**Quantum Monitoring for Transport and Infrastructure Operations (Q-MOTION)** is a feasibility project to explore how next-generation quantum sensors can improve the safety, reliability and lifetime of high-energy battery packs used across transport. The team will evaluate optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) which measure tiny magnetic fields produced by electrical currents inside a battery. By placing small sensor arrays outside the enclosure, the system can create a picture of how current flows through the pack without opening it or making contact.
The project focuses on two practical uses. First, in manufacturing, the sensors could help identify issues such as imperfect welds or interconnect faults more quickly and with fewer false positives than existing methods. Second, in day-to-day operations, the same sensing approach could support rapid checks on battery health to guide maintenance and replacement decisions, improving fleet availability and reducing waste.
The work will produce two outputs required by the competition: a use case that sets out technical and user requirements, operational guidelines and system architecture for both manufacturing quality assurance and in-service diagnostics, and an outline business case describing the market need, benefits and route to market for a prototype in a potential Phase 2\.
The project is led by **CDO2** with specialist support from the **University of Sussex** for quantum sensing, **Hyperbat** for manufacturing insight, and **Transport for London** and **QinetiQ** for operational requirements, robustness and standards input. The expected benefits include better quality control, safer deployment of batteries and longer useful life, supporting the UK's goals for a more efficient, resilient and lower-carbon transport system.
This project will develop and commercialise sensor technology developed in a Faraday Institution Industrial Fellowship between CDO2 and the University of Strathclyde (UoS) to develop new tools to improve the efficiency and performance of battery manufacturing in the UK. It will involve collaboration with German SME PhySens to optimise the sensors and deliver the sensor technology for a rail telemetry application that they have developed.
We will develop a UK supply chain for fluxgate magnetometers that will deliver sensors comparable to existing high end commercial magnetometers but at a much lower cost. The sensors will initially be prototyped in-house at UoS to ensure the target performance of the designs before pilot manufacturing runs at specialist UK contractors.
CDO2 and PhySens will both produce applications demonstrators using the new sensors and benchmark the performance against their existing systems.
Improving battery charge and discharge performance is a key area of battery development. Many charging strategies have been proposed and evaluated, extending beyond the standard CC-CV (Constant Current -- Constant Voltage) profile and adding a range of pulsed charging profiles including relaxation periods and discharge phases. These charging strategies have been shown to improve battery performance but require charge points that can tailor the charging strategy to the battery, in addition the updated charging profiles are applied at the module or pack level, subjecting all cells to the same charging profile.
This project will move the battery charging algorithms to the battery itself by using a patented 'flexible busbar' to implement the flexible charging profiles internal to the battery, dynamically varying the charge to each cell. This allows the battery to be charged by a conventional charger whilst the charge profile to each cell can be modified.
The project will deliver a prototype battery with integrated pulsed charging to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach.
CDO2 has developed the CDA-16 battery current density analyser as a bench-top battery cell analysis and testing system. This works by using our 16cm x 16cm sensor array to generate a current density image of a cell under test. This allows electrochemists and other battery researchers to visualise the spatial distribution of the current flow in a battery cell. This is useful in developing and assessing cell designs to ensure that they are operating as expected, as well as for investigation of cell degradation. It is also of benefit for quality control, ensuring consistency through sample testing.
The aim of this project is to provide quantitative information to verify the algorithm used by CDO2 to infer the current density distribution of a battery from sensor measurements. In order to provide a quantitative reference with an accurately known current density profile, a physical artefact will be created that is representative of a typical battery under test. The proposed artefact will be designed by the instrumentation group at NPL and production will take place using the electronics manufacturing facilities at CDO2\.
As well as providing a quantified calibration of the system under test during the project, the battery physical artefact will be used in future product calibration and testing.
Electric propulsion is an essential part of the future of aviation, as we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, reduce airport noise, and reduce flying costs.
This project will bring together two aircraft companies and a university who all want to deliver and exploit electric flight. Already the companies have aircraft, either now or in development, capable of taking electric propulsion. Motor technology is now good enough to build viable aircraft, and batteries are heading that way -- although there's still a lot of debate about batteries, versus hybrid configurations, versus fuel cells. All of these however require us to learn how to achieve and operate safe aircraft.
To do that we need to build and fly three prototype aircraft, using these prototypes to develop best practices in design, flying, testing (both on the ground and in the air), and ultimately how to certify and integrate aircraft that can be used in the same way as current conventional aircraft. Additionally to that basic knowledge of how to operate, and train pilots and engineers to operate electric aircraft will be developed. We plan to do that by starting small -- with a basic single or 2-seat microlight aeroplane supplied by TLAC that will have a simple power system and fixed pitch propeller. The second stage will be a more complex 2-seat light aeroplane supplied by Flylight with a reconfigurable research (electrical and hybrid) power system and variable pitch propeller. This aeroplane we plan to certify developing and using airworthiness and flight test standards appropriate certified training aeroplanes.
In parallel with these, we'll be developing the ability to simulate, test and optimise electric propulsion using the powerplant test facilities at Cranfield University, who will be working with all partners to ensure the rigour and portability of everybody's solutions as well as providing its own expertise in aircraft design, powerplant testing, and flight testing. We will also use Cranfield and Sywell airports to understand the necessary infrastructure for supporting electric flight.
Electric propulsion is an essential part of the future of aviation, as we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, reduce airport noise, and reduce flying costs.
