Public Funding for Artemis Intelligent Power Limited

"Off-road work vehicles such as excavators, wheel loaders and forklift trucks use hydraulic systems for propulsion and for work functions, such as digging and lifting. The ""analog"" technology of conventional hydraulics suffers from comparatively poor efficiency, and is difficult to interface to computer controls. Pure electric drives however struggle to meet the high forces and powers required at acceptable cost in this tough environment. The industry urgently needs new solutions to deliver the major CO2 reductions demanded by society, at a cost the market will accept. This project aims to introduce to the market a disruptive technology called ""Digital Displacement"", a fundamental re-invention of hydraulic power for the digital age. Combining rugged mechanics with electronics and embedded software, these intelligent machines are digital from the ground up. Energy losses are reduced dramatically, and new efficient system architectures are made possible, enabling energy to be recovered and re-used. This is already proven to lower fuel consumption between 20% and 40%, and has potential for more than 50% reduction when fully developed. Whether machines are powered by engines or electricity in future, it offers the most efficient way to control the high-force multi-axis movements of heavy machinery. These new machines will offer significant operating cost reductions due to reduced fuel consumption and higher productivity, without requiring expensive or rare materials or exotic production processes to manufacture. By developing a family of modular products for UK and global vehicle manufacturers, the project will bring those benefits to a wide range of off-road vehicles. The project combines the technology of UK digital hydraulic pioneer Artemis Intelligent Power, with the experience and scale of Danfoss Power Solutions, one of the world's leading Tier 1 suppliers to the off-road vehicle market. By developing the practical skills needed to deploy and service and this new technology at Robbie Fluid Engineering, a forward-looking small business, and the scientific and technical skills needed to develop it in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, it will position the UK at the centre of a ""digital revolution"" in the off-road vehicle industry."

Artemis Intelligent Power has developed a new kind of energy saving and highly controllable technology called Digital Displacement® hydraulics. The company has demonstrated the advantages of Digital Displacement® pumps and motors in all sorts of applications including in the largest floating wind-turbine in the world, in energy saving buses and trains, and in industrial machines. Vitrex Manufacturing is a global leader in the development and supply of remarkable engineering plastics. Vitrex will help Artemis to find ways to adapt Digital Displacement® pumps to make them able to operate in the very demanding conditions encountered by aircraft hydraulics. The companies will also collaborate with hydraulic experts at Airbus, one of world’s two leading aircraft manufacturers.

Kite Power Solutions Ltd (KPS) is the UK's only developer of a technology to generate electricity from the wind using kites. KPS was formed in 2011 to develop this innovative disruptive wind energy technology. KPS predicts a market entry in 2025 for a 3MW floating offshore system which has a cost of electricty 50% of conventional wind turbines, lower than the wholesale price of electricity removing the requirement for subsidies. This project enables KPS to further scale the existing demonstrated technology with leading UK businesses. These collaborators are BVG Associates supporting the optimisation of the power conversion system; Artemis Intelligent Power providing support in the drive train development; Imperial College supporting aerodynamic development of the wings; The National Composites Centre optimising kite material and manufacturing processes; Keynvor Morlift Ltd to conduct mooring and installation assessments; Banks Sails as KPS kite manufacturing partner. The project will also involve engagement with the wider public and the environmental stakeholders to assess the impacts of the rollout of KPS kite energy technology.

The project aims to prove the feasibility of a grid-scale energy storage technology based around thermal energy stores in the form of un-pressurised insulated containers of rock gravel. One store will be at high temperature and the other at low temperature. The concept is scalable to very large size and should have storage time-constants well beyond diurnal. Unlike pumped storage schemes, such storage systems could be built almost anywhere and close to or within large electrical load centres such as cities. In the storage phase, electrical energy will be transformed to mechanical energy and thence to heat and cold in the gravel stores via thermodynamic compression and expansion processes not unlike those used in refrigerators and heat pumps. Energy recovery to generate electricity will be by the reverse sequence. To allow the use of cost-effective un-pressurised thermal rock stores, the working fluid of the compression and expansion processes will be a combination of a gas and a liquid which will will transport thermal energy between the pressurised gas and the un-pressurised thermal stores. .

This project combines, for the first time, the innovative Ricardo Kinergy flywheel and Artemis Digital Displacement® hydraulic pump/motors in a regenerative energy recovery system for a commuter rail-car. Bombardier Transportion will provide system-integration expertise to ensure that the system can be packaged into existing rolling stock. The project outcomes will demonstrate that fuel savings in the range of 10% to greater than 20% are achievable on commuter routes. On exploitation, the technology will enhance the performance of existing trains without the need for infrastructure improvement. A technology demonstration at the completion of the project will hopefully provide convincing evidence for the performance and competitiveness of the technology. The hardware should be robust and long-lived and will justify the modest cost of installation with a rapid pay-back.

Artemis Intelligent Power, Alexander Dennis Limited and Lothian Buses will jointly develop and demonstrate a new system based on Artemis’s Digital Displacement® hydraulic technology that will significantly improve the efficiency and reduce the emissions of vehicles such as buses that operate in urban environments. The system will allow more optimal sizing and intelligent control of engine accessories including the cooling fan. It is expected to also recover and store braking energy.

"We aim to demonstrate a high power, high efficiency hydraulic motor based on our unique Digital Displacement (DD) technology, which will be suitable for application to hybrid systems in heavy duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, buses and commuter rail. In conjunction with a pneumatic accumulator, and an electronic controller integrated with the existing engine controller, the motor will form the heart of kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) with higher round-trip efficiency, higher power density and much lower cost than an equivalent electrical system based on ultracapacitor storage. To be suitable for a commuter vehicle KERS, the DD motor requires innovation in the area of the embedded solenoid valves, and the local and system control software."

No abstract available.