuel cell projects, with hundreds of employed PhD level scientists and engineers. Recruitment has been a problem in recent years since only a handful of British universities carry out research in this area. But, most significantly, a large amount of private sector investment has now been injected, especially on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, such that support to SMEs such as Ceres Power, Intelligent Energy, Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd, ITM, CMR and Voller has risen to several hundred million pounds, requiring hundreds of PhD recruits. Also, since the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) has now been established in Europe, this 1bn Euro project will add to the very large research funding by organisations such as Siemens, GM, Renault, Ford, FZJ, EADS, CEA, Risoe, ECN etc. Several large centres for research and training exist in Europe, the USA and Japan and it is imperative that Britain increases its student output to keep pace.