This project will bring together two aircraft companies and a university who all want to deliver and exploit electric flight. Already the companies have aircraft, either now or in development, capable of taking electric propulsion. Motor technology is now good enough to build viable aircraft, and batteries are heading that way -- although there's still a lot of debate about batteries, versus hybrid configurations, versus fuel cells. All of these however require us to learn how to achieve and operate safe aircraft.
To do that we need to build and fly three prototype aircraft, using these prototypes to develop best practices in design, flying, testing (both on the ground and in the air), and ultimately how to certify and integrate aircraft that can be used in the same way as current conventional aircraft. Additionally to that basic knowledge of how to operate, and train pilots and engineers to operate electric aircraft will be developed. We plan to do that by starting small -- with a basic single or 2-seat microlight aeroplane supplied by TLAC that will have a simple power system and fixed pitch propeller. The second stage will be a more complex 2-seat light aeroplane supplied by Flylight with a reconfigurable research (electrical and hybrid) power system and variable pitch propeller. This aeroplane we plan to certify developing and using airworthiness and flight test standards appropriate certified training aeroplanes.
In parallel with these, we'll be developing the ability to simulate, test and optimise electric propulsion using the powerplant test facilities at Cranfield University, who will be working with all partners to ensure the rigour and portability of everybody's solutions as well as providing its own expertise in aircraft design, powerplant testing, and flight testing. We will also use Cranfield and Sywell airports to understand the necessary infrastructure for supporting electric flight.
The SmartBat project will demonstrate a new technology for flexible battery pack design and assembly, which allows the integration of sensor and switch components to optimise pack energy density and safety.
The vision for the project is that the SmartBat technology will become the industry standard for the assembly of "smart" battery packs with cell-level battery management systems (BMS), suitable for a wide range of pack designs with different cell formats.
This is a collaborative 6-month project with two research-intensive SME partners, CDO2 Limited (CDO2) and DZP Technologies Ltd (DZP). The project will produce a prototype of the SmartBat concept, which will demonstrate the benefits and promises of the new technology.
_It is anticipated that 50% of vehicle production will be wholly or partially electric by 2030\. This project aims to commercialise known quantum technology to address identified challenges in the manufacture of batteries and lithium cells. Quantum technology enables highly sensitive measurements of magnetic fields. This project will use these magnetic measurements to diagnose current flows in lithium cells and the consortium will develop a complete environmentally controlled ageing test production system deployed at the largest commercial powder to power lithium-ion and sodium-ion manufacturing plant in the UK (project lead: AGM). The system will be integrated into AGM's pouch cell assembly and test processes trialled on the range of High, Ultra High power, High Energy and Sodium-ion cells currently being scaled-up and commercialised for UK niche automotive market in particular._
_Having gained global acclaim for best-in-class ICE's, Cosworth are perfect examples of what's best about the UK's high-performance automotive developers. Now they are seeking to build equally successful electric drive trains and only power cells of the very highest quality will suffice. The project is fortunate to have Cosworth as an active partner taking advantage of the Quantum Sensor technology ability to select A-Grade cells for the best hybrid battery performance and good lifetime state-of-health. The technology adds strength to 2nd life use of cells viability due to better SoH confidence through 1st life._
_In the next few years, the UK-BIC (Battery Industrialisation Centre) will be opened. This will be closely followed by AGM's parent company's AMTE GigaFactory which will be capable of manufacturing millions of cells in the UK every year. Like all cell manufacturers, AGM will be burdened with the bottleneck of cell formation and ageing processes. This project aims to significantly reduce this impact and also improve quality yields providing the ability to grade cells effectively. This could prove massively beneficial to the fledgling industry providing a competitive edge enabling AGM to take market share earlier._
"The growth in the electrification of transport, including electric vehicles (EVs), has been driven by lithium-ion batteries. However, to make the next-generation of vehicles cheaper and more efficient, we need to be able to monitor, diagnose and respond to batteries in real-time. This project aims to combine new types of sensors to feed data into a battery management system (BMS) that will be able to react to the changing state of battery health and charge and improve operational safety. This could lead to an increase in battery life of up to 60%.
Crucially, we will look at producing sensors that are robust, sensitive and significantly cheaper than those commercially available. Our goal is that the sensors will be deployed into battery modules at low cost and adopted by industry. Eventually, they may become a requirement for new car certification and help to improve consumer safety, confidence and uptake of EVs.
To verify the feasibility of our approach, our consortium covers a range of commercial and academic expertise that will build sensors into a prototype battery pack."
"This project will assess and characterise new and existing techniques for measuring the current flow through EV batteries including based upon emerging quantum sensor technology. A new generation of battery management systems can be developed as a result of these measurement to enhance the life and performance of the battery pack in consumer vehicles. This will help improve the public perception and trust in this essential new technology.
By maintaining an accurate and timely estimate of the state of charge, state of health and thermal properties of the battery, it will be possible to effectively eliminate the possibility of batteries overheating and causing fires, which remains an important consumer concern.
The purpose of this project is to assess the feasibility of these new techniques, based upon quantum sensors, to be deployed within a battery management system (BMS). New data processing systems will be developed to assess battery performance and to provide real-time data for and to allow the BMS to maintain the optimal condition of the battery pack in an EV.
The project will deliver a battery module demonstrator incorporating the new sensor suite, data processing software and BMS.
We envisage that this sensor technology will be disruptive in managing EV batteries and could become a standard requirement of new car certification in order to improve consumer safety, confidence and uptake of EVs."